Engaged In Exile

Pull Up A Chair

Jeremiah 29:4-

Jeremiah 29:4–7 NKJV

4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6 Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. 7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.

This letter was calling the people of Israel to go against everything they thought they should do. These were the people who invaded their land, destroyed their temples, murdered their people and took them captive to a foreign land.

Everything about them and their way of life went against all that they believed. But instead of resisting, fighting or separating from them, they are asked to settle down and make themselves at home. To be increased. to pray for and seek for its peace.

Let’s get this straight, Im not telling you to go to college and have kids. I am telling you to go to college and make disciples. To be increased as followers of Christ. To pray for your campus and have a heart for the people around you. To imagine what it would look like if more of your peers knew the love Jesus (There would be less abuse, anxiety, depression, bullying and assaults), and to do whats needed to make it happen.

There are hurting people everywhere right now that are just waiting for the hope and promise that Jesus gives, and they are waiting for you to show it to them.

Do you ever wonder why the world looks the way it does? It’s because it has turned away from God. And because those of us who know God and are called to reach others for Him are just fine with keeping our distance from those we are called to reach.

Our unwillingness to engage the world is the reason for our lack of impact in it.

You are called to be missionaries, and you are about to step into a new mission field. When we find ourselves around people or places that aren’t ours, we pick apart all the things that are wrong with them. Instead of showing love and concern, we become part of the problem. We do it because we fear the judgement and the rejection we may or may not receive, so we are quick to judge and reject first.

When we find ourselves around people or places that aren’t ours, we pick apart all the things that are wrong with them. Instead of showing love and concern, we become part of the problem. We do it because we fear the judgement and the rejection we may or may not receive, so we are quick to judge and reject first.

1 John 4:18 NKJV

18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

When you love something, you seek the best for it. When you love someone, you seek the best for them. When we love like God loves, when we love like Jesus loves, then no fear, no excuse, no reason, roadblock, obstacle, nothing in this world would stop us from showing that love!

Living On Mission, Connecting Faith To Life

There comes a point in our lives when we stop looking forward and begin to look back. Looking at all the time wasted, opportunities missed, mistakes made, etc.

We are always looking to whats next or what was, and we end up missing the opportunity of what’s now. God is not impressed by what you plan on doing in the future, He wants to see what you are doing with today! Are you sharing the gospel today? Are you loving people today? Are you serving today? Are you chasing after Him today, where you are, with who you are with?

Anchored In Truth

Going back to scripture, the people of Israel were being told just the opposite.

Jeremiah 29:8-

Jeremiah 29:8–11 NKJV

8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. 9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord. 10 For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

There were prophets claiming that this captivity would be very short. There is no need to even unpack! But this was a lie, they would be there 70 years. Prophets were preaching what the people wanted to hear and the people were eating it up.

It’s funny how we often look for justification from others so that we can feel better about the lies we accept as truth whether they come from others or ourselves. The truth is, we lie to ourselves everyday. We justify why we don’t share the gospel, why we don’t come to church, why we don’t tithe, why we close ourselves off, why we hold grudges, why we don’t forgive, why we don’t serve, and on and on it goes. We lie to ourselves and we lie to those around us.

There will be people telling you to keep to yourself, to get through the next few years without making too much noise or drawing attention to yourself. Even some Christians will tell you that it’s unbiblical to live among the world, to associate with people that don’t follow God.

2 Corinthians 6:14 NKJV

14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?

1 Corinthians 9:19–23 NKJV

19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; 20 and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; 22 to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

1 Corinthians 9:19 NKJV

19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;

Luke 19:10 NKJV

10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

1 Corinthians 9:

Isn’t that how Jesus lived? Was He yoked with unbelievers? Jesus not only tells us, but He showed us that to live for Him means to live for those that are far from Him. And it’s to Him that we must always look to and trust.

Isn’t that how Jesus lived? Was He yoked with unbelievers? Jesus not only tells us, but He showed us that to live for Him means to live for those that are far from Him. And it’s to Him that we must always look to and trust.

We spend our lives looking to whats next. grade school, high school, college, career, marriage, family, etc.

There comes a point in our lives when we stop looking forward and begin looking back. Back at the mistakes, missed opportunities and time wasted.

Is that how Jesus lived? Was He yoked with unbelievers? Jesus not only tells us, but He showed us that to live for Him means to live for those that are far from Him. And it’s to Him that we must always look to and trust.

Isn’t that how Jesus lived? Was He yoked with unbelievers? Jesus not only tells us, but He showed us that to live for Him means to live for those that are far from Him. And it’s to Him that we must always look to and trust.

We are always looking to whats next or what was and we end up missing the opportunity of whats now. God is not impressed by what you plan on doing in the future, He wants to see what you are doing with today! Are you sharing the gospel today? Are you loving people today? Are you serving others today? Are you chasing after Him today, where you are with who you are with?

Verse 11, God alone knows His plans for us, not our friends, teachers, professors, commanders, captains, only God!

If you arent doing it now, it will get more and more difficult to do as you move through life. You will be the foreigner in a strange land surrounded by people telling you what you need to be doing and not doing.

Remember verse 11, God alone knows His plans for us, not our friends, teachers, professors, commanders, captains, only God!

I’m not saying to be insubordinant to any of these people. Pastor said to have kids and ignore everyone! That’s not what I said, I know how you think! Remember who you are:

sinner saved by grace, saint, child of God, heir with Christ, His temple, workmanship, masterpiece, ambassador, His treasure.

who you belong to.

John 10:27 NKJV

27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

John 10

We hear Him because we recognize His voice, we recognize His voice by spending time with Him.

To Draw You Close

Jeremiah 29:12–14 NKJV

12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

God’s people were far from their home. They had no land, temples, priests, altars, etc.

God encourages and assures them of His presence and His promise to bring them back home.

As with everything God does, there was a purpose to this captivity. It was to bring His people closer to Him through repentance and dependence on Him and Him alone.

They had become complacent and arrogant in their ways. Entitled even.

By taking them away from all that they knew, putting them in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by enemies, for a long period of time, He gave them the opportunity to respond to the situation the way we should respond today, with total surrender to Him.

They had to cultivate a lifestyle of calling on Him and seeking Him daily. Our relationship with God begins in our hearts. It begins with total surrender and dependence on Him, His love, His provision, grace, mercy. That’s why the exile was as long as it was. The people needed time to get to the place where they were completely hopeless without Him.

Here’s the thing. Until you and I get to that place, there will always be reasons not to go, not to share, not to love.

Romans 12:3 NKJV

3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

As you step into the next season in your lives, remember this:

You are a missionary for the King of kings! Pull up a chair in the moment you are in today.

Anchor yourself in the truth of the gospel.

Anchor yourself in the truth of the gospel to protect yourself from lies and false teachings.

Seek God daily so that everything you are is dependent on Him.

Seek God daily so that everything you are is dependent on Him.

Our purpose is to glorify God. What better way to glorify Him than to join Him in His mission of reaching those far from Him!