Present Reality

TRUTH: THE TRUTH IS THAT WE MUST REALIZE THAT GOD IS WANTING TO BLESS US WHERE WE ARE. HE IS SHOWING US THAT IN THE MIDST OF PUNISHMENT, OR LIFE, YOU CHOOSE THE WORD THAT FITS, HIS DESIRE IS TO BLESS US AND TO BLESS FUTURE GENERATIONS THROUGH US REGARDLESS OF THE OUTWARD CIRCUMSTANCES!! WE MUST FOCUS OUR ENERGY ON THIS PRESENT REALITY!!

QUESTION: WHERE IS YOUR FOCUS? IS IT ON LIVING OR ON WANTING TO LIVE? WILL YOU CHOOSE TO LIVE NOW AND NOT LATER?

LIVING IN OUR PRESENT REALITY IS REALIZING

III. WE MUST BE GOD PEOPLE REGARDLESS OF WHERE WE FIND OUR SELVES (V.7 )

A. WHEREVER WE ARE WE MUST BE A BLESSING!

Jeremiah explains to the people what I believe to be the hardest thing for them to understand. They are to be a blessing in the world, this was God’s original plan from the time he called Abraham in Gen. 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be bless through you.”

1. What Jeremiah is saying to the people is this is not personal or political, this is about God!!!

2. The people where to understand, God sent them to this place, He carried them away into exile.

3. God has even gone to the point of Calling Nebuchadnezzar His servant. God was going to accomplish what He set forth to do and if the people where to survive they had to accept what God had brought about.

4. What God was calling the people to was a larger world view. God was concerned with all people, and Because Israel failed to allow God to be God, God would use another source to bring His purposes about.

B. WHEREVER WE ARE WE MUST REFLECT OUR GOD!

The most powerful understanding of the text is Jeremiah was calling the Israelites to enter into the culture in which they find themselves as a reflection of who they still are as God’s People, whether it is a time and a place and a circumstance of their own choosing or not.

1. These people of God were to seek peace for this land of exile. This is the peace of God known as Shalom, A peace with God for all people from God.

2. They were also to be a part of the prosperity of this foreign land. They were not to harm the land, but cause it to be prosperous. This is not Caanan land either. In essence, God has called His people to bless their own enemies by doing good to them and not evil!!!

C. WHEREVER WE ARE WE MUST PRAY

But to take the cake, God calls His People to pray for their captors and their captor’s city.

1. This fulfills the idea that they are to be a blessing to all the world.

2. But, note the fact that God tells them to not spite themselves, for to pray for prosperity for this foreign land would be to pray for prosperity for themselves.

NT THOUGHT: Does this remind you of anything from the NT? What about the Gospel that Jesus preached: Matt. 5:43-45 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”

ILLUSTRATION: Like the crashing waves of the surf, sorrow can overwhelm the soul of a grieving heart. Yet, amidst the ebbing crash of heartbreak, Horatio Spafford knew God’s peace. A lawyer and fellow worker with D.L. Moody, Spafford suffered great financial loss in the Chicago fires of 1871. Shortly afterward, he grieved the death of his son. Wanting to assist Moody in his London evangelistic campaign in 1873, Spafford planned a European trip for himself and his family. At the last minute, he was unable to accompany his wife and four daughters but sent them on as scheduled on the SS Ville Du Hauve with promises to meet them later.