The Babylonian Correction Facility - Part 2 - Jeremiah 29:4-32
Posted by Calvary Chapel Fremont at 8/17/2011 9:43 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Pastor Tim Brown Calvary Chapel Fremont Babylonian Correctional Facility Jeremiah
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Pastor Tim Brown Calvary Chapel Fremont Babylonian Correctional Facility Jeremiah
Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Wednesday August 17, 2011
The Babylonian Correctional Facility p2
Jeremiah 29:4-32
As most people in trouble are - The people were concerned w/ future. Judah broke the law of God/taken to the Babylonian Correctional Facility. C29 is J writing to the inmates @ TBCF. 1st epistle of Jeremiah to inmates @... He was writing to counter the false prophets in Babylon who were giving false direction to the people.
4-32 Message of the letter
4-7 Give yourself to where you are
4 Recognize Me and My hand –
God: This is of Me. If they really didn’t think the Lord was behind this, they would have been so much more vulnerable to the message of the false prophets.
Premise of the false prophets: if it’s bad, it’s not of God. They looked at life through the prism of experience – bad experiences can’t bring forth good results. Prophets look at the world through the prism of the holiness of God. If something bad was happening to you, it could still produce something good in you. How? Faith.
If you are in a difficult place, could it be the Lord’s doing? Why would you want to leave a place the Lord would have you remain? Tough marriage/difficult relationship/tired of discipline? Stay! The best place to be is where the Lord is. Samson’s blindness purified his vision/ Jacob’s limp straightened out his walk/Christ’s sorrow deepened His joy/broken-whole
5 Dig down/build up
Not: build a bridge/get over it. But: build a house/live in it. You’re going 2b where ur for awhile. Get used to it. Make yourself comfortable. Build a house/move out of your tent. Stop thinking temporary. Don’t live out of a suitcase. Buy a home/move out of the motel. Make this abnormal the new norm.
You don’t know how long you’re going to be in this season of life (they did – 70 years). The Lord was telling them to get comfortable where they were. Getting comfortable at the B Correctional Facility would not be an act of disobedience to God/not be compromising w/ Babylon – they weren’t to embrace the gods of Babylon.
Whether due to correction/direction, ur where ur - God has a purpose for it. Give yourself to the purpose of God. Don’t resist/ embrace where ur. Give yourself to God in this place.
6 Look ahead
Your children will be born in the Babylonian Correctional Facility. Don’t let the place urn determine your fruitfulness. You are still to bear fruit even while being corrected/confined.
Multiply/do not decrease… This is exactly what was done in oven of Egypt.
The Godavari Delta in South India is a 'surplus' rice area/known all over India as a district of great fruitfulness. In the 1st ½ of the 19th century it was an unfruitful area until Sir Arthur Cotton, a Christian engineer, carried out his irrigation scheme/dam constructed on the Godavari River/canals dug to carry the fresh water/whole district has become exceedingly fruitful. Trials dig into your soul/God wants to pour His water into the channels dug by the trials – bring His A Word/Spirit where they had not been before.
God wants to irrigate your trials w/ His Spirit/Word!
J is countering the message of the false prophets that indicates that they will return to Jerusalem soon. The false prophets said that God had no purpose for the people in this place – nothing good could come from it. The false prophets saw the irritation of the people and J saw the irrigation of God.
7 Think local
Become loyal to the place u r n/bless it with the fruit of your labor. Missional church…
First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 1 Tim 2:1-2
8-9 Do not seek to return to a comfortable place
Often, a backward look stokes backward desires. Don’t ask, “How do I get out of this?” Rather, “What is God doing in this?”
Israel was where they were because of national failure. Divorce/ debt/ disease/depression – all result of failure of something. Maybe not yours – but sin of others can affect you. Cf. irresponsible decisions of spouse/children… But please note that there is no condemnation for those @ TBCF– being there was condemnation enough.
10-14 Seek Me
10 Flow of message: give yourself to where ur/don’t try to get out of where ur/get hold of Me. Grab hold of God! If you follow your plans you’ll never know God’s plans. The false prophets said, “Two years.” God said, “70 years.” Basically: don’t move until I tell you to move.
11
Plans – I am going to open a new chapter in your life. Let me write this chapter at the Babylonian Correctional Facility and then I will write the chapter after this one. God’s a better writer than you are.
Future = ‘what is behind.’ Hebrew conception of time: rowing a boat and backing into where you’re going. You see where you’ve been and have your back to the future. You can’t see into the future, but I can. I can give you what you don’t see.
Hope – from ‘rope’ - what is twisted/gives strength. If I’m in a pit and someone throws me a rope, I grab hope when I grab that rope. I know someone is concerned w/ my welfare. I can expect someone at the top of the pit when I get hauled out. God has given me the rope of hope and is pulling me into the future.
12 Then you will call upon Me… I will listen to you…
Implication – I won’t listen to you, now. I will listen then. There is a season of time where God is doing a particular work and if we pray contrary to what the Holy Spirit is doing, God doesn’t respond.
God is always one step (at least!) ahead of you.
Gen. 15 – Abram and history of Israel
Paul in Acts 13/16
God closes some doors that others might be opened.
God is smarter than you.
What if Joseph had not been forgotten in Egyptian jail? What if released from jail and returned to Canaan?
M. Clark left CC and we merged w/ SVC.
Our thought is: God loves me and I have a wonderful plan for my life. But prayer is submission to His plans. I know My plans for you… We pray to enfold His plan into our lives. We don’t pray that God would form plans or alter His purposes. Ro. 11:34; Is. 40:13. Prayer isn’t getting something to move, it’s hopping on something that is already moving.
13
Seek – to touch and feel
Search – rub/beat/tread – Ez. 7:10 ‘study’
You will touch Me when you concentrate all of yourself on Me.
14
I will be found of you and I will do what I desire to do. In seeking God they discovered His will for them.
15-20 Jerusalem is going to experience judgment
Because they have not sought the Lord, they haven’t found Him – only His judgment.
21-32 Message to false prophets
21-23 Message to Ahab and Zedekiah
False prophesies accompanied by false living/immorality.
24-32 Message to Shemaiah
Download | Duration: 00:58:23
The Babylonian Correctional Facility p2
Jeremiah 29:4-32
As most people in trouble are - The people were concerned w/ future. Judah broke the law of God/taken to the Babylonian Correctional Facility. C29 is J writing to the inmates @ TBCF. 1st epistle of Jeremiah to inmates @... He was writing to counter the false prophets in Babylon who were giving false direction to the people.
4-32 Message of the letter
4-7 Give yourself to where you are
4 Recognize Me and My hand –
God: This is of Me. If they really didn’t think the Lord was behind this, they would have been so much more vulnerable to the message of the false prophets.
Premise of the false prophets: if it’s bad, it’s not of God. They looked at life through the prism of experience – bad experiences can’t bring forth good results. Prophets look at the world through the prism of the holiness of God. If something bad was happening to you, it could still produce something good in you. How? Faith.
If you are in a difficult place, could it be the Lord’s doing? Why would you want to leave a place the Lord would have you remain? Tough marriage/difficult relationship/tired of discipline? Stay! The best place to be is where the Lord is. Samson’s blindness purified his vision/ Jacob’s limp straightened out his walk/Christ’s sorrow deepened His joy/broken-whole
5 Dig down/build up
Not: build a bridge/get over it. But: build a house/live in it. You’re going 2b where ur for awhile. Get used to it. Make yourself comfortable. Build a house/move out of your tent. Stop thinking temporary. Don’t live out of a suitcase. Buy a home/move out of the motel. Make this abnormal the new norm.
You don’t know how long you’re going to be in this season of life (they did – 70 years). The Lord was telling them to get comfortable where they were. Getting comfortable at the B Correctional Facility would not be an act of disobedience to God/not be compromising w/ Babylon – they weren’t to embrace the gods of Babylon.
Whether due to correction/direction, ur where ur - God has a purpose for it. Give yourself to the purpose of God. Don’t resist/ embrace where ur. Give yourself to God in this place.
6 Look ahead
Your children will be born in the Babylonian Correctional Facility. Don’t let the place urn determine your fruitfulness. You are still to bear fruit even while being corrected/confined.
Multiply/do not decrease… This is exactly what was done in oven of Egypt.
The Godavari Delta in South India is a 'surplus' rice area/known all over India as a district of great fruitfulness. In the 1st ½ of the 19th century it was an unfruitful area until Sir Arthur Cotton, a Christian engineer, carried out his irrigation scheme/dam constructed on the Godavari River/canals dug to carry the fresh water/whole district has become exceedingly fruitful. Trials dig into your soul/God wants to pour His water into the channels dug by the trials – bring His A Word/Spirit where they had not been before.
God wants to irrigate your trials w/ His Spirit/Word!
J is countering the message of the false prophets that indicates that they will return to Jerusalem soon. The false prophets said that God had no purpose for the people in this place – nothing good could come from it. The false prophets saw the irritation of the people and J saw the irrigation of God.
7 Think local
Become loyal to the place u r n/bless it with the fruit of your labor. Missional church…
First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 1 Tim 2:1-2
8-9 Do not seek to return to a comfortable place
Often, a backward look stokes backward desires. Don’t ask, “How do I get out of this?” Rather, “What is God doing in this?”
Israel was where they were because of national failure. Divorce/ debt/ disease/depression – all result of failure of something. Maybe not yours – but sin of others can affect you. Cf. irresponsible decisions of spouse/children… But please note that there is no condemnation for those @ TBCF– being there was condemnation enough.
10-14 Seek Me
10 Flow of message: give yourself to where ur/don’t try to get out of where ur/get hold of Me. Grab hold of God! If you follow your plans you’ll never know God’s plans. The false prophets said, “Two years.” God said, “70 years.” Basically: don’t move until I tell you to move.
11
Plans – I am going to open a new chapter in your life. Let me write this chapter at the Babylonian Correctional Facility and then I will write the chapter after this one. God’s a better writer than you are.
Future = ‘what is behind.’ Hebrew conception of time: rowing a boat and backing into where you’re going. You see where you’ve been and have your back to the future. You can’t see into the future, but I can. I can give you what you don’t see.
Hope – from ‘rope’ - what is twisted/gives strength. If I’m in a pit and someone throws me a rope, I grab hope when I grab that rope. I know someone is concerned w/ my welfare. I can expect someone at the top of the pit when I get hauled out. God has given me the rope of hope and is pulling me into the future.
12 Then you will call upon Me… I will listen to you…
Implication – I won’t listen to you, now. I will listen then. There is a season of time where God is doing a particular work and if we pray contrary to what the Holy Spirit is doing, God doesn’t respond.
God is always one step (at least!) ahead of you.
Gen. 15 – Abram and history of Israel
Paul in Acts 13/16
God closes some doors that others might be opened.
God is smarter than you.
What if Joseph had not been forgotten in Egyptian jail? What if released from jail and returned to Canaan?
M. Clark left CC and we merged w/ SVC.
Our thought is: God loves me and I have a wonderful plan for my life. But prayer is submission to His plans. I know My plans for you… We pray to enfold His plan into our lives. We don’t pray that God would form plans or alter His purposes. Ro. 11:34; Is. 40:13. Prayer isn’t getting something to move, it’s hopping on something that is already moving.
13
Seek – to touch and feel
Search – rub/beat/tread – Ez. 7:10 ‘study’
You will touch Me when you concentrate all of yourself on Me.
14
I will be found of you and I will do what I desire to do. In seeking God they discovered His will for them.
15-20 Jerusalem is going to experience judgment
Because they have not sought the Lord, they haven’t found Him – only His judgment.
21-32 Message to false prophets
21-23 Message to Ahab and Zedekiah
False prophesies accompanied by false living/immorality.
24-32 Message to Shemaiah
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