Don't Miss What God Has Planned
by Kevin Allen
March 30, 2021 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Jeremiah 29:11, Psalms 137:1-4, Jeremiah 29:4-11, John 14:21, Jeremiah 29:7

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--don-t-miss-what-god-has-planned
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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I want to go to Jeremiah 29, verse 11, what I feel like the Lord has for us in this service today. Appreciate everybody being here. You may be seated. Thank you for worshiping God. Thank you for all those tuning in online. We're glad you're with us as well. We hope you feel the presence of God just as strong in your home as we feel Him right here in this sanctuary today. Next week, we've got a big announcement coming up about semester two, and lots of things that we're going to be doing. In that semester is a lot of exciting stuff. So we're going to be here next Sunday as we make that announcement, looking forward to it, and all that God has planned for us this year.

Isn't it great to feel the sunshine on your face? I told my wife yesterday — I was driving around town; it's like I was watching people climb out from under rocks, just like feeling their way around. So nice. Enjoy the spring weather. Thankful for it.

Jeremiah 29 11 — it's a very familiar verse of Scripture I feel like God desires for me to unpack today. God is speaking through the prophet Jeremiah these words when He says: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." And for a little while today, I want to preach on this: Don't miss what God has planned. Don't miss what God has planned. It's a great passage of Scripture, and these are great words. And my desire today is to hopefully explain this in such a way that you can see and realize that God intends for you and I to go a certain direction in our life.

I feel like this passage of Scripture has one of those candy stick verses that gets pulled out a lot of times and used in some — in some ways out of context. And what I hope I can do is to put this back in the context in which the prophet was speaking, and even penned these words today. As I was doing some research for this message this week, and was feeling a certain direction God was pointing me in, I began to do some reading and studying, and I ran across a couple of interesting articles. One that really just kind of struck a chord in my mind — and it was a Harvard Review article talking about the psychologist Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert, both who work at Harvard University, in some research they had done and study. And they had discovered that the average person spends 46.9 of their time thinking about something other than what they're doing in that present moment. Almost half of their time is spent thinking about something else other than what they're doing in that moment. And I wonder if maybe there's any of that going on right now. Now, I hope not. I hope that we are engaged in this moment, and — and hopefully three minutes into this sermon, I haven't already lost you. I hope that that — that 49.6 doesn't apply in this minute. So I hope you'll stay engaged with me. But I think that's some high — eye-opening stuff that's — that should bring a little bit of awareness to us. And — and I think church is a great place for mass confession and honesty. How many people are willing to say that — that you can somewhat identify with that research, that a lot of your day is spent thinking about someplace else, or doing something else other than what it is you're doing in that moment? Yeah. It's — it — it's kind of, uh, the world we live in, that — that we can often be caught up in the routine, and dare I say the mundane, of everyday life, and our mind be in a different place.

Now, I know this especially applies to this group of individuals over here in this four or five rows right here, because these — they have grown up in a world where there's always screens and distractions around them. And we — we see that, right? We — our children are growing up in a world where they touch every screen that is there. I remember watching, uh, my — my little nephew [name redacted] walk up to a — to a TV that was not a touch TV, but he touched it as if it should be able to do something from touching it, because the world he lives in, there are all these screams that we can touch, and we can make them do things. It's not bad. But I'll tell you, the other day — I knew my oldest daughter Kaylee was working in here in the sanctuary. She was back there working on some graphic stuff for Jeff. And I came in just to check on her before I left, to see how she was doing. And when I walked up on her, she was listening to music on the computer that she was — what she was doing the work on. And she had a movie playing on her phone. And I walked up, and I said: Babe, are you watching a movie while you're listening to music while you're doing work? And she just looked at me and said: Yeah. So many things vying for our attention, so much distraction going on out there, that it should not be surprising to us that even with all of that's going on, half the time we're not even in that moment; we're somewhere else. How many in here will confess with me, that when I'm mowing the yard, the most random, crazy, bizarre things go through my mind? Anybody else besides me? I mean, sometimes I'm out there just going around, around circles on my little zero turn mower, and I'm like: what in the world are you thinking about right now? Just crazy stuff flies in my head — everything but where I am in the moment.

Now, that's not always bad, unless you — missing the moment you're in is really important. Now, what I'm afraid is, because all this is going on around us, that we miss so much of what God desires to do in the everyday mundane of our life. See, I fully believe — and I feel like Scripture points and supports the fact — that in every moment of my life, God is desiring to talk to me. Then the routines of my life, the — the — the brushing of my teeth, the combing of my hair, the doing the chores around the house, the — the work task and list that I have — with all of that going on, He is there. His desire is to engage with you and I in the everyday of our life. To me, if you and I are going to fully understand that — "men not to always pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting," because that's what the word of God says — how do we go? Are we constantly walking around mumbling in prayer? See, I don't feel like that's what that verse is trying to tell us. But it's to tell us that we should be aware of the fact that God is around us all the time, and that if I will purpose with intent in my mind to engage with Him, He is there for me to engage with. And it's through that engagement that He will order the steps of my life. But if I spend most of my time being somewhere else than where I am, that stands to reason, the vast majority of the time I'm going to miss out on being connected with a God who desires to commune with me.

So, in other words, if this forty nine point six percent of the time is true, we often are living in the wrong time zone. We are depressed about the past and worried about the future. We're distracted and frustrated and overwhelmed by all of this and other things. We have half present time, which means we're only half alive. I'm not fully alive, because the only way I can fully be alive is to be fully engaged in the moment where I am. If I was to ask you the question: how much of your life have you spent fully awake? Could you respond? Could you answer? Because there are moments in my life when I can tell you, when that moment happened, I was fully awake. I was fully aware in that moment. There was no other thoughts going through my mind. There was no distractions taking place. That was a moment I was fully alive. See, I feel like God desires for you and I to be fully alive all the time. But He's not a bully. He's not pushy. He's not forceful in what He does. So He is desiring for you and I to be aware that He has all of these full of life moments for us every day in our life, that you and I simply pass over in fault of something that has really no value.

Again, in our mass confession today — because it's feeling pretty good right now — how many of you are willing to say that you spend a portion — dare I say a good portion — of your day in random thoughtlessness? Yeah. I'm glad y'all — we're on board. Probably three fourths, five, six, seven, eights would be applicable in your life. We do this, right? We do this. It's not necessarily something we intentionally do. But even the unintentional is still a decision that we've made, and that decision has caused us to be disengaged with a God who has all of these full of life moments planned for you and I. That passage I read for you — and I'm going to pack it in just a minute a little bit full — shows just in that passage, that God has things that He's already fought for you, to bring you to an expected end. So many full of life moments for you each and every day, that we simply don't enjoy, because we're busy thinking about, well, I wonder if the Big Mac is really big, or maybe it's just an average mac. And you laugh, because you know you have those same silly thoughts go through your head every day.

We live in a way where we're absent. And to me, this goes contrary to what the word of God has asked of us, because it goes along the lines of saying that you and I should be asking God to give us our daily bread, that He has instructed us to take up our cross daily and follow after Him; that this is the day the Lord has made, and I'm going to rejoice and be glad in it; that His mercies are new every morning; that I'm not going to let the sun go down in my anger; then I'm not going to worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow has enough wario on its own. See, this is the kind of stuff that lets me know that God's desire is for you and I to be engaged every moment of every day, not to let idle time simply rob us of moments where we can be fully alive.

The idea of living in the moment is a thread that is woven from the beginning to the end, from Genesis to Revelations. In fact, I find it fascinating that in Genesis' account of creation, the day doesn't begin with a sunrise. For the way God designed it was, it was the evening, and then the morning, is how things were laid out. The genius to the sacred sequence is an ancient algorithm that was put in place by the Almighty God. And here's the bottom line: yesterday is history, and tomorrow is a mystery. But I have this moment right now. I can't undo anything I missed yesterday — any decision, any mistake, any failure. It's there. It's gone. It's been done. I can't undo it. And I have no guarantee of what tomorrow holds. But what I do have is a moment right now that belongs to me. It's a little gift from God. And in this moment, I have the option, I have the choice, I have the ability, if I desire, to be fully alive in this moment, and to be fully engaged with a God who has a plan and a purpose for my life. And I decide, I don't want to waste any time, because I have no guarantee that I'll get any more. But I have now. I have this moment.

Our job is to win the moment. Now, I have no idea what goal you're going after. I have no idea what problem in your life that you are trying to solve right now, what habit you're trying to break or to build. But I do know the secret to success. It happens one moment at a time. You have to win the moment, and then you win the day. And then you have to get up the next day, and you have to do it all over again. And if you do, I think that's what's called a winning streak. And having a winning streak in your life is the secret to living an overcoming life for Jesus Christ. Because you and I, ladies and gentlemen, we have plans. And whether you know it or not, even not having a plan is still a plan — it's just a plan for failure. But we have plans.

Now, how many people will admit with me that you are a planter? Any planters around? Come on, hold your hand up high. You're a planter. Yeah. Now, that doesn't mean you non-planters are going to be dismissed now, because you're just going hell I'm saying that. But planters, we — we look at life, and we're like: you know what, I can structure you. Yeah, I can fit you into my agenda. I can make some bullet points, and I can circle some stuff, put some stars by some things, underline a few things that are really, really important, and it makes me feel good. Anybody else like making a list just to check it off, even after you've done those things before you made the list? Yeah, feels good, doesn't it? I'll make a to-do list first thing. All right, what'd I do already? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Check, check, check. All right, I'm feeling accomplished. Making those lists, checking it off, planning — we often times, even those of us who don't think we plan, you're still planters. We have plans.

But I want you to notice that the verse of Scripture I read for you — Debbie, we throw it back up there — does not read this way. It doesn't say: "For I know the plans you have for you." That's not what it reads. I don't care what translation you look up, none of it says, "I know what you have planned for your life." Did you notice this? You see, there's an interesting thing about God. God often acts like God, which is kind of cool, because He is God. I love the fact how God didn't really ask any of us what our plan was. He's just God. And God says: "I know the plan I have for you." I love the fact that God has a plan. Now, for — for — for me and my personality, that makes me happy. Why? Because there's a plan. I like when there's a plan. I'm a planner. Did I tell you that already? Almost detrimentally so. My wife will probably take a lap, because she'll tell you that I wake up every morning and, what do I ask? Baby girl, what's the plan for today? Because I don't feel like my life really starts until I have a plan. Now, my wife doesn't want to talk to anybody first thing when she wakes up, especially me. Now, I usually am up quite a bit longer than her. Not that she's someone who just stays in bed; I just get up really, really early. So, in her defense, I've already had a half a pot of coffee. I've already prayed. I've already read my Scripture. I've already made three or four plans that I've thrown in the trash can. So when I go to her, I'm like: hey, what's the plan for today? Because this is what I was thinking. And she's like: who are you, and why are you in my face? One of the responses that are my favorite from her is she says: I haven't had coffee yet. Don't talk to me. But God says: I have a plan for you. I have a plan for your life.

I want you to do something right now. If you — even if you're a little uncomfortable, will you do this? Will you just turn to someone around you right now, and will you say this: God has a plan for me. Yeah. Now, I want you to look to your second choice, the person that you ignored, and you look at that person, and I want you to say this: God has a plan for you. That way they feel better.

I love that in the word of God, we read this in the Bible: God is always interrupting somebody's plan. Have you noticed this? Right? Yeah. Adam didn't plan on getting created. I told you, I got a big imagination. I just wondered, when his eyeballs popped open, he was like: whoa, what — hey, what just happened? Does anybody in here besides me want to know what his first words were? I do. I think about those kind of things. Those are those random things that robbed me from being alive. What was this first — what was this first statement? What's that green thing? What's that movie? Did he even know what green was? I lost half of y'all right now. I'm sorry. Adam didn't plan on getting created. Noah didn't plan on building an ark. Abraham didn't plan on becoming a father at 90. Esther didn't plan on having to stop a genocide. Moses didn't plan on having to defy Pharaoh. Mary didn't plan on getting pregnant. Now, on and on and on and on I could go, where I see that there's a God who has zero issues with interrupting your plan. It doesn't bother Him one bit to step right in to the middle of your little organized life, right in the middle of your planner, right in the middle of all the stickers and highlights that you got for how everything is supposed to go, and He just comes in and says: I have a plan. Now, for us planners, we struggle, because we're like: if God — if You would have just taken a moment to have read what I laid out, I think You would have seen it was an excellent plan. But He doesn't even consider those things. He just simply shows up and says: hey, I have a plan. Hey, you're going to build a boat. Hey, it's going to rain. What's rain? Hey, you're going to have a child. I've never known a guy. Didn't bother God a bit. He just simply says: I have a plan for you.

I don't feel to get off this yet, because somebody's not accepted the fact that God has a plan for you. God has a plan for you. God has a plan. He has a purpose. He's — He's very detailed. He's very specific. You — you may not be a planner. You may have been told you were a mistake. Somebody may have given up on you. Somebody may have labeled you something that than exactly what you are. But I'm here to tell you, regardless of what everything else has been done to you, God has a plan for your life. God has a plan for your life. God not only has a plan for your life, but He has a plan to bring you to an expected end, that He knows where you're going to be, and it's something good, and it's something great. God has a plan.

No single story in the Bible begins with some human being having a great plan, but with God stepping in, saying: I don't care about the plan. I have a plan. I have a purpose. I have something for your life. In this verse I read — it's often quoted in sermons and moments of encouragement — but there's a backstory that goes on here in Jeremiah, and I want to give you a little history, because I believe it's important for you to fully grasp the moment of what the prophet's trying to say, to understand the context in which he is pending these words. This wasn't a grand and glorious day like what's outside right now. Well, the sun's up, and it's, you know, mid-60s and a light breeze, and everything's great. And it wasn't the kind of day that was going on. There had been a lot of disappointments. There had been a lot of shattered and broken dreams. There had been a lot of lives ripped apart. There had been a lot of upheaval and removal and movement that had taken place in the ancient world. Every nation had gods that it worshiped. And the general understanding of the day was that the more successful the nation was, the more powerful the gods of that nation were. So if you're a nation who was the strongest, most powerful, wealthiest, then your god was thought to be the greatest god. Your nation did well; all other nations' gods were weak. That was the thought of the day.

So Israel thought the plan was to become the greatest nation on earth, so that their God, the one true God, could — could be, uh, praised and worshiped and acknowledged that He was the God. They were delivered out of their captivity, out of Egypt, after 400 years. They were shown by God that He could be faithful and He could be trusted. They went into a land that was promised to them, after going through a wilderness. Then there was change that took place. There was the error of the judges who took in, because man seemed to do what was right in his own eyes, according to the word of God. It was such a sad tale and such a sad story. Finally, it leads to them getting a king, because they wanted to be like other nations. They didn't want to be distinctively different anymore. They wanted to be like everybody else. And they cried out for a king. And in doing so, they rejected the God who was their deliverer. They would get a king. They would get three — well, maybe four, but that's a story for a different day. At the end of King Solomon's reign, the kingdom of Israel splits, and it would never be reunited — the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. They had different rulers. They were in tension with each other. But around 712 BC, the world power from Assyria came in and completely destroyed to know the northern kingdom. They would never, ever exist again.

So now the southern kingdom is all that's left in Israel. A few years later, by 586 BC, there was a new superpower that showed up on the scene: Babylon, with this impressive young king named Nebuchadnezzar. Seemed as though nothing could stop them in what they wanted to do. And they marched right into the southern kingdom, and they toppled down their walls, and they decimated Jerusalem and the temple. The leaders, the brightest and the best, were taken by Nebuchadnezzar to live in exile back in Babylon. They were outside their comfort zone, outside their country, what they had thought was going to take place — that them — them serving, them being a part of the one true living God — that He would establish His power, and His dominion, and His authority, which was what plan God had put in place. However, the plan was dependent upon one thing: the obedience of the people. It was not God who didn't hold up His end of the bargain. But it was spelled out perfectly and plainly, that if you abandon Me, then I abandon you. But if you will be obedient, I will fight for you. Your land will always be prosperous. None of the pestilence, none of the diseases that any of these other countries are dealing with, will ever come upon your borders. You will all be — always be fruitful and multiply. Everything you plant, I'll double it. I'll increase it. You'll never have any miscarriages. Matter of fact, your livestock will never have any miscarriages. God spelled out all these promises, but it was contingent upon one thing, one thing alone: obedience. Be obedient, and I will be with you. And they were anything but obedient. And now they found themselves with everything in their life being ripped away.

And this is the backdrop on which our verse was pinned. In fact, to make it make sense, I'm going to go back and read you the verses before it's. Starting — actually, I'm going to read Psalms 137 to put you even in a better state, because this Psalms was written during exile. Listen to these words: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harp upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they carried us away captive, required of us a song, and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, sing in us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange they land?" Remembering what they had. Living in a place they never wanted to be.

One day a letter comes from Jeremiah. And this is the letter, Jeremiah 29, beginning in verse number four. The prophet is writing the words from God when it says: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon: Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. Take you wives, and begat sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear the sons and daughters, that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whether I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it, for in the peace thereof shall you have peace. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your prophets or your giveners that be in your midst of you deceive ye, neither hearken to you the dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely unto you in My name. I have not sent them, saith the Lord. For thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you, and perform My good word towards you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

So here in their captivity, Jeremiah writes from Jerusalem these words, sends it to them in captivity, to let them know that Lord says: I'm going to bring you back here, where — where Jeremiah was, where he was pending the words, in Jerusalem. But I think there's a whole lot that has to be unpacked before you and I can fully understand what's being said, and why this applies to you and I in our lives today.

I love the message: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel." I love that God is going ahead and letting them know: I haven't changed My mind. I'm still your God. I haven't changed My title. I haven't sought a new position. And I love it, because He's saying: I haven't given up on you. Oh, I need somebody to know today, that God hasn't given up on you. You may have given up on you. Everybody else in your life may has given up on you. But God hasn't given up on you. He still desires to be your God. I love, when you read through the Bible, the titles that are given. They're never there accidental. They're there on purpose. And He said: I am your God, the God of Israel. Now, He says this: "whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem." I love the fact that He goes ahead and tells them: look, I'm still in control, and it was Me who let you be carried away. Don't you get so caught up in the power of Babylon. Don't you get so caught up in Nebuchadnezzar and his great, vast army, and the power that is there. Sure, it toppled you over. Sure, you were not able to defend your city. Sure, you didn't want this to happen to you. But I want you to know up front: this was My doing. I allowed this to happen in your life. In other words, God's reminding them: I told you I would always fight for you if you would stand with Me. But when you turned your back on Me, I allowed this to happen. But I still love you, because even through this, I'm still trying to get you back.

I love the fact that our God has the ability to be fully committed in one area of her life, and still be fully committed in another area of her life. And He can orchestrate things to come together to get us to where He wants us to be. That there are things that go on oftentimes, that we don't understand or even praying against in our life, that God has set in motion, that God has put in place, because He's trying to get us back to where it is He wants us to be in our life. You can't tell me for a minute that there was anybody who was living in Jerusalem, that their desire was to be held captive and be servants and slaves in Babylon. No. But there was a God who had a divine purpose and plan that He had set in motion long time ago. And even though they had made mistakes, He was still sitting there telling him: look. God: it was Me. Guys, it was Me who let them take you captive. And then He keeps on explaining what the plan is going to be, to bring them back to where He wanted them to be.

God is up to something in exile. I love the fact that God loves to work in the background of our lives. He loves to work in the background. Even when you think God's not working, He's working. We sing a song about that: even when I can't see You, I know You're working. Even when I can't feel You, I know You're working. That needs to be somebody's encouragement today in this service. You may not have felt God for a long time working in your life. You may feel like God has abandoned you and left you. But I promise you, ladies and gentlemen, God knows exactly where you are, even in this moment you're living in. You may have made mistakes. You may be the failure. You may be the root cause. Or it may have been somebody else that turned their back, somebody else abandoned you, somebody else that abused you. But I promise you, God knows where you're at. He says: build your houses. Dwell on them. Plant your gardens. Eat the fruit of them. Take your wives. Begat sons. In other words, you're going to be in exile for a while. Did anybody else pick up on that besides me? I mean, it's not like you just go out and you build a house in a day. Now, I know Trent Duvall can put one together in three days, but most people can't. So he says what? Build a house. Plant the vineyard. Put the garden in — Jesse's gonna take a lap — put the garden in. Mary, be fruitful, multiply. He's saying all these things. What — what is he saying? What is he — was he — he's saying that — that I am going to be with you in exile, and I desire for you to be successful, even in the midst of what seems to be tragedy. You may not understand this, but it's important for you to know that the God of Israel is also the same God in Babylon. Babylon doesn't know it yet, but I'm doing something through you there. They think they have God's. It's powerful. But I'm going to prove to them through you, that even though they overcome you, it did not diminish your spirit nor your trust in Me. So what I desire for you to do, in the middle of your plan not working out, is to go ahead and build a house. Go ahead and plant a vineyard. Go ahead and get married. Be fruitful. Be multiplied. Because I'm still God, and I'll still bless you. Build. Plant. Mary. But whatever it is you do, don't get distracted in law and lose out the fact that I want to be with you. I want to be with you. I want to be present with you in the moments of your life.

I'll take you back to the Harvard Review article. I'll quote it as it says this: "Mind wandering is an excellent predictor of people's happiness." Killing's what it says. "In fact, how often our minds leave the present, and where they tend to go, is a better predictor of our happiness than the activities in which we are engaged." Time lag analysis conducted by the researchers suggested that their subjects' mind wondering was it generally the cause, not the consequence, of their unhappiness. In other words, the more often you are absent from the moment you're in, as a tell-tale sign of how happy or how unhappy you are in life — and the more absent you are from the moments of your life is a tell-tale sign of how unhappy you are in your life. Because happiness brings an awareness of the reality that you're in right now. Unhappiness is searching for an escape, to be anywhere else but where I am right now. But where I am right now is where God can be with me. He can't be with me out in the future, because I'm not out in the future. I'm simply right here. He can't wait with me back in the past, because I'm not back in the past. I'm right here. So this lets me know that if I'm going to be fully engaged with God, I have to be fully engaged in the moment that I'm in right now.

In the Old Testament, when you built a house, you were instructed by the word of God that you had to bless it. So I'm going to ask myself: why are these instructions? Why these specific three things? Why are they laid out? Why — what was it about them? But in the Old Testament, if you were to build a house, you were instructed that you had to go blessed. As a matter of fact, before they would go to war, they would ask the soldiers that showed up: have any of you just built a house, and you have not dedicated it yet? And they would do what? They would tell them: go back home. You can't fight with us, because you might not return, and there'd be somebody else that would have to dedicate your house. So before you leave to go to war, go dedicate. It was important to establish the home. So He says, if you're gonna do this — you built your house — you were to bless it, because it was an act of worship. Say worship. It was an act of worship. When you plant your garden, you were to offer the first fruits as an act of worship to God. It was worships. They worship. And when there was a marriage, the couple is blessed by entering into a covenant relationship with themselves before God. In other words, it was worship. Say worship.

What He was trying to explain to them through the prophet, as he was pending the words, was: I know things aren't the way you want them to be. I know that you didn't desire to be uprooted from Jerusalem and to be held in exile in Babylon. And even though things haven't worked out the way you want them to be, I need you to know an important fact: I desire to be with you every day. And My desire is for you to worship in the middle of the circumstances that you don't like. Why? Because you can't absent-mindedly worship. You cannot absent-mindedly worship. The very act of worship is engaging your mind to the point that you are saying: You are bigger than me. You are better than me. You are stronger than me. You are mightier than me. You are able, and I am not. I can't do it, but You can. That's what worship is. So what God was reminding them through the prophet was simply this: I know you're not happy. But in your unhappiness, if you will worship, I will be there. One of the deepest lessons of exile that you and I can learn, to live a god life in Babylon, where things do not turn out the way we planned, is to engage ourself in worship.

Jesus said this in John chapter 14, verse 21: "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me shall be loved to My Father. And I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him." This is a literal promise Jesus said He will do this for you and me. Red-lettered words in your Bible. He wants to make His home in you. His desire is to be inside of you. His desire is to commune with you. You and I — every one of us in this room — we are all sinners being saved by grace. Every one of us are sin, is spiritual exile. And sin leads to a death every time. It leads to death. Its goal is to lead you to spiritual death in every sense. But Jesus took our exile upon Himself. He took it, and He nailed it to His cross on Calvary. He paid a price that you and I could not ever possibly pay. And when we embrace this, and we understand it — it's more than just accepting it, but it's accepting and receiving that God is desiring to be alive with me in every moment of my life. And the way I can be alive with Him in every moment is to have a mind that is constantly engaged in worship. That's why we spend so much time in this place singing and worshiping God before the word of God gets preached, because it's how we prepare ourself to be connected with the God of our life. We come in here, and we have to cast off the weight that comes upon us. And don't you act like you don't carry weight when you come in this room. Every one of us, when we come in these doors, we got stuff on us. But it's through the process of worship that I peel the layers of all that worry and frustration off of me. Through worship — through worship, chains break. We sing about it. Life changes. Addictions fall down. I get myself in a better place. I may not physically be any different. But emotionally and spiritually, I'm becoming alive in the moment. And I'm connected with a God who can do anything in my life. And He has a plan. Say that. Say: God has a plan.

Jeremiah already told the people they're going to be in exile for a long time. But look what he says next, verse number seven: "And seek peace of the city whether I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it. For in the peace thereof shall you have peace." What? What — does anybody besides me read the word of God sometimes and just go: what? Thank you, Jalen. You're always honest. Fine. I'm reading that, and I'm like: wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa — whoa, God, are You telling me — they're nowhere near where they want to be. They didn't ask for this. They didn't plan it. None of that was there. None of that was scripted out. But — but — but God, You want them to pray this? Give me peace where I am. Do you understand what's going on here? This was Him saying: I'm not fixing to pull you out of your situation. I'm not fixing to pull you out of your situation. I want you to start praying for peace right now. Because this is what I want to show you: is that I can march into your darkest moment. I can walk right into the darkest hell you've ever experienced in your life. I can show up in the middle of chaos, when everything is burning down all around you, and it seems like all hope is lost. I can show up in the middle of that moment, and I can speak a piece into your life, and a piece into your spirit, that doesn't make any kind of human logical sense — just to prove to you that I'm a God who can control every moment of your life, if you will engage with Me. Why would I worry? Why would I worry? Why would I worry, when I've got a God who says: I just want you to pray for peace in the middle of hell, and watch Me show up in the middle of hell, and give you peace. Oh, I wish somebody was bold enough to pray that kind of prayer in this room right now. I'm telling you, God has a plan for you. He's got a plan for you. Maybe your health isn't the way you want it to be. Maybe your relationship's in the way you want to be. Pray for peace. Pray for peace. Maybe you're physically not where you want to be, praying for peace. He says: I want you to pray for the people that around you. What? What — You want me to pray for them jokers? They're punching me in the mouth. Yep. Yep. You want me to pray for them ones that are abusing me, and mistreating me? Yep. Yep. Every one of them. They made fun of us. They — they — they burned my house. Yep. Pray for them. God, I don't want to pray. I didn't ask you what you wanted to do. Who — again, God acts like God, because He is God. He just walked right in the middle of life and said: here's what I want to do. I know you're not happy. I know you don't like it. I know you had other plans. But I have a plan. But I have a plan. And I'm not here to negotiate the terms. I'm here to tell you, you're going to be here for a little bit, but I'm not going to leave you by yourself. What you need to start doing is praying for peace in the middle of the chaos going on around you. What you need to do is start praying for the tormentors, and those that are held you captive, because I'm gonna show you just how mighty I am.

I know it's a radical way of thinking for people in a bad situation. However, when we truly get what God wants for us in our time of exile, we'll see that we will bear some remarkable fruit. There are some things that will be birthed out of you that have never been birthed in any other way in your life. That you're going to come through on the other side, and you're going to have stories to tell, and the ability to speak to other people that are going through similar circumstances, that you would have never been able to help before. Because God will take the ashes of your burned down life, and He'll make something beautiful out of it, every time. God says: I don't want you to conform to the culture. I'm not asking you to blend in with them. Matter of fact, I'm telling you, you better be obedient to what I've already told you to do. But pray for peace. Pray for them that are abusing you. Pray for them that are using you, that are hurting you. They're going to be other values, and other idolatries, and other lifestyles. Don't you get mixed up on that. I want you to walk really close to Me. Don't get distracted in a moment. Don't be disengaged 49.6 of the time. But instead, if you'll start worshiping Me in your life, you'll see: I'm an ever-present help in a time of need. When you call, I will come marching right down to your situation. I will meet you in the middle of your storm.

Who — it's very important for you and I understand: Jeremiah is not a prosperity preacher. We had a bunch of messes alive from hell now. God is good to His children. He — He desires to bless you. But this is not a prosperity message, and this is not a prosperity gospel. That word translated peace there in this passage is one of the most important words in Scripture. It is the Hebrew word — word shalom. It is peace. It is a peace that only God can bring. It is a peace that is far more than just peace of mind, or just a cease-fire between enemies, in shalom. It is a universal flourishing, and a wholeness, and a delight. I'm going to say that again: it is a universal flourishing, and a wholeness, and a delight. Even in the middle of your crazy circumstances, you'll flourish. Even in the middle of hell burning down all around you, you'll find joy — the kind of joy people look at you and said: they've lost their mind. Now they're doing crazy. Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs — that's where they are. But you're not cuckoo for koko buffs. You got the Spirit of God inside of you that says: hey, it's all burning around, but I feel good right now, because my God is step in step with me when I walk. Whoa. I'm not in this by myself, but my God is marching with me through my situation.

God's saying: I want you to engage. I want you to engage where you are. I know you got news you didn't want. I know you got circumstances that you're not happy about. Quit focusing on the storm, and focus on the God that's there with you in the storm. Quit focusing on the diagnosis, and focus on the God who says: I'm here with you through this. Quit focusing on the bank account, and focus on the God who says: I'll be your provider. He's saying: I want to engage with you. I want to be with you. I want to be with your everyday life. I want to be with you when you walk up and down the streets. I want to be with you when you talk to your neighbor. I want to be with you and how you handle your finances. I want to be with you, to show that I can cause you to flourish, even in the middle of a place where you're living in exile. I don't want you to depend on anything else. I want you to depend on Me. I want to prove Myself to you, time and time and time again. But the only way I can do that is to be fully alive with you in the moment. God cares about you. God cares about your family. God cares about this city. God cares about Center Point. Most people come to Babylon — to the city. Most people come to Murfreesboro, they try to come and make something of it. Jesus said: I'm not concerned about you making something out of that, as much as I'm concerned approving Myself to you in exile.

What God is saying is: I had to take some things out of your life. I had to remove some stuff that had become a distraction to you. I got to take some stuff out of your life, because if I didn't do it, you don't even see Me anymore. I'm trying every day, every moment of every day, to engage with you. But you've allowed all this other stuff to become idol gods before you, and you've pushed Me to the background of your life. So I did the only thing that was left for Me to do. I ripped you out of where you were, and I put you into a place where you're in the middle of misery, so that you could then hear the words I've been trying to say to you. I'm still your God. "Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel." He's saying: I'm still your God. But you had too many distractions in your life, so I uprooted you from those things. Yes, you think it was mean. Yes, you think it was cruel. Yes, you think I was doing something that I should have never done to you. But I'm telling you, you were heading down a path for utter destruction. I know you had plans, and I know he had purposed all this stuff, but none of it was what I had planned for you in your life. None of it was going to get you to where I wanted you to be, where I knew you needed to be. So therefore, I have removed those things from you. But I need you to know this: I'm still your God. I still love you. I still care for you. I see where you are. And I'm asking you now to engage with Me. Be alive with Me in every moment of every day. Start praying for peace, and I'll give you peace. Am I equal? I told you, start praying for peace, and I will give you peace. Start praying to flourish, and I will flourish you right where you are. Build houses. Plan vineyards. Put the stuff in the ground. Start marrying. Settle in, because you're going to be here for a while. I have something to prove through you. And not only will I bring you out, but I'll prove to those Babylonians that I'm the one true God. I will prove to that Nebuchadnezzar, that there is one Almighty. And I will prove it through you, to him.

I don't have enough time to preach this message, because I feel God's moving right now in this place. I don't know every story that is here, but I know a few stories. I know a few circumstances that are being — being moved on right now. I'm here to tell you: God has not forgot you. He has not turned His back on you. And you have not disqualified yourself. But He is reaching out to you in the middle of your exile, in the middle of your circumstances, in the middle of the storm in your life, to tell you: I'm still God. I'm still your God. I still love you. And I have a plan for you.

Our job — so not to get the world that we live in to stop sinning, that's His job. Our job is to get our life lined up with His word. The biggest sin problem a church can have is when it doesn't talk about a sin problem. The real problem of exile is not when the church is in Babylon. The real problem is when Babylon comes in the back doors of the church. Ladies and gentlemen, we can't control what goes on outside these walls. There's stuff and things being set up in motion that I know is leading us into these last days. I'm telling you, I don't know how long we got, but it's short. And I know we're facing some pressure. But ladies and gentlemen, we have never really felt persecution. But I feel the day's coming, because I feel as though it's persecution that ushers in that last revival. For those of you who are reading the book I recommended last Sunday, The Insanity of God — it's a phenomenal book. But the book talks all about persecution. And I'm going to tell you right now, that book convicted me to my core. It convicted me all the way down to my toenails. It convicted me, because whatever little bit of an inconvenience I have possibly faced, I have not faced persecution. We have to be careful that Babylon doesn't get in this church. Exile, I heard this one time said, is the normal condition of the human race. Anybody besides me notice that we don't live in the garden anymore? Yeah. No, we got kicked out. We're living outside that.

I'm getting ready to close. I'm — I've messed those notes up so bad, I don't even know where I'm at right now, other than I know God wants to move. I know sometimes I can get a little animated in my preaching. I'm not apologizing for that. When God moves on me strong, I just — I just — I — I am what I am. But I want you to miss this moment, okay? It's too sacred of a moment. So I'm not going to raise my voice. But God is reaching for people right now, who — you have felt lost, and abandoned, and forgotten. And I want you to know that that is not the case. He wanted me to tell you today, that He knows right where you are, and He is still your God. He needs you to understand that there are some things He had to remove from your life, because He could no longer be heard. His voice had been drowned out, and He was pushed to the background. But He is here in the quiet of this moment, to let you know that He still has a plan. He still will bring you peace. That He will still allow you to flourish, if you will simply engage with Him in the moment. Be fully alive with Him right now. Don't allow 49.6 of you to be somewhere else right now. But engage with Him, and allow God to be God. Allow Him to be the Lord of your life. And He will prove Himself to you in exile.

Will you close your eyes and bow your head to me? Oh God, I've delivered my heart today. So now I ask, Lord, for You to do what only You can do — for You to do the mending, the healing, fixing, the restoring. God, I pray You give somebody some courage. It's been so long since they tried to trust You. But give them some courage to be fully alive with You in this moment right now. Let them cry out to You, because something inside of them says they have to. God, bring them to the expected end You have. In Jesus' name. This altar is open. I invite you to come. Come engage with Him. Come be fully alive in this moment. Please don't let something keep you back today. Don't let something keep you back today. Take advantage of the moment we are in. Let Him do what He does best. For He is a God who will bring you peace, because a God will cause you to flourish. He is a God who will restore you back. You