Jeremiah 31:34

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Recently I went to Rochester, Minnesota for some fairly minor surgery. In fact, I was awake during the surgery that I had over there. My eyes were covered, but I could listen to the surgeon and to the resident who was helping the surgeon. And I have to say, it was interesting to listen to them talk about what they were doing. I couldn’t understand a word of it, but it was comforting for me to know that they were very sure of what to do next. And it all turned out well. As I think about it, it would have been quite distressing if I would have heard them lament about how confused and lost they were as they were operating on me. It was wonderful to know that those who were taking care of me know an awful lot, much more about this than I’ll ever know.

As Christians, you and I know a lot. We know especially a lot about what’s in the Bible. We know not that we want to dazzle and overwhelm others with our knowledge, but rather we want to share the good news that the Bible contains. The prophet Jeremiah in the 31st chapter, at verse 34, we read these words.

No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

It is through the Word of God that we know two very important things we know by his law the trouble that we’re in. The threat of his law makes us aware of our sin. When we see our lives reflected in that message of his will for us and our failure at obeying his will. There, though, we see not only our sin and the threat of God’s law, but in His Word, God shows us the gospel of our Savior, his own Son, who came and lived the holy life in our stead, and who accepted the blame for our sins and who suffered its penalty dying on the cross. That through him we have, as the prophet says, the forgiveness of our guilt and the assurance that God will remember our sins no more. There we see Jesus, who by his death on the cross, then gave us this wonderful knowledge of our salvation.

As I speak to you, we’re just about in the month of May. So we’re coming up on the summer season. And we know summertime as a time of traveling and vacation, a time of busyness. And it’s good for us to have a break from the routine of our work and our study the rest of the year. But please don’t take a vacation from church and from God’s Word. Don’t leave behind this wonderful knowledge that God wants us to have, that we know him and we know him through the preaching and the teaching of His Word and our own private reading of it, he wants us to hold on to His Word, for then we hold on to his love and his salvation by faith all year round. May God grant that to us all. Amen.

Jeremiah 29:11, 2 Corinthians 5:21

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“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.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

A few years ago, I had a pastor’s conference that was in Denver, Colorado. Now, at the time, I was serving a church in Nebraska. So to get to this conference, I would have to drive 14 hours each way. 28 plus hours of driving for a 48 hour conference. So I decided the reasonable thing to do, and the more affordable thing to do would be to fly. So I booked a flight, so I would land in Denver about 6 p.m., have time to kind of settle in, have time to visit with some friends in the area. The conference started very early the next morning, so I wanted to get a good night of rest.

So I arrive at the airport and as I sit there at the gate, I get a notification on my phone. I pull it out. 30 minute delay. No big deal. 30 minutes is not the end of the world. But then I got another notification and another notification and another notification until I ended up landing in Denver about 3 a.m.. As you can imagine, I was not in a fantastic mood. I called an Uber, a taxi cab, it showed up at about 3:30 in the morning, and I get in the car with all my luggage, exhausted and frustrated.

The lady who’s driving the Uber is polite and she asks the reasonable question, what brings you into town? And so I tell her, well, I’m a pastor and I’m here for a pastor’s conference. She kind of scoffs when I say that, and she says, “you know what? I could write a book on religion.” And the way she said it would have not been a very flattering book on religion. She asked me, what is it that your church even teaches about the Bible?

So here I am, exhausted, 3:45 in the morning at this point. I look at the app up on her phone I see I have four minutes. I have four minutes to tell her what we as a church believe. So I give her what’s called the Great Exchange. I talk about how in 2 Corinthians 5 it tells us that

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

When God looks at us, he sees righteousness. So through Christ, through that sacrifice, salvation is ours. And it seemed to sink in a little bit as I said that. And soon after speaking, she dropped me off at my hotel. And as I was lying in bed that night, I couldn’t help but to marvel at God and to marvel at the plans that he has, the places that he puts us. When I was sitting late in the night at an airport in Omaha, getting more and more frustrated as she was driving a taxi cab at three in the morning. God saw to it that we came together and that she had an opportunity to hear about Jesus. Maybe it’s sunk in, maybe it didn’t. But God gave me an opportunity to plant the seed.

God promises a lot of things. He promises to give us hope and a future. When we’re going through difficult times, whether they’re minor frustrations like an airport and a delay or major frustrations, major things in life, we can remember that. Now, when God tells us that he’s going to prosper us and give us a future, it’s not necessarily money and it’s not necessarily a long life. It’s something better. It is a closer relationship with him. It is a closer relationship with him here on Earth and a closer relationship with him in heaven.

So when we find ourselves growing frustrated with God, saying, God, why are all of these things, these inconveniences, these difficulties, why are these happening? We can know that they’re not just random, but rather God is using those to strengthen us, to give us opportunity to share His Word and give us opportunity to grow in our faith with him. Amen.

Jeremiah 29:11

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Our text for today is Jeremiah 29, verse 11,

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. (Jeremiah 29:11)

When I first began my ministry, I have a very vivid memory of sitting into my office and receiving a phone call. I answered the call, it was from another pastor. He was serving a couple of states over from where I was, and he had a request. He had a woman who was down in my part of the country receiving treatment for cancer. And she had gotten some news. She had gotten some news that her time of grace was about to come to an end, and he asked if I would go and visit with her, talk to her. I, of course, agreed, and as I made my way to the hospital, I found myself becoming more and more nervous. I had at that point all but 6 or 7 weeks of experience as a minister. And I’m going to this woman, what, what do I say? What comfort can I offer her?

My hands shaking, nervous as I make my way down the hallway, I entered the hospital room and I see her. She’s sitting there. Her body clearly has been ravaged by cancer, but she’s reading a devotion and she has a smile on her face. And I visit with her for a couple of hours. And I realized something as I made my way back to church, it was her who had comforted me, her who had blessed me. She had the words that I needed to hear and not the other way around.

So how can it be? How can it be that somebody in this situation that is difficult and painful and messy can have that kind of hope? Well, it’s because she trusted the words that we had in our lesson today, that the Lord had a plan for her to give her a future, and that future she understood was heaven.

Sometimes we find ourselves in a similar situation to that woman I visited. Maybe you found yourself in a hospital bed not knowing if you would make it out. Maybe you’ve had a messy breakup. Maybe you’re struggling with financial things. It’s easy to look around and see that the world is messy. And oftentimes we think, Where is God? Why is God not helping? Why is God allowing for this mess to take place? God can work through messes. He can work through your mess. Think of the crucifixion. Think of Jesus hanging on the cross. Think of of the women weeping and the people hurling insults. That is a messy situation. But God worked through it. He worked through it in the most profound and the most beautiful way. He worked through that mess to bring you salvation.

So we rejoice in the mess with the confidence that God is using it for his purposes and for our good. Amen.

Jeremiah 23:24, Malachi 3:6

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The church has sometimes use some pretty big words to describe what God is like. We say that God is omniscient, that God is omnipotent, that God is omnipresent. What are those words mean?

Well, we talk about God as being omniscient. That means that he is all knowing. And it’s interesting when we think about those omni words that each and every one of them we can say there’s an aspect of them that is scary, but also an aspect of them that is comforting. It’s scary to know that God is all knowing because that means he knows our thoughts, even our deepest, darkest secrets that we have never shared with anybody else. He knows them. He knows what we are thinking. He knows our sinful thoughts. He knows our selfish thoughts, knows our embarrassing thoughts.

But it’s also comforting knowing that God knows everything because he also knows our thoughts. He knows what we’re going through, even when we have never expressed it to anyone else. That God knows everything we’re going through. And God is there to also help.

We talk about God as being omnipotent. That means that he is all powerful. And many times in scripture he is called Almighty, right? Again, this too is scary, but also comforting and scary knowing that God could squash us at any moment, right, because of our sins and what we have done, but is also comforting knowing that there is nothing greater than God. That God can protect us from every evil force that threatens us and threatens our life.

We think about that final word that God is omnipresent, that means that he’s everywhere, present. We think about a passage from Scripture from Jeremiah 23, verse 24, where God asked this rhetorical question,

Do I not fill heaven and earth? (Jeremiah 23:24)

And of course, the answer is yes, you do, God. He fills heaven and earth. He’s everywhere at all times. It’s scary because God can see every terrible thing that we do. But it’s also comforting to know that there is nowhere where God is not. And so when we’re so worried and scared about those that might threaten us, God is there too to comfort us and to help.

Then another thing that we learn about God that is also scaring and comforting is this truth that we hear of in Malachi chapter three, verse six. As God says this, he says,

Certainly I, the Lord, do not change. (Malachi 3:6)

We would say God is unchanging. That’s scary in this way to know that God’s word and his law and his morality doesn’t change. You know, we think about the world in which we live today, 21st century, right? And many people would maybe say, well, we understand why God had all these rules about sexuality and encouraging people not to be promiscuous or encouraging them away from homosexuality and calling those things sin because he didn’t want unwanted pregnancy. He wanted to spare people from STDs and things like that. But we’re beyond all of that. We’ve had many medical advances. We don’t have to worry about those things. So morality can change, right?

That’s not what God says. God says he doesn’t change. Neither does his moral standard. That’s scary to think about our world as it’s changed all what is right and what is wrong. But God says what I say in my word is true. And so it condemns us, especially as we think about our own sins. That truth that God is unchanging is also very comforting for us when we know this, that God’s promises then also cannot change. It’s comforting to know that God can’t all of a sudden one day and say, Well, you’ve been too sinful. So all that stuff that I said about forgiving your sins through Jesus, well, yeah, that’s not going to work anymore. I’ve decided I’m taking all of that back. No, he can’t do that, right? God has to follow through with what he said in his word, He cannot change his promises. They remain unchanged for us, no matter how sinful we’ve been, no matter what we’ve done. What a blessing to know God’s word, God’s unchanging word that assures us that the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

Yes, there are some big words that describe what God is like. And a number of those things that we describe concerning God are both scary and comforting. Yes, it is amazing that God is Almighty all powerful everywhere present, but may especially be a comfort to us that God is unchanging concerning His promises, especially his promise of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

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There’s a story that’s told about a frog who is living in a pond and two friends who were herons and they all got along with each other. They enjoyed each other’s company. This frog was known, though to be rather prideful. He would boast a lot. He liked to brag about himself.

One day, they noticed, however, that their pond was drying up. And that wasn’t a big deal for the herons. But for this frog he needed somewhere wet to live. So they were worried. What are we going to do? They came up then with an idea. How about we find a stick and you frog, you can bite onto it. Hold on with your mouth and we herons will pick it up in our beaks. And we’ll fly you to another pond where there’s plenty of water.

Frog thought oh man, what a great idea this is. I’ve come up with a great idea. And so they enact this plan. They find a stick frog latches on with his mouth. The herons pick up that stick. They start flying. As they fly over a village some villagers down below, they look up and they point and they say, wow, look at that. What a smart frog trying to get to a new pond. Who do you think came up with that plan? The frog who was rather prideful and boastful. He couldn’t help himself. So he opened his mouth and he started to explain. I’m the one that came up with that great plan. But of course, as he opened his mouth, he let go of the stick and he fell to his doom.

It’s a silly story, of course, but it teaches an important lesson. A lesson about boasting and how dangerous, deadly self boasting can be. God’s word encourages us to not boast about ourselves. But there is one thing that we can boast in. We hear about it in Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 23 and 24. This is what the Lord says

This is what the Lord says. The wise man should not boast in his wisdom. The strong man should not boast in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches. Instead, let those who boast boast about this: that they have understanding, and that they know me. They know that I am the Lord, who shows mercy, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things, declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

We boast in the Lord, not in ourselves, not in our own power. We boast in Him to whom all power belongs. We boast in him whose power has won forgiveness of sins for us. Who has opened heaven to us. We boast a Saint Paul would later on say, I boast in the Lord Jesus Christ. When I am weak, that’s when I’m strong because I’m trusting in Christ as my Savior. That’s what Paul said.

We boast in Christ and in his strength. And we admit we are nothing. We are weak. But our Savior, Jesus is strong. Because of him, we have forgiveness of sins. We have heaven opened to us. And that’s what gives us hope. That’s what we as Christians boast in now and always. We pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending your Son. Help us to always boast in him and in what he has done. Help us to not boast in ourselves, or to become boastful about anything that we do or anything that we have. Help us always point our hearts and minds to our Savior, Jesus. We pray this in his name. Amen.

God’s peace be with you.

Jeremiah 23:24, Matthew 28:20, Psalm 51:17, Joshua 1:5

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In Jeremiah Chapter 23 God asks a few rhetorical questions that help us understand more about him and what he is like. He says there in verse 24.

Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:24)

Yes those rhetorical questions, the obvious answer to them that God is looking for is of course, no. No one can hide their deeds from God. No one can go someplace where God is not because of this fact: God is omnipresent or everywhere present.

As I have said before in some previous videos these details about God are often scary, but also comforting for us as Christians. It is a bit scary to think about God being omnipresent or everywhere at all times. It’s scary especially when we think about our sins. As we think about the things that we’ve done in secret. Things that we’re ashamed of.

Maybe we’ve stolen something and we’d hate anybody to ever find out about that. Maybe we’ve abused illegal substances or even legal substances and we’d hate for people to find out that we’re doing that. Or maybe we’ve misused our sexuality, a gift that God has given us for marriage. We’d hate people to find out about the things that we do in private.

You know it’s been said before the coming of the Internet that pornography use wasn’t quite as big as it is today. And I think part of the reason is, is because people were embarrassed of the way of getting pornography. Yes some were not, as always, but some were. Who wants to go to a store and let other customers know that you’re buying a dirty magazine? Or who wants their car seen in the parking lot of a pornography store? Times have changed haven’t they? Anybody can go online nowadays and look up any sort of image, any sort of video, no matter how despicable.

Those things are hidden from many people. Things that we can do in secret that nobody knows about, but God does. Because God is everywhere present and God can see those terrible deeds.

It’s certainly terrifying to us to know that God sees those things, but is also incredibly comforting for us as Christians to know that God is everywhere present. What it means for us is that even if the world would turn its back on us. Even if they reject us because they find out about some secret thing that we have done in our past, or our family and friends turn away from us, God will not. In fact Jesus promises in Matthew Chapter 28.

I am with you always to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20) And this is the same God who invites us to come before him and confess our sins as he declares a broken and contrite heart, he will not despise. (Psalm 51:17) When he promises I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. (Joshua 1:5)

Yes, we can be scared when we find out some of these descriptions of God, but also we find incredible comfort in the fact that God is with us always to the end of the age. Yes, God is everywhere present. May that comfort us. Let’s Pray.

Dear God, help us to confess to you our private and hidden sins knowing that you will not reject us, but always forgive us for Jesus sake. Bring peace and comfort to our hearts that even if the world might abandon us, you never will. But you are with us always to the end of the age. Amen.

Jeremiah 29:11

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Are you keeping up? Seems that every day there’s something new that we are to do or aren’t to do to fight this virus. It’s hard to keep up.

There’s also the issue of what’s going to happen? As we struggle to get our mind around what this virus means for our daily lives we can be filled with uncertainty. We don’t know what the future holds.

I know I myself have at times just thought what is going on. I don’t know. I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know how bad this is going to get. I don’t know when it’s going to get better. I don’t know the future, but I do know the one who does.

I can have somewhat of a plan, but not knowing the future makes me really question that plan. But I do know the one who knows the future and has a plan. In Jeremiah chapter 29:11 he says to us.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to give you peace, not disaster, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

You may be worried about your plans for the future. God has a plan for you. Now when we think of God’s plans we can wonder well what does that involve? Does he like me? Is he going to help me or hinder me? Is he going to hurt me or bless me? Well God tells us that he has plans to give us peace, hope, and a future.

God’s plans for you and for the entire world are good. Now maybe you’re wondering how can I know that is true? How can I really be sure that God is going to bless me? In times like that we just need to look at the cross. From the beginning of creation the Bible tells us that God had planned to send Jesus the Savior. And at just the right time we carried out that plan and he punished Jesus in our place so that our sins are forgiven and we will one day be blessed in heaven with him forever.

A God that cares for us that much, a God that plans that great good for us will certainly watch over us and see us through all trials and difficulties. So we don’t know how bad life is going to get with this virus. We don’t know when it’s going to get better. God does. We can trust that he has a plan for around good to give us peace, hope, and a future because he loved us so much that he sent Jesus.

May God’s plan for you in Jesus comfort you in the difficult days ahead and assure you that he will work all things for your good. Peace be with you, amen.

Romans 5:8, Jeremiah 31:3

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If you have a spouse or a boyfriend or girlfriend you’re probably expecting to receive a card for Valentine’s Day or maybe to write one. And what will that card say? What do you hope that card says? Maybe something like this.

“I love you because you’re so beautiful.”
“I love you because the way you make me feel.”
“I love you because you love me.”
“I love you because you’re so funny.”
“I love you because you’re so exciting and energetic.”
“I love you because you bring joy into my life.”

What if you received a card that said this: “I love you because I chose to love you.” Maybe that would seem a little bit insensitive, right? After all don’t we want to hear about all of our wonderful traits that we have? The reason that people love and adore us? Don’t we want to hear that we are beautiful and exciting and funny and all of those things?

And what happens as you grow old? What happens when maybe your beauty fades? What happens maybe when you get sick or in an accident and aren’t able to be as active or fun as you once were? What then?

Perhaps it is good, if someone says they love us because they chose to love us. Someone I know tells a story about when he was dating his spouse. He remembers a very serious conversation he once had with her, how she described her life, how so many things had gone wrong. She lost a parent at an early age. How one of her siblings was addicted to alcohol. How there were other problems and strife within her family.

Yet he said upon hearing all of this he decided “I’m going to love this girl.” I’m going to take care of her. I’m gonna give her a better life in future, but even he had to admit that part of the reason why he decided to marry her was because of how she made him feel. And he was attracted to her and all of those things too.

Maybe perhaps a better picture of the sort of unconditional love or choosing to love, maybe is the picture of a parent who upon seeing their child for the very first time chooses to love that child. They’re going to take care of that child no matter how many awful things those children do. No matter how many times they have to wake up in the middle of night to feed them or to change a dirty diaper. No matter how many times they hurt them. But even children at times can push the limits of their parent’s love.

The best and perfect picture of unconditional love is really the picture of our God’s love for us. Romans Chapter 5 it tells us of God’s love it says this

But God shows his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

It tells us there that God didn’t love us because we were so lovable or because of the way we made him feel or because we are so beautiful or good or any of those things. But while we were still sinners God loved us and he cared about us so much that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. Really, God’s love isn’t based on the way that we make him feel or anything that we’ve done for him. Rather it’s based on his own mercy, his own goodness, and his own promises. In Jeremiah Chapter 31 verse 3 it says this: God speaks to his people and he says,

I have loved you with an everlasting love. (Jeremiah 31:3)

Yes, not only did God choose to love us and send His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins but God’s love stands forever. What a comfort that is to us no matter what we have done, His love remains. We can always return to Him repent of our sins and know that His love stands for us today and forever.

Do I expect this Valentine’s Day that you’re going to receive a card that says “I love you because I chose to love you?” Or that you’re gonna write that in a card? Probably not. This Valentine’s Day and let us remember God’s unconditional love for us. That is shown to us who are sinful human beings, undeserving of his love, yet the unconditional love he has poured out for us in Christ that stands for us now and forever. Amen.

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Jeremiah 29:11

I was riding a motorbike and went over a bump and got a little airborne while I was in the air the bike stand came down, caused me to have an accident. I broke my collarbone fractured my skull, I was a wreck.

Was it just bad luck that caused that stand to go down? Is our life just a collection of random events, driven by chance, without any rhyme or reason or purpose? That’s not what the Bible says.

In Jeremiah chapter 29 God 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.” –Jeremiah 29:11

Our lives aren’t a collection of random events. They’re God’s plan. And his plan is ultimately for our good.

He promises that he wants to give us hope and a future. God desired this so much that he carried out his plan of salvation. He sent Jesus to live and die for you. From the beginning of time he had planned to send the Savior to bear your sin so that he could love and forgive you. He wants you to be with him in heaven.

So no matter what his plan may be for you in this earthly life, that is the goal he desires for you. So trust him. Trust that he loves you in Jesus and that his plan is to give you hope and a future in heaven. Amen.