Your 70 Years

This man on the screen his name is Frane Selak and he is what is considered the worlds most unluckiest man.

Throughout his life he has had events that would happen where you just look at him and go “that guy is unlucky”

when he was 33 he was riding a train on a cold rainy day through a canyon and the train flipped off the tracks and crashed in a river and he somehow survived but had hypothermia and a broken arm.

Then the next year he was on his first ever plane ride when all of the sudden the planes door malfunctioned and ripped open and litterly sucked him out of the plane.

Somehow he survived that

Then 3 years later he was riding a bus when the bus skid off the road and went into a river.

Somehow He swam to shore with just a few cuts and bruises.

A few years later he was driving and his car caught on fire and he escaped before it blew up

A Few years later He got hit by a bus while walking

and then the a few years later while driving in the mountains he got hit by a truck, and wasn’t wearing his seatbelt so he got ejected towards a cliff but got caught in a tree branch while his car went down the cliff.

I mean this guy has had a rough life.

If I was him I would probably just stay home and where a padded suit.There were a total of 7 near death experiences he had where he shouldn’t of survived

There were a total of 7 near death experiences he had where he shouldn’t of survived

This guy had some rough luck.

and really for a period of about 40 years Frane had thing after thing come up in his life.

And you can almost imagine him going “when is this period going to end?”

and I couldn’t find anything where he was commenting on what happened

But on a serious level, there are things in our lives that come up where we go when will this end.

When is the pain going to end, when will I not have anxiety about this, when will this be made right.

I remember a couple years ago Arika’s father had cancer and it was a rough period of life because there was so much uncertainty over what would happen.

And you would go when is this going to be okay?

And probably right now in your mind you are thinking of a period of your life.

Where you went through a sickness

Where you might be going through a consequence of something you have done

Where you had anxiety or depression

Where you had anxiety or depression

Where you loss a child or loved one,

Where you might be going through a consequence of something you have done

Where something happened and because of it you felt like you were stuck in this period of life where things are not good.

And you are asking God: “When is this going to end?”

Because I cannot go on much longer.

And for some of you, you might be going through a period like that now.

And today in the passage we are in it is a letter to people who are in a rough period. Really a rough seventy year long period.

But if you haven’t been with us the past couple weeks let me get you up to speed

because we have been going through the book of Jeremiah and really in this book God calls a man named Jeremiah to tell really evil nations to turn back to God.

and they are given multiple chance.

And if you were last week really God gave the people another chance, but they said no we want to do are own thing.

and what happens is they end up in exile where they have been forced to leave where they live and go to another country to be prisoners or slaves.

And so today Jeremiah rights this letter to these people who are in this period of exile for what will be 70 years

So turn with me to

because really like I said each of us has a period or multiple periods in our life that is just hard.

Each of us has a 70 year period, where things are not right, where things are going porley,

But in the middle of this Jeremiah tells the people in this passage what they need to know as your going through this 70 year period.

and this things are still relevent for us today.

So once again we are in which says:

Jeremiah 29:4–14 NIV

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all 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 your daughters in 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 have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, 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,” declares the Lord. This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to 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 will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

So like I said Jeremiah is writing to these people stuck in this rough 70 year period and the first thing he tells these people is you need to “accept the reality of the situation”

Because the issue that was occuring at this time was people were thinking that this exile going to be just a short period.

In fact there were people called false prophets that are referenced in verse 8-9 saying god spoke to them and they are going to only be here for a short period.

And the issue with this is if you are only expecting to be somewhere for a short period you don’t settle down.

If you go to a hotel you don’t unpack your bags like your moving in.

and so these people are in denial of their current situation and because of that they are not going to set up roots.

So most likely they are not building homes or shelters, they are not planting food.

And this is a huge issue because of them being in denial of the circumstance in a few months they are not going to have shelter, and be starving.

So Jeremiah is saying look you need to accept the reality of what happened.

You are in Exile.

And you are there for 70 years.

You need to understand what is going on, because you need to start putting roots down.

And you know for us in our life we need to understand where we are.

We need to be able to acknowledge our current circumstance.

and for some of us that means recognizing that we are going to be in this 70 year period for awhile.

and its okay to look at the situation you are in and just go “Wow this stinks”

But we need to know where we are if we want to get through the 70 year period.

If you have ever been in a mall you have probably seen those big maps that they have with all the stores.

and on each of those maps you probably have seen a small circle or star on it that says “YOU ARE HERE”

And you know the reason they have that little circle of star is because you might have a map, but if you do not know where you are that map almost useless.

And you might have the Bible, or come to church, or have friends, but if you do not know where you are in life

You do not know what you need to do to get through the period you are in.

So the first point is we need to accept the reality of our situation, (Even when its rough)

But the second point is you might be in a 70 year period, but in the middle of that 70 year period God still has a plan.

Thats why in this passage Jeremiah tells them look you need to get roots down because I have a plan for you.

and if you look at verse 11 its probably a verse you have heard before but it says

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Basically you might be in this period of 70 years, but in the middle of that I have a plan for you, and it is a good plan that has hope.

But too often we read this passage a little out of context because we think our problems are solved overnight, but this is saying I have a plan for you. It doesn’t mean that the plan will be easy,

If you have someone in your family who is sick it doesn’t mean

But in means that even in the midst of the 70 year period,

In the midst of the sickness

In the middle of the loss

In the middle of the pain

in the midst of whatever it is God has a plan.

and really this is the second reality we have to grasp. This is bad, but God has a plan.

Even when things get off course God has a plan.

If you have ever seen a caption of a ship navigate a storm it is kinda amazing,

because the ship might get off course but they always have a plan for the ship to get back on course.

He knows when he needs to go another route or

And really God has a plan for you and that plan is never something bad but it is life giving.

So we need to accept our reality, but we also need to accept that in the midst of the reality, God has a plan.

But lastly and this is probably the most important part Because through it all God will never abandon you.

If you have your Bible verse 12 and 13 would be good to underline.

because it is an amazing promise.

it says “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”

In context of this passage. Things might be rough. The forecast might be cloudy in your life,

but in the middle of that it will never be too foggy where God can’t see you and where he won’t be with you.

He will not abandon you in your 70 year period

You know there are some of us here who may just need to hear God say I am with you.

Regardless of where you are right now. I am with you.

I am with you in the loss of a loved one.

I am with you in the middle of a lay off

I am with you when your watching you kid go through a hard time

I am with you when you are going through the health issue.

I am with you in your 70 year period and I will never abandon you.

You know in the beginning I mentioned briefly how Arika and I we went through a short 70 year periods when her father got cancer.

And thats not a fun thing to go through

But can I say in the middle of that God never her family or us.

But can I say in the middle of that God never her family or us.

In the middle of your 70 year period God has a plan for your life and He will never once abandon you.

Will you pray with me?