Jeremiah 29
~ All of us at one point in time feels like we have been exiled from our home, but even during those times God is still protecting us and providing for us.
~ Just as the Isrealites were exiled to Babylon there God sent word to them by the prophet Jeremiah. There were some instructions in the message God sent thorugh Jeremiah. (The Israelites had been exiled by Nebuchadnezzar.)
1) The first instructions God gave them was actually a set of instructions.
* (verse 5-7) Build homes and plan to stay.
~ God was letting them know they would be there for awhile and to make sure they had a place to live.
~ But it was up to the Isrealites to build the house. They had to be active. They had to do the building.
* Plant gradens and eat the foods they produce.
~ God made sure they would have food during the 70 year stay.
~ Even during the exile God still made sure to give instructions for them so that way no one could say, "I didn't know."
~ If they didn't plant the gardens then they didn't eat and that was their fault if they didn't eat.
* Marry and have children and then find them spouses. MULTIPLY!!!!
~I can only think of the promise God made to Abraham, "I'll make you a father of many nations."
* God told them, "Work for peace and prosperity of the city I sent you into exile."
~First notice the last couple of words. God sent them into Babylon for exile.
~ Even though the Israelites were sent into exile God already knew and made sure that all the land would be good for them to live there for 70 years.
~ See they may have been complaining about being exiled there but God made sure hte land wasn't desolate.
~ They are told to work for peace and prosperity. We all know that to prosper you have to work. Now there are some that seem to prosper without working but in the end all that they have is lost.
~ And they were instructed to work for peace. They are foreigners in this land. They have to work at having peace because they are in someone else's city.
~ Many people fool themselves by thinking that just because they are new to a certain place they will have peace. When the truth is you have to work at having peace.
***** But see God let htem know that not only did they have to work for it they had to pray for it as well.
~ Why did they have to pray for it because their welfare depended on it.
~ MEANING THAT THEIR LIFE DEPENDED ON THE PEACE AND PROSPERITY.
2) God instructed them not to listen to the false prophets and fortune tellers because God already had their fate in His hand.
* In the time of exile the Israelites were probably looking to understand why they were exiled whey they had to leave Jerusalem and began to search for the answer in the wrong places.
*** How many of us have been in our exiled place adn we don't understand why so we begin to look for answers and then we end up believing someone else's lie about why we are in that place?
~ See God wanted to make sure that they didn't feed into or even search for the answer from the wrong people.
* Remember even though they were exiled God said in verse 7 that htey are in the land He exiled them too. See sometimes we are exiled to a place because God has ordained it. (Usually its time for you to build trust, get to know God and to just follow God's instructions.)
* But God warned the Israelites not to entertain their foolishness because He already knew the fate of the false prophets and fortune tellers. DEATH......
3) God lets them know to look for him and seek him whole heartedly during the 70 years of exile.
* He gave them a promise that if they looked for and seeked him whole heartedly they would find him and he would end their captivity.
** Sometimes you have to be exiled so God can get through to you.
God bless
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