We didn’t ask to show up where we showed up; God designated it anyway, whether that place felt like a gift or a darkness we never would have chosen. Jeremiah 29 puts God’s people in that same kind of place: Babylon, with the Lord saying He caused them to be carried there. What do you do when the place you’re in was never your idea?
The following study questions and transcript are AI generated and may contain errors.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may contain errors.
We put this verse on our cards back for the parade that we did and kind of our summer theme, we were talking about America. Of course, we put Psalm 33, 12, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. And I’m thankful again that as we wake up, God is still Lord. Amen. And I want to celebrate that. And again, I honor those who have served our country. If not to protect that very truth, to protect those who are protecting that truth.
And I say that now we’ll go to Jeremiah 29. This is, we talked about last week, I’m leaning into this here, but Jeremiah 29, of course, verse 11 is one of the more famous verses. If you want to call it that, I don’t know if that’s the right way to be reverent to God’s word, but it’s definitely one of the more well-known verses that’s used in a lot of settings, graduation settings and different things.
And so, but the context of Jeremiah 29 is interesting. Last week, we were in Lamentations 3 and talking about God’s mercy and boy do we need God’s mercies. And thankfully they’re new every morning. And we talked about thanking God for the dark places, thanking God for the places we would never choose to go and we would never want someone to take us, right? But sometimes God places us there.
And this week I want to say, thank God for the designated places in our life. God has designated us to be somewhere. It’s just the way his plan works. And it may not have been our choosing. We showed up in this world, we didn’t ask to show up where we showed up. We just showed up, right? We just, that’s where we were when we came into this world and the life that was given to us to live from that point on until we were able to kind of make our own choices and our own decisions to go our own ways and do our own thing. We were kind of right where we were. That was our designated place.
And for some, that may have been a delightful place and you thank God for it and your upbringing and so forth. And some, maybe that was a dark place. And we say we hurt with those who found themselves in a dark place in their upbringing. But what’s true and what’s always true, whether it’s delightful or whether it’s dark place, for some reason, God designated that for you.
And we read this and we know this as we kind of understand, if you do the book of Jeremiah and the letter that’s written, or really what Jeremiah is writing is a lot of things to the people in warning of God’s judgment. Obviously the Babylonian captivity and them being captive was part of God and his plan for their life in that way.
And we even see this as we’re in Jeremiah 29 and we see in verse one where it says, now, these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah, the prophet sent from Jerusalem. So get the idea. Jeremiah is writing this in Jerusalem and who’s he writing it to? Here it goes. And sent from Jerusalem into the residue or the remaining people of the elders, which were carried away captives into the priests and to the prophets and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. That’s a very important phrase there in verse one. It says that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive. I want you to really note that. Okay.
And with that, we then read in verse two, after that Jeconiah, I had problems with that when we studied this book, but Jeconiah, the king and the queen and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem and the carpenters and the smiths were departed from Jerusalem. By the hand of Elisa, the son of Shaphan and Gamariah, the son of Hilkiah, don’t worry, no quiz on these names to follow. Okay. But whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon saying, so all that just to get, here’s what, here’s what you need to know. Okay.
Thus sayeth the Lord, verse four, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel unto all that are carried away captives whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon. Maybe you don’t write in your Bibles, but if you do, I’d love, and maybe you can do it on your phone. If you have a little thing that draws lines on your phone, because you’re that fancy, but draw a line. If you could underline in verse one and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, and then draw a line and connect it to this phrase, verse four, thus sayeth the Lord of hosts. What does he say? Whom I have caused, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon.
So you go, oh, wait a minute. Uh-oh, we got a contradiction here. Was it Nebuchadnezzar or was it the Lord? I think we know the answer. It’s like when we say, hey, who wrote a certain book of the Bible? Who wrote Romans, right? Was it Paul or was it the Holy Spirit? Was it the Lord? And the answer always is what? Yes. Yes. That’s the answer. Who carried them away captive? Was it Nebuchadnezzar or was it the Lord? Yes, exactly. You’re right.
And hopefully you’ll understand this and what I’m getting at. Yes, you could point to certain people or circumstances or events in your life. You say that person, fill in the blank, or this person, or because of this, this happened. And again, we recognize there’s evil in the world. We’ve talked about that before. And evil men and seducers are getting worse and worse or waxing worse and worse, right? We understand there’s evil in this world. You’ve been talking about that with the teens this morning. There’s just some things that are unexplainable that happen in this world. And all you can do is point back to sin and pure evil.
And why God doesn’t prevent all things bad from happening? I don’t know. Just don’t know. We understand that. We talked about that last week. What I do know is sometimes, if not all the time, there’s a human reference that we can make. But if we truly step back, we can say it was the Lord. The Lord’s hand was in all of it. Again, as I was taught, remove all secondary causes and see God in all circumstances. Remove all secondary causes and see God in these circumstances that you’re in.
And it’s hard to even adjust our thinking to that particular idea. But as we continue to read, God then starts to reveal his purpose. And we’ll get to that. But he says, I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon. And though we may start with what would be my first point, our insignificance, God starts to reveal his significance in our life.
To understand this, we even start with the author. You don’t have to turn there. But even Jeremiah, who was the one who wrote and sent the letter and who’s been behind all the warnings and all of what God is saying as his sent prophet, even in the very beginning when God approached him to do this very thing. Again, just if you’re familiar with the verses, but he said in verse five of Jeremiah one, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, ah, Lord, God, behold, I cannot speak for I am a child.
Even the person who wrote and sent this very letter of which we’re reading in context of Jeremiah 29 said, I’m too insignificant. I’m but a child. God, you’re talking to the wrong person here. Don’t designate me to that position. I’m but a child. But the Lord said unto me, say not I am a child for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee. Whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. And I love what he said. Be not afraid. This is like if a preacher should have a life verse, this is it. Be not afraid of their faces. No offense, right? For I am with thee to deliver these sayeth the Lord. Some of you got that. Thanks. All right. I worry about you looking at this space. All right. I feel bad for you. Okay.
But even in Psalm eight, let’s go there in Psalm eight. If you just start reading this Psalm, you’re like, I was right. I’m very insignificant. I’m very insignificant. I told you I’m insignificant. This world doesn’t need me. I’m useless. I’m just taking up space. I’m pointless. David writes this song.
In verse one, Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name and all the earth who has set thy glory above the heavens out of the mouth of babes and sucklings has thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest still the enemy and the Avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him for thou has made him a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou has put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea. Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name and all the earth.
So he starts out with, oh Lord, oh Lord, how excellent is thy name? And he ends, oh Lord, oh Lord, how excellent is thy name? Because he describes all that God can do and has done. And yet he takes time to think about us. To consider man. To be mindful of us.
Same book of Psalms, Psalm 144. Just a warning, I may get real passionate about this because I know people feel real insignificant. And again, in comparison to all what God can do, we are very insignificant. It’s almost like a two-edged sword. Really, it’s a two-edged principle. Yes, in this big world, in this giant universe, certainly we are and can feel insignificant. But to God, Psalm 144, verse three, again, he repeats, Lord, what is man? That thou takest knowledge of him or the son of man that thou makest account of him. Man is like the vanity, his days are as a shadow that passeth away. He’s like, God, you really, you really are interested in me? Me, one of insignificance?
Go to Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter two. There’s a lot of verses, I understand. And we’ll get to the actual text, I promise. But I feel these are so important to emphasize this point as much as anything. And even though this repeats some things we already read, but Hebrews chapter two, in verse five, he says, for unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, wherever we speak. Not the angels he put in subjection, put the world into subjection, but one in a certain place testified saying, what is man? That thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou visitest him. Thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownedest him with glory and honor and did set him over the works of thy hands. For thou has put all things in subjection under his feet for in that he put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under, but we see Jesus. We see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children which God have given me.
Not only does God notice us. That’d be good. That’d be great. God just noticed them here. I noticed you. Thank you. Thank you. Nobody else seems to notice me. But God knows you. He doesn’t want to just notice you. You ever just notice somebody saying, Hey, was that, was that so? Yeah. I just happened to notice or, Hey, were you at the Walmart here? You know, most of us, Hey, were you at Walmart? Of course. Yes. Cause everybody is. But yeah, I thought I noticed you. You’re right. But it’s one thing to notice or be noticed. It’s another thing to be known and not for some prideful goal, but that somebody really knows you. That brings significance to any relationship.
Cause all of us, even if you’re in a marital relationship, a dating relationship, at one time, you just noticed each other and then you got to know each other. Right. And maybe along the journey of your life, you maybe noticed that there might be something to this God thing. Pardon the irreverence or a church. Yeah. Okay. Maybe it’s worth a try. I don’t know. Kind of notice a Christian or somebody who calls themselves a Christian. And yeah, they’re kind of, they’re kind of different. I don’t know. There’s something about them. And maybe somehow through noticing God, you wanted to know a little bit more and get interested in what maybe is behind all that. But then one day you came to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you got to know him and realize that he knows you because what’s the greatest, most devastating, tragic end to anybody’s life. It’s to hear the words. I don’t know you depart from me. I never knew you, but God, we did all these things in your name. Yeah. You noticed me, but you didn’t know me. So I didn’t know you.
Our significance is not even just noticing God or him noticing us. It’s us knowing his son, Jesus, and him knowing who we are, that we’re his children. With that, God makes us significant, makes us significant. And with our significance, God gives us recognition, which makes us worthy. Oh, we’re not worthy of ourself by any means. Only he can make us worthy. And we’re made worthy through his son, Jesus Christ, who is all worthy. King of Kings, Lord of Lords, deserves all honor and glory.
But because of our significance, our importance leads to him not noticing us. Giving us responsibility. It’s not just good to be known as a Christian. Hey, I’m a Christian. Look at me. I’m a Christian. Great. Like James says, your faith without works is dead. With us now being known as a child of God, now we’ve been given responsibility. It’s what he said. He put things under our subjection. He allowed us to be made a little lower than the angels. We’ll never be Jesus. We know Jesus, but he was made a little lower than the angels. He left all of the glory of heaven that he deserves. And he is. To be fashioned as man, to become like man, to be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, he became the most insignificant. As a criminal on a cross. So that we could become significant as a child of God. Oh, you’re significant. All right.
And I know even with all of that, sometimes we feel like Jeremiah. Oh, not me. Whoa, wait a minute. Do you not recognize me? I’m new here. Okay. I’m new to this thing here. You’re not asking me to go there, are you? You’re not asking me to speak on your behalf for you. Are you sure? Remember, I’m the new guy, right? Someone said some co-workers seem to be the new guy for like seven years in a row, like, hey guys, let’s go pick it up. All right. But even the word of God tells us, hey, some of you should be on the meat, but I got to keep you on the milk. Why? Because God has given us some responsibility. He’s given us a work to do. He’s given us a way to live.
And be sure, be sure our significance is not in our religion. It’s in our redemption. It’s in our salvation. Not even in our sacrifice. We must remember this. Let’s go to James. We’re in Hebrews. Let’s go to his neighbor James here in James chapter four. And again, we’ll get back to the text, I promise. And that part will go quick. I know the fear.
But James chapter four, verse five, do you think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy, but he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud. So don’t get prideful. Don’t get prideful on God. He resists that, but gives grace unto the humble. He gives grace to the humble.
You see, our importance is not in now who we are, but it’s still in who God is. So don’t get to the play. Hey, I’m a Christian. I’m doing good as a Christian. Hey, hang on now. Don’t lose God’s grace here. He doesn’t give that to the proud, but he gives it to the humble. So he says, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another. Brethren, he that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judges another?
Hang on. Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeared for a little time and then vanished away. For that you ought to say. Because of all that, you ought to say this, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Again, we go back to, hey, see, we’re not supposed to judge anybody. Hang on. That’s never what the Bible said. But what the Bible always reminds us, we’re not that important. And God’s always important. And God is always holy. And he’s always the standard. And to live the life that honors the Lord, we must live by his standard, not others standard. And with that, we first judge us. James says before this chapter, hold the word of God up like a mirror. There’s the standard. That’s the standard.
And again. To be careful to say sin is always sin, God never excuses sin, but he does forgive sin, he’s forgiven yours and mine. And we are preaching against and always will and living a life that’s against the institution of sin. But we’re not against the individuals who sin as such for some of us. Oh, I hate that this world institutes sin and calls it normal. I hate that they bring sin into all areas of public life. And then look at us when we say that’s wrong. Well, who are you to say that’s wrong? Well, I’m nobody. But I serve a God who sent his son to die for that sin. And to die for the individuals who live in that sin. And may we fear the normalization of it. But not spend the rest of our life feeling like, hey, good thing we’re so proudly better than the rest of this world who’s living in that sin. No, we should be broken and humbled that we have a responsibility to fulfill because God has designated us right here for this day that we now live in.
In fact, Hebrews chapter 12 talks about our instruction, our instruction. We need to recognize this thing called chastisement. Why? Because sin is real, but it starts with us. Verse five, it says, and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. Hebrews 12, 5 says, my son despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth. That means you’re important. He chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening or experience it, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? If God didn’t correct your sinful ways, then you would go back to being insignificant. Like the Bible even uses a harsh word to explain that in verse eight, but if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons? You’re illegitimate. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live? I say probably, yeah, probably. For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit. So why does certain things, it’s not always because of sin that certain things happens in people’s lives, I understand that, but when God’s trying to get our attention, it’s because we’re that significant, we’re that important to him, and what he wants is to correct us so that we can be profitable for him. Profitable to this point, it says in the verse that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Now, verse 11 says, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised or trained thereby. Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Follow or pursue peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. What’s he saying? Don’t let God’s training process by crowding out the sin in your life and calling it into what it is in need of correction and the end goal, of course, elimination, not that we can ever be sinless, but that particular sin, whatever so easily besets you, he wrote in the first couple of verses, would be then banished from you and your desire to please Jesus would overwhelm the desire to sin against him. Why? Because it would make you profitable to then follow or pursue peace with all men, not to get prideful, but to be profitable in his holiness for his purpose.
Again, we live in a country full of sin. How are we going to live in a country that we feel has forgotten God? Let’s go back to Jeremiah. We’ll see these things play out as God has led them into captivity. We go all the way back to Jeremiah 29, and we see this here in God’s plan and leading, though it was physically, invisibly Nebuchadnezzar who carried them away. Yet, God said in verse four, I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon.
Yes, we can see a shift in our country. We can see a shift in a mindset. And as we come off things like elections, we must always understand elections are simply reflections. The reflections of how people presently feel about things. Unfortunately, the reflections with unrealistic expectations. We remove those who don’t keep their promises to put in those who will never keep their promises, and then we’ll replace them with more people who give us more promises. And that’s politics. And we always are hopeful when there’s more people in that have what we think is biblical views of life than when there isn’t those who have no biblical view of life. And we struggle with that, and we get hopeful when we think we put in people who believe that there is a God and that God matters and that we should be under his reign and authority. And when it doesn’t happen, we have fear that what could happen as a result and this has gone on from the beginning of, I believe, our country.
But I want to talk about our inhabitation, okay? As Christians, we must not focus on outcomes, but rather opportunities. Yes, when the righteous are in charge, the Proverbs say, the people rejoice, and we should. And when the wicked rule, the people fear, and we should. But if our hope was in somebody who says or promises some things, and now if that person’s not there, we’ve maybe lost some hope, then our hope was always in the wrong place to begin with. So, what do we do?
Though we may have a country that has forgotten God, we must rely on the God who has not forgotten us. Not forgotten us. What’s interesting about this particular context of these verses that lead to, like I said, one of the more well-known verses, is what God asks them to do. Because we can say, hey, it’s all right, this world’s not my home, I’m just a passing through, it can all just go wherever it goes, and no, no, no, wait a minute, wait a minute, God’s placed us here. He’s designated us here for this time, for this moment, for this purpose.
He says in verse 5 of Jeremiah 29, after he says, I’ve caused you to go into captivity, here’s what he said, build ye houses, dwell in them, plant gardens and eat the fruit of them, take ye wives and beget sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, that ye may be increased there and not diminished, and seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it, for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
Now, this is not, hey, let’s just go along to get along, no, God gives them a specific purpose here, to live their life within confines of captivity, to live their life for the long term. Here’s the thing, in the previous chapter, there was a man named Hananiah, who said, oh, this is just for two years, no big deal, it’s just a little short-term captivity. God says, no, it’s actually 70 years, 70 years. So, plant, have children, build, do things that are long-term. Establish here, and while you’re being established and grounded and planted here, in the midst of what looks like something you would have never chosen for yourself, as your designated place, that’s where God’s asking you to become what he wants you to be, in the midst of those who you are in our minds, feel captive. Yes, if we’re a Christian, we are captive by this world and this world system, sure, because our hearts and our desires are to be in our home in heaven with Jesus, who saved us and be in his presence forever. So, yes, this world’s not my home, but as for now, what do we do? Do we lose all hope? No, we become those who have the hope that so many are looking for. Dare I say, so many vote for. What do people vote for? They vote for hope, because they feel like there is none. And what is it? It’s misplaced hope. And even if I said, we get everybody we think we should get in, and we say, oh, hey, we got it now, misplaced hope. What do we do? We serve the Lord, and we build the life. We serve the Lord, and we build the life. And we do it for the peace of the city. We are supposed to be the best citizens in our city. We should be recognized as people that don’t have to be cared for, let’s say, by law enforcement. We should. That should be our desire, that we want to honor the Lord with our life so much, because we’re more in fear of his chastisement for our not pleasing him than we are some law that we must abide by as a citizen. So, with that, we’re seeking peace for the city. We’re praying to the Lord for the city. And when we’re doing that, when we’re living our life for the Lord and finding peace in him while praying peace for the city that we live in, or the place that we live in, or the country that we live in, then we find peace. Because our peace is in our hope, that our hope is in Jesus. He’s the one we find hope in at all times.
Verse 8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, let not your prophets and your diviners that be in the midst of you deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed, for they prophesy falsely unto you in my name. I have not sent them, saith the Lord. What’s he saying? Because just in principle, what is he saying? Don’t have your hope even in the religious speakers that are not speaking for me. Don’t have your hope in the people who claim me that are not of me. Be careful who you put your hope in. I didn’t send them. That’s what he said.
Verse 10. For thus saith the Lord, that after 70 years, see those false prophets were praying, oh, that’s just a short little problem. Hey, I tell you what, give to us and your problems will go away, right? We’ll make you wealthy. We’ll make you get all your dreams come true. No, he said, hey, this is 70 years. He says, then that after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place.
Now, if you get that promise of in 70 years, I’ll be back. You say, wait a minute. I am 70 years old. I am 80 years old. Wait a minute. I won’t be here. 70 years? I was good with that two-year thing. Yeah, but he didn’t say, oh yeah, that’s right. I forgot. So you’re the exception. Go run and hide and bury your head in the sand and leave it to the kids to take care. No, what are we supposed to do? We’re to build, plant, live, pray for the generation to come, for who’s coming up behind us.
Maybe I won’t get to see God move like I thought I would, but I hope my child does, hope my grandchild does. So I’m going to do what God’s asked me to do, and I’m going to have peace with it. I’m not going to live in fear and ranting and raving and living a hopeless life. What kind of example is that to your children and grandchildren, great-grandchildren?
This is what he says in verse 11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end or an expected hope, to give you hopefulness that’s beyond what anything this world could give and not just for you and maybe not for you, but for you to live in so that others can live out.
And then he says, verse 12, then shall you call upon me and you shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you and you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart and I will be found of you, saith the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord, and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
Why? Because God’s promises are true even when they don’t feel like it. And so we have to live our life thanking God that he’s thinking of us. And not just with our lips, but with our lives, and maybe not for our life, but for the lives coming up behind us. I beg of you, please, please be praying for a city or county or state or country. Please live your life, build, establish, increase, not for your own gain, but for greater influence that you can have on a lost and dying world who’s looking everywhere for something to give them hope. And yet we have an expected hope even when we feel like we’re in captivity.
And where does it lead us? To looking to Jesus with our whole heart, calling on him who has truly never failed us. Where have you been designated? Where has God placed you? I know where, exactly where he wants you. Exactly where he needs you.
Let’s pray. We thank you for this morning. I thank you for, first of all, just being mindful of us. Help us not to look around and see all the things, though, very serious and very dangerous in this world. Help us to be looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And may our hope be found in thee. And if our hope is found in you, we can be a help to this world. Lord, please use us where you’ve designated us to be a help to others. Maybe someone here doesn’t know you as their savior. They truly don’t know what it is to have that true hope in the Lord because they’ve never placed their faith in you. I pray they will now place their faith in you. I pray they would come today and do so. Maybe others are struggling with what has taken place and what’s going on in our country and the direction it seems to be going. All this, we’ve been talking about these things for years, Lord, but I pray that our hearts would just be completely directed towards you and trust you in these things and then be a light to this world. God, I just pray that you would work in the lives of people here, that we may change the people who are not here. Help us in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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