Jeremiah 29

Let's jump into the Word of God.

Let's jump into the Word of God.

We're continuing our series in the month in the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 29. And Jeremiah 29 is one of the.

Most oft read verses in scripture.

That, that, that I think, as we will read today, I think is misread. This particular second of scripture is misread. And I want to unpack Jeremiah 29 best we can.

So let's, let's do that today.

Have you ever had someone judge you by one thing you said? I mean, think about it. If any of us, if all of us for that matter, were ever judged by one thing, we said, how would your life be different? How would you be impacted? How would you be treated? I mean, think about something you said in high school, and if people judged you by the one thing that you said in high school, how would your life be different? Where would have it evolved differently if people would have judged you by the one thing that you said, Think about that in your life from high school, from college, if you were to take one text message you sent last week and judge your entire existence based off of one text message, and how different would your life be? It's amazing to me how easy it is for us to judge people by one statement. The same thing goes for politicians, it goes for leaders, it goes for people that you can do so much good for people. But if you say one wrong thing, you say one bad thing. As a matter of fact, that's one thing that even as a preacher and pastor, you have to get over, you have to wrestle with. There are so many times I got to preach, preach a sermon, and I'm like, this is the sermon that'll make you lose your job. This is the sermon. I've had that before. I've had people come up to me after church before and tell me, don't you ever preach on this again. Did you ever talk about that again? First time we talked about mental health, I got cussed out by two people. I never forget this, right? And so because people want to judge you based upon one thing, I had rumors out there, I got hit up about, I'm the crazy pastor about to lose their mind. I was supposedly jumping off a building a couple weeks ago, right? Because I talk about mental health, it's unfortunate that people want to judge you based upon one statement.

And I want you to think about.

In your own life, people who judged you on one statement, on one sentence, and didn't take a picture of the full picture of your Entire life's work, what you're doing. Because I'd much rather be judged by my lifestyle and not one statement to happen to Jeremiah so often. One of the most quoted scriptures that we see in biblical red. One of the most quoted spaces in the Bible is Jeremiah, chapter 29, verses 11, 12 and 13. We love giving the scripture to people when they graduate from high school and graduate from college. We love giving the scripture to people when people are going through things and they have be reminded that God has plans for you, that we Love quoting Jeremiah 29 For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you, plans to give you good health. But here's the thing. If you judge and take that out of Jeremiah, it makes. It takes away from the story of what Jeremiah was communicating to the people. Jeremiah 29 is not a college blessing. It's not a high school blessing. Jeremiah 29 is a reminder of what they did wrong, the necessity to repent and get closer to God and the reality that you're gonna stay in the situation that frankly, you asked for because your faith is not grown up enough to get out of it. Jeremiah 29 is not this beautiful blessing we want it to be. It's a blessing, but it's also a call to repentance. It's a call to relationship. It's a call to faith. So that being said, I want to break down Jeremiah 29 contextually and see prayerfully what we can breathe out of this and breathe into our lives from what God is breathing onto us. Grab your bibles. Jeremiah, chapter 20.

Jeremiah, chapter 29.

Amen. If you tell your friends to wear.

A mask, I swear, I can't wait.

To preach in front of people. I just need you all to tell y' all friends to wear a mask. Because if they just simply wear a mask, we could be in church together. Amen. Jeremiah, chapter 29. And I want to begin reading at verse number four. This is the first letter that Jeremiah writes to the exiles. The first letter that Jeremiah is writing to the individuals. You can see in verses one through three, he kind of names the people he's writing to. The quote, queen mother, the king, all these individuals, people. Now here's. Remember this. God had told their enemies where they were sent their enemies to get them to bring them into exile. Because as we read in other texts last week, the people did not want to turn back to God. Jeremiah, chapter 6. Here's the ancient path, here's a good path. Pick the path which is good. They said, no, listen for the watchman who will protect you in battle. No. So then God said, I'm just gonna send your enemies in because I want your attention back. There's too much in you that I'm not going to allow you to sit in the dysfunction of wanting to sin and be distant from me as God. So I'm just gonna send your enemies in to come get you. And that's the context of this. So now the people are in exile. People we believe is around 597bc people are in exile. The people are exiled from the city of Jerusalem. They're down living in Babylon. They're sitting there. And so God uses Jeremiah to write this letter. So remember the first third of Jeremiah. First third of Jeremiah is Jeremiah giving us all of his autobiographical sketch of his life, from his call narrative to the works that he did with God. And what we see in Jeremiah 1 through about chapter 20 is God simply outlining to them and sharing with Jeremiah, sharing with us who he is and what his life's work was. The second third of the book of Jeremiah is written by his scribe, Baruch. Baruch is sharing with us the different facets of what actually is going on in the community and city. For example, you can see this is not a first flowchart. You go back, you go back one chapter. You can see here simply the story of what happened to a brother named Hananiah. Baruch is just giving us kind of the historical artifacts and updates of what's going on in Jeremiah's context. And the last third of Jeremiah is just a movement of his sermons and his poetry that Jeremiah is just telling us he's a sermon that preached the things I said, the things we sung, all of the type of stuff in the last third of Jeremiah. We're going to spend the last four weeks of November just walking through some of his sermons and some of his poetry. And then the last chapter of Jeremiah points to Jesus, the points of hope, the second, the coming of one who's going to restore Israel. All right, so that, that's the book of Jeremiah. So Jeremiah 29 finds a smack dab in the middle of the movement of the of exilic people. But the first letter that Jeremiah writes to the people of Israel. Now listen to this letter, verse number four. Have your Bibles be on the screen as well.

Go right ahead.

Look what it says. Jeremiah 29, verse 4. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all of those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and settle down, plant gardens and Eat what they produce, marry and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give daughters to marriage so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there, do not decrease. Also seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I've carried you into while you're in exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. I want you to see this, right? God tells the people of Israel, do a couple things in exile. One, I need you to produce in exile. That's the first thing I need you to produce in exile. Look what God tells us to produce. Number one, I need you to build. I need you to plant. I need you to multiply. I. I need you to pray. That's what God tells them. Build. Look at the text. I want you to see this. I'm not making it up. God says, I want you to build houses and settle down because you're going to be in exile for a minute, and I'm going to expand your territory.

Do you see this?

I want you, you're going to be in exile, and I'm going to expand Israel's territory, because God can use your mistakes and your exilic situations to expand the territory for the kingdom of God. I'm going to build. I want you to see this. And plant houses, plant gardens, and eat.

What they produce, right?

You're not going to ever have to rely on your enemies to give you something. You can produce something in exile. I really want you to see this. You in exile.

And I'm not even making it up.

In the text, right? So plant, build houses, settle in it, plant gardens and eat what they produce. Then what he says, verse 6. Marry, have sons and daughters, right? Have people in marriage. Increase in number, do not decrease, right? Multiply in exile. God is challenging them to build in exile, to plant in exile and multiply in exile. And then in the end of it all, look what verse seven says. Seek peace and prosperity of the city you're into and pray to the Lord for it. Because if it prospers, you too will prosper. God is challenging them. First of all, church. I want you to see this motion. God says, you're in exile. What is exile? Exile to me is a place of new vision. Exile gives you a kaleidoscope, really, on your life, where you can see the different shades and shapes of the world, that exile gives people new vision. One of the things I want us to realize, even about what it means to be black and brown in these, yet to be United States and that is that we are exilic people. We always have been exilic people. And God challenges us to not fall into the traps of what the Babylonians are doing. But here's what I can do. I'll build a house, I'll plant gardens. I will expand my territory. I will multiply, I will engage, I will not decrease. And then I will pray for the prosperity of the land. Because if the land prospers, I will prosper as well.

Church I want to challenge us on what it means to. I want to reframe exile.

Oftentimes we talk about how negative exile was, what it means to have Babylonian enemies in captivity. Remember this.

God told their enemies where they were.

Told that God could get their attention. And then God says, when I got your attention, expand your territory when I.

Got your attention, build where you are when I got your attention.

Because here's what I want you to know.

Your enemies cannot take away the ability.

For you to build, for you to plant, for you to multiply, and for you to pray.

Now, they may. What they can do is alter your.

Emotions and check your emotions.

Here's what your enemies can do. Your enemies can only do what you.

Give enemies access to do.

I hope you all hear me. Your enemies can only do what you give them access to do because God gave them an assignment to get you. You're the one who stops building and.

Planting and multiplying and praying. I wish I had somebody in these goblins right now. Say my enemies can't get me. Yep, my enemy's not going to get me. Because my enemies don't take away my ability to build. My enemies don't take away my ability to plant.

My enemies don't take away my ability to multiply.

My enemies don't take away my ability to pray.

If we even go back all the way to. We had ancestors that came over on ships called Jesus that, that stayed in. Stayed in disease infested ships packed like sardines. They took them. They took them from a homeland, but they didn't take the skill set away. They took them from a homeland, but didn't take their beauty away. Took them from Africa as a homeland and brought them to these yet to be United States. And we realized something, y', all, that while they enslaved us, we still knew how to build, how to plant, how to multiply. That's why we still got people that are telling us to shut up and dribble. That's why you still have individuals that tell you that your skin cannot be all it is. That's why people will get more upset about you saying that your life matters, but won't get upset about when you die, about when your friends die. They're telling you to shut up when someone kills one of your friends, but you better and don't speak up about it.

But you better care about economic justice.

And environmental justice, but don't care about black lives. You know why? Because the worst thing that can happen is when you tell your enemy, you can't tell me how to feel.

Because your enemy can't take away your ability to build, ability to plant, ability to multiply, ability to pray.

I believe what Covid has done is it's gotten our focus off.

It's gotten it off. It's gotten it off because it's made.

Us fight so hard to get people who didn't want you here in the first place to affirm you. Baby, I don't need people who don't like me to affirm me. I wish I had somebody to talk back to me. The worst thing your enemy can do is get you off focus. And the best thing for them is to get you off focus. I wish I had some melanin dripping folk under the sound of my voice. I'm getting my focus. I'm a focus on building and my own household. I'm a focus on planting new gardens in my household. I'm a focus on multiplying in my household. I'm a focus on praying for peace in my household. I'm going to focus on what God is going to call me to do because I may be in exile, but the exile doesn't take away my ability to build, to plant, to multiply and to pray. And can I shout you real fast? And it doesn't take God's eye off you either. That's the only reason that Jeremiah knew where to send a letter to and to get to the people is because God's eye was still on people that rejected them. I'm so glad that even in my own sin and bad mistakes that when I rejected Jesus, he still found me to tell me, I still let you.

Build and let you plant and let.

You multiply and let you find peace and pray. And your enemies can't do anything to you even if they want to. Because watch this. I've assigned you to the situation and there's only a certain amount of assignment.

I gave to your enemies. Somebody ought to be grateful this morning.

But I'm also challenging you too. All you colored folk from the sun, are you melod and dripping people? Are you Black and brown folk under the sound of my voice. I know we're living in these crazy seasons and times. But don't you dare let time stop you from building. Don't you dare let this time stop you from planting, from multiplying, from praying for peace. Because watch this. You are not a Babylonian.

You're just there for a season.

And I'm gonna get my focus even.

When I'm in exile.

God tells them, exile doesn't take away.

Your ability to do these things. As a matter of fact, it's streamlined.

Because I've learned, watch this.

To be creative with constraints. Cause constraints are my creativity, get me focused creativity. Great things happen when I'm constrained with my creativity.

God says, I want you to do some domestic, basic things.

But in the midst of all of that, it's going to expand the territory for the future. Don't decrease, increase, build houses. Settle down where you are because you're going to be here for a minute. But you can do something great with.

Continue the text.

I want you to see this. God says you're in exile. Build, plant, multiply, pray. Then look what he says. Verses 8. Verses 8, 9. Yes. This is what the Lord God Almighty says. Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them.

Here's what God's telling him. He says, not only do I want.

You to build, plant, multiply and pray, but then God says, watch out for false prophets.

I think what Covid has done is I told. Hold up. I think back in January, God said very clearly to me, I said this with you all as well.

I think was the second Sunday of.

February and the first Sunday of February. This is a year where God is going to expose bad leadership and false prophets. I told you all that back in January and February.

And I said in that moment that God is going to expose poor leadership. First week of March, God sat me down for a moment to pray. And it was this Wednesday. I was sitting in the office by myself. God took me to Amos chapter five and I just began to write. I put this thing on Facebook.

I'm not the most popular preacher out.

There, but I put this on Facebook. Five people liked it because it was just like, eh, Patches, you're going crazy.

And I said very clearly, God is about to purge leadership. Very clearly, he's going to purge leadership church.

There are a whole bunch of false prophets out there stealing money from People and stealing money even from some of us. There's so many times where I've had to defend the gospel to some of you across the screen because of the foolishness that we find on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. I love the fact that new age media is out here, but y', all, we've got. You got to monitor what you let.

Get into your spirit.

There's a whole lot of preachers that got pulpits and thousands of folk that.

Are false prophets, right?

And I'm just being very real with you. And in this text, Jeremiah says, watch.

Out for false prophets. Watch out for preachers who are going.

To tell you, watch out for pastors. I'll be honest with you that when they call the text to preach, don't open their Bible back up. Watch out for preachers who live life. Because here's what I want you to know and I'll tell you how I fell into the trap of this. I wrote a book and two of my other friends also, they wrote books as well. And we all wanted to get into the Bible app. And so we submitted our materials to the Bible app and we submitted it to them, we uploaded it up. And the first after you submit your information, the main question they ask you is how many social media followers do you have?

Right?

And so I'm sitting here, I write, I have my whole devotional in there. I got it sent to people. I'm sitting here excited about this devotional. My buddies are doing the same thing too. We all submitted it within the same week and we all got rejected. I contextualize and did a whole devotional on Jonah. One of my other buddies did a whole devotional on Malachi. My other buddy's the one in the New Testament and he did one take, took a look at one from a liberation perspective. I took it from looking at mental health and well being. And we were contextual, we learned preachers and we all got rejected because we.

Didn'T have enough social media followers. I talked about anxiety, he talked about sexual, gender politics.

And Bible app rejected us because we.

Didn'T have enough social media followers, which said a whole bunch to me. Watch the stuff you let into your spirit.

I'm not salty because of it, because I get it.

It's a game.

Watch the stuff, the devotionals, the television shows, the radio hosts, the preachers. You let tell you what the gospel says, right? Because Jeremiah comes back and says, hold up, you're in exile. Everybody ought not have access to tell.

You what the Bible says, right?

That's where in the same season of.

Moving around, I've fallen prey to it as well. Where there's so many churches on, on Sunday morning that we just take a moment to click to one and click to another. Click to another, click to another.

Have you ever gone to the food.

Court and taken just the sample and tried to live off the samples? Gotta hope y' all hear me. Have you tried to live off this? If you're gonna, wherever your feet are, be there. So if this is the place you're.

Going to be, be. If you're gonna be someplace else, be there. I'm not tripping over it.

I just want to help you as sheep, make sure you're following behind a.

Shepherd who's going to lead you someplace.

And not just following behind what sounds really good right now. Because I'm not going to lie. There are some sermons that I'm preaching. I'm like, God, I don't want to do this because I'll lose folk. And there's some sermons that I'm preaching. I'm like, God, that's gonna blow up a church. Church. I want you to know this very quickly, very, very clearly. False prophets are real right now. And I know I sound like I'm fire and brimstone, but I need to help you. I need to help us spiritually. I need to call it out. And the devil has not wanted me to get this sermon out.

Someday I'm going to share how much.

How difficult it's been to do this sermon this week. But church, false prophets are real and they're meandering everywhere in the world. I want us to be mindful of who we let into our space. If someone is speaking over you and is not using the gospel, if someone is prophesying to you and does not reference scripture, if someone lay hands on you and is not using scripture, matter of fact, in this season, if a prophet lays hands on you, they the problem and they the weakest link. Right in this season because that's the reason we can't even have church. They lay hands on folk and spitting in folks faces and talking about, but it ain't real, it's just the flu. It is real and that's what prophecy does for us.

Church, I want you to be mindful.

Because the text says false prophets are there and here's what the false prophets are doing.

They were telling the people, I really.

Want you to hear this.

They were telling the people who were in exile.

Exile will be over sooner than you know it.

God ain't really doing all this to You God doesn't mean what he's doing to you.

Exile is going to be over.

The false prophets were telling the people.

Of Israel that this is just a joke. You're just on vacation.

You know why?

Because if the false prophets were to.

Win, they wouldn't start building, they wouldn't.

Plant, they wouldn't multiply. The kingdom of God wouldn't expand and.

They wouldn't be people of prayer.

False prophets come to get you distracted.

From what God wants to do. And Jeremiah says, don't listen to the false prophets, because God is not speaking through those false prophets.

But here's what God is saying through the prophet Jeremiah says, here's what he says. And look at verse number 11. I'm almost done. Look what he says in verse number 11. Verse number 10. Sorry. This is what the Lord says, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I'll come to you, fulfill my gracious promise and bring you back to this place.

Right?

I would unpack this, because you see.

It, it's not for Israel, it's for Babylon.

But for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you, not to harm.

You, plans to give you hope in a future.

Then you'll call upon me and come pray to me.

I'll listen to you.

You'll seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I'll be found by you, declares the Lord. I'll bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you, declares the Lord, and bring you back to the place from which I'm carried.

You into exile, verses 11 through 13. For I know the plans I have for you, prosperity, hope, future, all of that. God says that'll happen after 70 years.

Now, contextually speaking and honestly speaking, as you see this, they got over in 50, right? They got it over in 50. They moved back in 50. But church, here's what I want you to see in this text, why that's so important. Sunday night, I was praying over this. I asked for revelation over this. Because God says 70 years. He let them go back into the city after 50 years. I was praying, God, why did you do this? And God had to show me something powerful.

He said, justin, it should not take 70 years.

It shouldn't take the loss of an entire generation to get folks attention back. The reason they went into exile in.

The first place was they didn't repent.

The reason they stayed in exile for.

50 years, they didn't want to repent.

And eventually God had to watch this purge an entire generation of thinking, feeling, doing ideology, theology. God had to purge an entire generation out of Israel to get their focus back. What are you trying to say? Pastor Justin Church, we are sitting in exile right now.

We are sitting in the midst of.

We are nomads wandering in the land. I am not saying Covid came to take out old people. Do not mishear me. I am not saying that. What I am saying is Covid came and revealed false leadership, revealed scandalous leaders, revealed pissed poor leaders, revealed, revealed leaders who are not doing right by the people that they're governing over. Covid came and revealed that there's a.

Whole bunch of sin in this country. The fact that black folks are getting killed by the dozen and we're told to shut up is a problem. The fact that our world, our ice.

Is melting left and right is a problem.

The fact that we have postmen and police officers, a part of our church that are getting spit at and laughed.

At because they wear a mask is a problem.

The fact that people won't wear masks is a problem. And this is a sin issue. We have racism rampant in our community, xenophobia rampant in our communities, gender inequity rampant. Latinx women make 50, 54 cents on the dollar compared to white men. Black women make 62 cents on the dollar compared to white. I mean, church. This is a problem. And God was very clear to me. He said, justin, it ought not take the. It ought not take a generation to die. It ought not take people to die for us to get our focus and realize that exile can end when we turn our hearts back to God.

That's it.

That when people decide to turn their hearts back to God and not their hearts on themselves, their hearts idols, their hearts on a president. Your whole life is not hinging on Tuesday. God, I. I hope y' all hear me. Your whole life is not hinging on Tuesday. Your whole existence is not hinging on Tuesday. God says, turn your hearts back to me. And the very thing that should have taken 70 years will take 50.

Church.

The revelation that God gave me on Sunday night was to tell all of us under the sound of my voice that God ought not have to wait until your grandchildren are here to give you the blessing he can give you today. I hope you all hear me. God not ought to have to wait until a whole generation goes for us to get the blessing that we can earn. Right now, I don't feel that I need to, because if I simply turn my heart back to God, the very thing that should have taken 70 years can be done overnight.

I wish y'.

All. The very thing that should have taken a whole generation can be done today. And I don't know about y', all, but I came this morning to blake some generational curses. I'm not gonna wait till my grandchildren get here to get the blessing God can give me today. I'm not gonna wait till I. I'm not gonna wait till my grandchildren get here to see voter rights for every single person. I'm not going to wait till my grandchildren get here to get through another civil rights movement. I'm not going to wait till my grandchildren get here to see police brutality. It shouldn't take. It shouldn't take people getting laughed at and death threats to overhaul the policeman's bill of rights. It shouldn't take folk getting laughed at in death threats to overhaul the citizens bill of rights. It shouldn't take. It shouldn't have taken this long to take plantations off our state name. Church, I don't know about you, but I need some folk under the sound of my voice. I know we're virtual. I wish I had some folk under the sound of my voice. I'm breaking curses today. I wish y'.

All.

I'm gonna turn my heart back to God today. I'm gonna see blessings today. I'm gonna see increase today because it's not going to have to take a generation to be removed for me to receive what God wants to give me. Somebody writing these comments today, today.

Favor.

I wish I had somebody today. Mercy today, Grace today. New seasons today open doors today, new opportunities. I'm not gonna wait for my grandchildren to get here for me to get uncomfortable with the sin that's making God hold back what heaven has. Oh, church. It's the only reason they're in this. They've gotten. Watch this. They got more comfortable.

Whoo.

With the sin that they told God they'd rather commit than get comfortable with.

The presence of God.

Church.

God is simply calling us to turn.

Your hearts back to God and in repentance unto God. I'll build, I'll plant, I'll multiply, and.

I'll pray and I'll call out false.

Prophets because the only word that matters.

Is the word of God.

I refuse to live life any longer to see blessings, skip a generation.

I wish I had somebody.

I refuse to live any longer for God's plans to be plans in 70.

Years when God can. If God can build, can turn around, can move a mountain overnight. If I wish I had somebody. If God can make a 40 day journey, a 40 year journey to get their attention. If God can destroy an entire entire nation in one week. If God can do that for them, I know God can. If God can make 70 years turn into 50 years, I know God can.

Make 70 years turn into one day. I refuse to sit here and bring.

The remnants of the foolishness of 2020 and 2021. I'm turning my heart back to God.

I refuse.

I wish I had a witness up in this place. I refuse to let what's happened this year come over into my 2021. I wish I had some folk today. I'm going to turn my heart back to God. Because I refuse to take the foolishness of this season of this year into the next place. And I'm opening. I declare over all of y', all, all who are watching in under this stream. You're walking into a whole new atmosphere. I wish I had some folks that can testify. This is my season to build. I wish I had y'. All. This is my season to multiply. This is my season to plant. This is my season for peace. This is my season for prayer. I wish I had some folk right now who can testify. I'm not going to stay in a season of drought. I'm not going to stay in a season of sickness. I wish y'.

All.

I'm not going to stay in a season of anxiety. I'm not going to not going to say in a season of frustration. But this is my season to build. This is my season to plant. This is my season to multiply. Because I'm not going to wait until God until for 70 years I believe what God can do in 70 years he can do. Somebody writing these comments today. If you believe it, I dare you to comment is so. It is so. For building my business and building my children and building my home and building my job. It is so for multiplication of my bank account. For multiplying it. I talk to every barren person under the sound of my voice. It is so that you will multiply.

And children.

I talk to every person who feels like you're going to lose your job and is so you will live and not die. I talk to every person who feels you're losing your mind. It is so that peace will overwhelm you. Because God doesn't have to wait for something to die to give you brand new life. Can I hold up? There are about 12 of y' all who are waiting for some.

Hold up. Okay.

Your boss.

I just see bosses and I see us as subordinates and I see 12.

Of y' all who are waiting for your boss to die for you to apply for a new job. I dare you right now to go back into the very places you were applying for. Sit come extend on those applicants. I'm trying to free some of y'.

All.

I'm trying to free some of y' all to go and build. I'm trying to free some of y' all to plant. You don't need someone to die for. You to have brand new life.

God, I wish y' all were in here because I. I wish I lay hands on some of you because I want to break this curse of a.

Sad eschatological vision of God. I don't need someone to die. I don't need someone to push me. I don't need someone to affirm me. Baby, I woke up like this. I walk like this. I woke up looking like favor. I move looking with this favor. And God has smiled on me. And so what should take 70 years will turn around in a night.

Because God told me exactly what's in store for me. And here's what he says. You have plans to prosper. Health, new seed.

God is showing us church.

Here's the main principle.

Since you know the end, Master your now.

I dare somebody write. Watch this. Watch this. I want you to speak this over your life. I want you to put this on top of your journal entries. Hear this. My time is now. I do.

I do.

My time is now. Because I want you to hear this.

My time.

My time. My time is now. Because watch this.

Since I know when the season's going.

In, I'm going to master right now. Y' all missing me.

Since I know exile's got to end. When I just. I gotta wish y'. All when I turn my heart back to God, it's over. God.

My time is now.

And so master your now.

Because you know it's going to be over soon. I want you to master what you're.

Doing, your prayer life, your time with.

God, your devotional time with God. I want you to master attending small groups.

I do.

I want you to master reading your Bible.

Don't ask me when we gonna have prayer time.

You started.

Don't ask me when we gonna do Bible study.

You started.

This is the time for disciples to.

Get up, build, plant, multiply and grow. Because God is challenging us to master your now.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

God told me this is one of.

Those shape shifting sermons. Because the last part of this that.

God shared with me, I'LL give you exactly how God put it to me.

Because I need to be faithful to him.

God said, justin, tell them the reason.

That it didn't turn is they didn't repent, but they multiplied, building, planted. Because remember the story of Ezra and the story of Nehemiah happens on the other side of the story. So what am I trying to say? God said this to me back in March, and I preached this March 15th. I preached on it in April. I preached on it in May, June, July and August.

I told y' all a long time ago, November is going to be an ugly month.

And I told you this before. And someone came to me and said.

Pastor Josh, you talked about the election.

I'm going to tell you straight up, I am not worried about the election. I'm not.

I'm not worried about Tuesday.

And that's me as your pastor, as.

A prophet, coming to you, telling you this.

Here's the thing. I ain't tripping over who the king is. I'm not. And here's why. I'm not tripping over the king.

Because Jesus could be in that White House and we still try to kill him.

I ain't tripping over the king. I'm not.

I'm really not worried about the king. I'm not worried about the king. Because at the end of the day, too, king's got an end date.

So, you know, the ramifications of what.

The king does can go for a while and then we can. I'm not worried about the king.

I'm really not. I'm worried about the hearts of men.

I'm really.

I'm really concerned about the hearts of men. I am. I'm not worried about who's in the White House. I'm worried about the retaliation from winning or losing. I'm worried about the fact that skin has become a weapon of warfare. I'm worried about the ramifications of what all of this whole season means on hiring and firing practices. I'm worried about how some of us, under the sound of my voice, don't feel comfortable driving to Bristol Barrington or North Smithfield. I'm worried about food, deserts, gentrification happening on the south side of Providence. I'm worried about the hearts of men. As I was praying about this, God took me to Jeremiah 29, said, Justin, I want you to remind folk I.

Still have plans to prosper.

To give you good health. Turn to me.

And when you call me, I'll be.

Right there for you. And the time eventually is going to end. So what do you do in the meantime? What do you do when you're in the waiting room? God says, build, plan, multiply. So what do you do? Here's how you do all these things. Number one, repent. Let someone say, repent. Go to Jeremiah, chapter 18, verse 7 through 11.

I want you to see this in.

Scripture, so you know I'm making it up. Jeremiah, chapter 18, verses 7 through 11, says these words.

If at any time I announce a.

Nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that.

Nation I warned repents of its evil, I will relent and not inflict on.

It the disaster I plan.

Do y' all see this? And if at another time I announce a nation of kingdom is to be.

Built up and planted, and it does not does evil in my sight and does not obey me, I'll reconsider the good I intended to do it. Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, this.

Is what the Lord says.

Look, I'm preparing a disaster for you, devising a plan against you. So turn from your ways. Each one of you perform your ways and actions. But they will reply, it's no use. We'll continue with our own plans. Each of us will follow the stubbornness of our hearts. God says, look at verse I'm just, I mean seven and eight.

And if the nation I warn repents.

Of its evil, I won't do it.

Church oftentimes when it comes to repentance.

We see it as like a one time thing. So I repent. One time, I'm saved. I confess to my mouth, believe in my heart, Paul. And I'm just good, right? Church Repentance is a constant thing. Because once I, you've, you guys have heard me talk about pornography, heard me talk about sex. You guys heard me talk about sex and drugs and alcohol. You've heard me talk about addiction. You've heard me talk about so many different things. Pride, arrogance. You heard me talk about a lot of things. And what the text is showing me here is repent. Here's what repentance is. My son has a phone that he uses, and my son's phone, what he.

Does is he likes watching Peppa Pig.

And so when he wants to watch Peppa Pig, here's what my son will do. My son will turn around and he'll keep the phone close to his chest, volume down, and no one knows he's watching Peppa Pig. And so we listen and we ask him, cam, what you watching?

Nothing.

And then he turns because Cam knows his parents say, don't watch Peppa Pig because we don't like what Peppa wants to put into his life.

Like Caillou.

I can't stand Caillou. I'm starting to get over Daniel Tiger too. So we don't like what it puts into your spirit. We don't like what they teach about anger, what they teach about community. So please don't watch Peppa Pig. My son being a three year old, if parents say don't do it, he's gonna find a way to do it. And he hides it close to his chest. Repentance says literally the word repentance means to turn away from right. That what are the things that you're hiding close to your chest that you just need to turn and give over to God? I said, this is the action. Just turn and give it over to God. God, I'm taking my pride and turning it over. God, I'm taking my insecurities and taking everything that I worship over you. And I'm taking my idols and I'm turning and give it over to you. God is challenging us church to repent, to turn and give it over to God. What are the things that you are holding onto that you don't want God to peer over your shoulder and see that you're engaging in something that God told you to stop doing? Turn, give it over to God. Repent. Repent. God is not going to do anything to you. The text literally says, I won't do what I told you I'm going to do because you repented. That's it. God is needing a people who just repent. Number two, God is challenging us to reconcile. Go to Jeremiah 23. You guys have heard me say this before and I'll say it again. Forgiveness doesn't mean reconciliation. Look at verse number two in Jeremiah 23. Therefore, this is what the Lord says. The God of Israel says to the shepherds, attend to my people, because you've scattered my flock, who have driven them away and not bestowed care upon them. I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you've done, declares the Lord. I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I've driven them, and bring them back to their pasture where they'll be fruitful and increase in number. I'll place shepherds over them who will tend to them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing, declares the Lord. God is telling them, listen, reconcile yourself back to me and I'll cover you and I'LL keep you. You. Who are the people that are keeping your emotions from giving them fully over to God? Who are the individuals that if they were to walk into the same grocery store you're in, I mean, you know, the arrows tell you to go down one aisle.

You would literally go down the aisle.

The wrong way because you just cannot. There are people who come to church and you just don't want to see them people. You don't.

Some.

That's the reason some of y' all happy we still ain't been in the building yet. Because there's some folk you just hope don't show up to church. Who do you need to reconcile? And here's what I mean. I want you to forgive yourself. I want you to forgive them. And I'm not telling you to welcome toxic relationships back in your life, but I want you to free yourself from the hold you let some individuals have. If Covid has taught me anything, Covid has taught me that life is too short to. To hate someone, to be down on someone, and to be frustrated with someone. It's just way too short. There are too many people dying for me to sit here and hate somebody. Who are the individuals in your life that you are giving way too much energy to? And they may be the Babylonians that God is forcing you to be under, but they can't do anything more than what God said they can do. So turn your hearts over to God and back to God. The last thing is read your Bible. Go to Jeremiah, chapter 20.

Now, you guys have heard me say.

This all summer, and I'm just going to say it one more time. Go to Jeremiah 20. And I'm not even going to read the whole thing, but I'll read. I'll read verse number seven. Oh, Lord, you deceived me. How was deceived? You felt overpowered and prevailed. I'm ridiculed all day long.

Everybody mocks me whenever I speak.

I cry, proclaiming violence and destruction.

So the word of the Lord is.

Brought to me, insult and reproach all day long.

But if I say, I will not.

Mention of him or speak his name anymore. His word is like in my heart, like a fire. A fire sharpened my bones. I'm weary of holding it in. Indeed I cannot. I hear many whisperings here on every side.

Report him. Report him.

All my friends are waiting for me.

To slip, saying perhaps he'll be deceived and will prevail over him and will.

Take revenge on him. But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior. So my Persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They'll fail and be thoroughly disgraced with their dishonor and be forgotten. I don't really have exposition on this part. Read your Bible. If you don't know where to start, Proverbs, Psalms, and Mark, then just keep reading. The reason being church, you can't call out false prophets for not declaring the word of God. When you have been reading the word of God, I want you to read your Bibles. I want you to be saturated with the gospel. Let the word be like fire inside of you. Read your Bible. God is leading people in this season to repent, reconcile and read, build, multiply, plant, pray, stay away from false prophets. Guarantee the blessings that could take 70 years can be done overnight. My son, beginning of COVID time, we were at home and daycare closed and all that type of stuff. And my wife works a full time job. I work this. And we got a bunch of side hustles as well. Well, in the midst of all of that, my. My son, who at the time was 2, he's now 3 when all this started, had a whole routine at school that just got abruptly taken away from him. You know, coming in, when he got in, what they did throughout the day, what they learned, what songs they sang, things they did when they had lunch, when they had nap time, when they got up, when they went out to play. And so now we're taking away, outside, taking away, playing, can't go to the playground, can't go to park. And we both have full time jobs and, and, and all of that, right? So my wife and I had a system. One of us worked in the morning, took care, and then the other one took care of Cam. The other one then we flipped after nap time. If he took a nap, a lot of times, y', all, he didn't take a nap. So we had this going through the beginning of COVID and so what we did at night, and don't y' all judge me because some of y' all did the same thing at the end of the night. We would just put a movie on and hope Cam watched the movie and, and fell asleep while watching the movie. And he like memorized Toy Story. Don't judge us. But oh my God, we just needed him to go to bed so we can finish our jobs because we needed to keep our jobs in Covid, right?

So my son. So now life is getting to whatever the normal is and we've adjusted.

We figured it out. We know what times we work.

I'm a night Owl I'm working to.

Two or three o'clock in the morning. My wife works in the morning. And we have all these moments. We're time together. We Cam and all. It's just we've worked, worked out our time frame. And in the midst of working on a new time frame, we realized something about Cam. He needed a new routine for bedtime. Wanted to get him off movies and all that. Don't y' all judge me because like y' all lost the parent Olympics too. So don't, don't do me right. So my son, we started a bedtime routine where he has to brush his teeth, take a bath, change his change out, change from his play clothes to his night clothes, get into his bed, everything's off, lights go out at particular time. We pray together and we read a book together. And what we realized is that Cam can't do those things by himself. We started a new routine, but we needed to walk alongside him. So when Cam brushes his teeth, I brush my teeth, Cort brushes her teeth. When Cam takes a bath, we're right there to make sure he doesn't drown. When Cam prays, we pray with him. When Cam reads his book, we read alongside him.

Cam goes lights out.

He knows his lights out because watch this. We established a new routine and we walked alongside him. But God is telling us to do right now, church in exile just need a new routine. We need a new routine. A lot of us are tired of COVID We got pandemic fatigue. Want to give up on life, give up on jobs. They said that the number, the main pandemic outside of COVID right now is mental well being. Church. I need you to start a new routine and know that God is going to walk right alongside you. When you're brushing your teeth, he's brushing his teeth. When you're taking a bath, he's right there with you to make sure you don't drown. When you're reading, he's giving you insight. When you're praying, he's talking right back to you. And when you're sleeping, he's making sure you're covered. I want to challenge all of us in exile to start a new routine. There's some people who repent God. This is where I was, this is what I did. Blessed people who reconcile God. I refuse to give anybody access to my emotions the way I've given others access to my emotions. And let's read our Bibles and let the author speak to you. And let's make things that can take an entire generation happen overnight. God, we thank you for using exile to expose and explain things about you. God, in this moment, I pray for my friends who are sitting in exile feel like they've been forgotten, like you don't know where they are. I pray, God, in the name of Jesus, that you utilize these moments to bring us closer to yourself. Thank you for plans. Thank you for access. Thank you that you still forgive now, God, in this moment of our lives. God, I pray that when we turn our hearts back to you, you welcome us with open arms. It's in Jesus name, amen.