Who’s Voice Are You Listening Too?

Jeremiah 29:4–14 ESV

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord. “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then YOU will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear YOU. YOU will seek me and find me, when YOU seek me with all your heart. I will be found by YOU, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Introduction

If you weren't here last week you missed it..

God graced us with a deep move of his spirit in our lives..

and I really don’t have many words to describe what happened..

It was a moment where you just had to be here…

And although I had been planning this message for quite some time I feel like last week was the perfect confirmation for this weeks message here in Jeremiah 29.

I believe that if we will listen, this passage of scripture is calling us this morning..

to a much deeper and sincere relationship with God..

Jeremiah 29

Exile

In Jeremiah 29 we find the prophet Jeremiah and he is speaking too the people of Israel who are in exile.

Israel had been carried into captivity in Babylon

and this was their own fault..

turned from god

you see when God brought Israel into the promised land he made a covenant with them.

If they would serve him, he would protect them and they would never leave the land..

But over time, we find that Israel turned from serving god..

and turned to worship other gods like Baal..

They begin to live in godless ways..

Prophets

So god brought them prophets..

such as Elijah, elisha, Isaiah and others and warned them that they needed to turn back to god, or they would pay the consequences..

to return to the covenant God made with them…

And at times they would shows signs of repentance..

but then fall out of covanant again..

Kings would come and lead them away from god..

wicked prophets would arise and turn thier hearts from god..

Jeremiah

so by the time we get to the prophet Jeremiah..

God has had enough.

and God sends Jeremiah to tell the people..

You fate is sealed..

Because you have transgressed my laws and the covenant you are going into exile..

and thats what happens..

The king of Babylon comes in and takes the people away..

and takes Israel into captivity..

because they refused to serve and honor YHWY as their god..

Different voices

I want to point out that israel through their history has many different voices that were speaking..

and they had to choose who they would listen too..

Wicked voices

on one side we had kings like ahab and jezibel..

telling the people to serve baal and live in wicked ways..

their were evil prophets

people who looked like they served god and spoke for god..

but who misled the people and told them godless things were ok..

God and the prophets

on the other side we find the the prophets of god..

speaking for god..

telling the people.. return to god..

serve YHWY as he has instructed you too..

and the people were inbetween.

Sumarized

we see this dichotomy summarized in elijahs words 1 kings 18

1 Kings 18:21 ESV

And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.

All through the promised land their was a battle raging for the attention and loyalty of the poeple..

Evil on one side..

God on the other..

People in the middle making a choice..

Attention

and so to get their attention and correct them god lets babylon conquer them and carry them off..

babylon captivity was about getting ahold of the poeple… getting their attention. and getting them back in relationship with God.

in chapter 27 of Jeremiah..

And god tells Jeremiah..

build a yoke..

and go before the king and tell him..

The lord says he is putting the yoke of the king of babylon over you..

your going to exile..

Your going to be here for 70 years..

accept it..

but they still are not listening..

God warns them..

Jeremiah 27:9–10 ESV

So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish.

god warns them three times not to listen to the lying prophets..

Lying Prophets

In their dispair.. The people turn to wicked prophets anyways to hear what they want.. instead of what God has said..

and in chapter 28

a lying prophet arrises names Hananiah

and he comes to Jeremiah and takes the yoke..

and breaks it..

and prophesied that in two years god is going to break the yoke of exile over them and bring them back to the promised land..

or course made the people happy..

but it wasnt what god was saying..

False hope..

the people wanted what hananiah was saying..

but it wasnt god..

they were putting false hope in what they wanted to hear..

instead of listening to the truth coming from the Lord..

Reminds me..

im reminded of 2 timothy 4:3-4

2 Timothy 4:3–4 ESV

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

We live in a day where people will find someone to echo their desires…

instead of submitting themself to the truth of god..

Today

there are still lying prophets in the church..

Prophesying not what God says.. but rather what people want to here..

Blessing, healing, favor, propserity..

and though god is a god of those things.. people are twisted..

They are lying prophets..

The people were listening to lying prophets..

Chapter 29

and we come to chapter 29 where god is chastising the people for listening to lying prophets..

and reminding them..

that he has sent them to exile..

to get comfortable..

and to pray for the welfare of Babylon because they will be there for a while..

The Call to return to him..

and then god calls them back to him..

When the time for the fulfillment of the promise comes..

I will bring you back to the land..

and then we see this famous passage we know of jeremiah 29:11-13..

Jeremiah 29:11–14 ESV

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

God says..

Listen to me..

I know my plans for you..

WHEN THE TIME COMES IT WONT BE PROPHETS YOUR LISTENING TOO..

YOU WILL CALL ON ME..

YOU WILL PRAY..

AND I WILL HERE.. YOU..

AND YOU WILL SEEK ME..

AND FIND ME..

WHEN….. YOU… SEEK ME WITH ALL OF YOU HEART…

YOU WILL GET AHOLD OF ME..

NOTICE HOW MANY TIMES GOD SAYS YOU…

12 times in four verses..

GOD SAYS IM CALLING YOU BACK ISRAEL..

IM CALLING YOU TO SEEK ME..

TO FIND ME..

AND WHEN YOU DO..

I WILL RESTORE IT TOO YOU..

the call to return

ive come to tell you this morning god is calling his church to return to intimate relationship with him..

HE IS CALLING ALL THE YOUS…

TO COME BACK TO INTIMATE REALTIONSHIP WITH HIME..

TO STOP SEEKING OUT THE LYING PROPHETS WHO WILL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT TO HERE

AND START HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD FOR YOUR SELF AND SEE THE TRUTH OF WHAT GOD IS SAYING!

HE IS CALLING US TO SEEK HIM WITH EVERYTHING WE ARE!!

TO LISTEN TO HIS VOICE INSTEAD OF THE ONES WHO ARE LEADING US ASTRAY!

What does it look like to return to god?.

what does an intimate relationship with god look like..

God tells us..

YOU Seek him..

Jeremiah 29:12–13 ESV

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

It starts with seeking him..

STOP LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO SEEK GOD FOR YOU.. AND YOU SEEK HIM..

That word seek here means to search out and strive after..

God says..

You call on me..

cry out to me..

you come to me..

search me out..

pray…

action

seek is an action word..

its a verb..

it means we have to do something..

We have to look with intensity and focus..

hide and seek

have you ever played hide and seek with you keys..

you know..

you set them down..

but you cant find them.

and of course its always when you have to be somewhere soon..

so what do you do?

You seek them..

and you seek them until what?

you find them..

Thats the intensity we should be searching for god and more..

daily.. looking into his word..

getting alone with him in the secret place..

look for him..

intensely..

Jesus

Jesus reiterates this mindset in Matthew 6:33

Matthew 6:33 ESV

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Jesus says ahead of everything else seek the kingdom of god and his righteousness

we have to bee seekers of god ourselves and for ourselves..

and not just looking

but God puts it this way…. WIth all you heart..

With all YOUR heart..

Jeremiah 29:12–13 ESV

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

what is the heart?

the heart in jewish culture represented the center of all you were..

God is saying.. seek me with everything you are..

not holding anything back from me..

any area..

and sin..

and struggle.

and weakness..

SEEK ME..

GIVE ME YOUR EVERYTHING..

AND WHEN YOU DO..

THERE IS A PROMISE..

jesus

again Jesus reiterates this in the New Testament

Matthew 22:37 ESV

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

Jesus said the greatest commandment for us is to love god with all..

all our heart, soul and mind..

in Jewish culture that's all of you..

with everything you are..

you are to love and seek god..

in every way you are..

you are to love and seek God..

and look what will happen..

And you will find ME..

He says.. when you seek me like that..

you will find me..

Find

that word find me in the Hebrew means a few things..

Meaning: appear.. acquire.. meet.. be present..

god is saying when you seek me like that..

your going to see me show up in your life..

your going to gain the revelation of who i am..

your gonna see me in a way you've never seen before..

Your gonna experience my presence..

YOU WILL FIND ME..

We don’t look

so many of us dont find God or see him in greater ways simply because we are not willing to put in the effort to look for him..

in the new testament James 4:8

James 4:8 ESV

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

god wants intimate relationship with YOU..

not just the pastor..

not just the church..

YOU..

but you have to be willing to seek him..

I will restore for you..

look what else god says.. he will do if we will seek him..

Jeremiah 29:14 ESV

I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6:33?

Matthew 6:33 ESV

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

You see when we begin to seek god like that..

He begins to move in our lives..

We open up the channel of faith that makes all things possible..

we invite the divine to do the impossible..

God begins to restore the things the enemy destroyed and stole from us..

relationship are restore…

favor is restored..

provision is restored..

what is stolen is returned..

god begins to bring the things we have lost..

End

Which voice are you listening too?

Are you going to keep looking for prophets that will tell you what you want to here?

or are you going to seek the lord yourself and hear his voice for youself?

Church

God is calling the church back to intimacy with him once again..

to seek him like never before..

to get into the secret place..

and if we will..

God will move mightily on our behalf..

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

altar

Im calling you to the altar this morning..

to Come and seek him..

stop looking for gods voice in others..

and start talking to him yourself..

whos voice are you going to listen too?