Pastor Bill Johnson shares a heartfelt message, reminding us of the sweet reassurance we have in Jesus no matter what circumstances we face. Peace, prosperity, and well being is on the mind of God for us.

[Applause]

thanks thanks thankful bethel family

blessings to you

and uh much love and ongoing blessings

to eric and candace i’m

just so thankful this is uh more

challenging than

you you may be able to imagine but uh um

we’re going to do well um i want you to

notice the picture behind me

and they’re beautiful all those orange

trees are evergreens

so either they were photoshopped or

they’re dying

actually either they’re photoshopped or

they’re dead

it’s beautiful color contrast all the

dark green trees in the middle those are

actually the kind

that turn orange but they are green

i just thought it would help me to

communicate that to you because it’s so

important all right help me out here

open your bibles

that’s that’s uh helps me just

trust me work with me here open your

bibles if you would

until jeremiah chapter 29.

jeremiah 29 we will

as has probably been said well enough

already i i think

we are not going to be quick to be

making plans we want to

savor the moment in a sense because we

want to make sure that we give honor

where it’s due

and express our our absolute thanks and

and gratefulness and celebration

for who eric and candace are

and all that they’ve done and so this

will be a very tender

season we will be uh very open and

upfront with you about what’s going on

and when

but we’re going to we’re going to be

carefully communicating

this next season for you um this is uh

i i don’t for me there’s not been a

weirder season in my life

um the the most challenging in many ways

and to be honest with you the pandemic

has nothing to do with it it

just is kind of a nuisance and forgive

me i know it’s more than a nuisance to

so many

that have suffered so deeply but for

my own personal experience it’s not been

the cause of most challenging season

instead it is just there as a a constant

reminder that’s a it’s a it’s a strange

thing the political climate of the

nation

is going to settle here soon but uh we

got that swirling and now we’ve got our

own world and it’s like the perfect

storm

in which jesus himself will show up and

only he will get

glory it’s not going to be through

gifting through wisdom

nowhere that we have succeeded has it

been because anybody was smart or

unusually anointed it’s just

absolutely the grace of god the grace of

god and so i’m i’m i’m very thankful for

that i

i’ve actually had this chapter on my

mind for months

and um so

i i’m i’m going to talk to you out of

jeremiah chapter 29

and um try to uh

reaffirm uh a phrase that’s been used a

lot

uh benny i i think she started it for us

several years ago god’s got this others

have picked it up and there’s t-shirts

and there’s

mugs and all kinds of paraphernalia

to remind us that god’s got this and

but here’s what i want to do we’re going

to read the verse that probably

most of you know by heart or many of you

would know by heart would be able to

quote

and that’s verse 11. i want to read that

but then we’re going to go back and look

at the context i do want to give you

a brief but um

uh important uh teaching or decree

about this season that we’re in

verse 11 is the verse that

most people know for i know the thoughts

that i think toward you

says the lord thoughts of peace and not

evil

to give you a future into hope i want

you to look at it again

i know the thoughts that i think towards

you

says the lord thoughts of peace

not evil to give you a future and a hope

and that verse is such a broad-reaching

promise of the lord it’s quoted often by

you know preachers that i hear through

the years and rightfully so it’s just

one of those

it’s one of those gems that’s just

tucked away in a very

difficult setting and uh and i’m so

thankful for this

decree that the lord makes i know the

thoughts

that i think about you they’re not

thoughts for your calamity

the for your blessing the free of

welfare interestingly this word peace

in this passage is also translated

prosperity it’s translated health it’s

just overall well-being

and it is the it is what is on the mind

of god

about us in the middle of this situation

that we’re in

and we can describe it through the

political climate of the country we can

do it through the pandemic

we can do it just in the bethel world

with uh with a very

for me extremely sad uh departure and

transition

change uh we can look at a lot of

different things some of you in your own

personal lives have things complete

completely unrelated to anything

that i have mentioned going on in your

own life in your own home it may be

a business that is uh it’s just it’s

just

dying it may be other things so the

point is

we’re going to read a context here that

i think

long term can give us a wonderful

wonderful hope

and for me if you know anything about

how i function in my life whenever

something comes up i

run i don’t walk i run to the promises

of the lord

i run to what has god spoken to me what

has he

said to me last what is it that he has

deposited in my heart

about this season most people could

you would do well if you just returned

to the last thing god told you

but sometimes because of anxiety and

fear and all the junk that goes on in

our lives we

we tend to drop the things that god has

given us and

we can’t afford to do that right now

we’ve got too many things swirling

and i’m going to ask you as i mentioned

in this video

we’ve got to return to the strongest

absolutes in our life and that is this

right here i know the thoughts i have

towards you thoughts of a father a

perfect father

a perfect father who is wonderfully good

and it was that one theme that one

thought

that brought jesus to earth to take on

flesh

to take on the cross and to raise again

everything that he did was to reveal the

father and so this

is not a side issue this is the core

issue

it’s all about the fatherhood of god in

your life

and in mind and right now

i’m in a place where i’m going to

emphasize

being a son a child

not the leader that never stops

but hopefully awfully understand what

i’m saying right now

is where i take that hat off i’ll put it

down

and i’m i’m i’m wearing the hat of a of

a child

that really needs the father

so here’s what i’m going to ask you to

do we’re going to read about 10 verses

so hang in there

i’m going to make uh three kind of

concluding thoughts

and then we’ll wrap this this day up

together

we’re going to start with verse 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 captive from

jerusalem to babylon stop right there

please notice this wonderful promise

where god says i know the thoughts i

have toward you

was towards a group of people that were

in captivity they were held prisoner in

another nation

build houses verse 5 build houses and

dwell in them plant

gardens and eat their fruit take wives

and beget

sons and daughters take wives for your

sons and give your daughters to husbands

so that they may bear sons and daughters

that you may

increase there and not diminish so that

the word of the lord was

you’re in captivity but if you’ll do

this my way

you’ll thrive there you’ll thrive there

what what you think is destroying your

life

is actually going to be the platform for

your greatest promotion

and so we’ve got to repent and shift

change the way we think and perceive

situations that you may be increased

there and not diminished verse seven

and seek the peace of the sea this is

one of my favorite verses in the whole

bible because it

i’ll never forget when it hit me oh

goodness 30 35 years ago in weaverville

when we

we began to focus on the prayer for the

benefit of our city and not

thinking it’s us and them and this word

peace this is one of the places i think

it’s in the new american standard where

it says

seek for the prosperity of the city so

let me read it with that word prosperity

verse 7

seek the prosperity of the city where i

have caused you to be carried away

captive

and pray to the lord for it for in its

peace or in its prosperity

you will have prosperity there’s

something profound about

this in fact if you’re writing notes

down write down first timothy chapter

two verses one through four

because in that passage is a directive

in prayer

that was to bring the people of god into

the abundance of peace

and impact on culture itself it’s the

most unusual parallel between this

chapter

and that one all right so for uh for in

its peace

you will have peace verse 8 for thus

says the lord of hosts the god of israel

do not let your prophets or your

diviners

who are in your midst deceive you here’s

an interesting phrase nor

listen to your dreams which you cause to

be dreamed

it’s a profound lesson by itself i

believe very much that the lord speaks

to us through dreams i have

i’ve had so many critical times in my

life where the lord has

has has inspired a dream that’s given me

insight of what to do

things i didn’t know what to do and i

woke up understanding because of a dream

i’ve had the lord affirm me in dreams

very unusual

unusually but when we hold to our agenda

and there’s an unwillingness to yield to

the purposes of god

that bent or that desire in us will

actually create

its own dream in the night

it will actually cause there to be a

dream that appears to be a prophetic

dream when in fact it’s not from the

lord at all

it’s the offspring of your own unyielded

desires

i believe strongly in the dream life and

the lord speaks all through scripture

and in my own experience but just

understand

walking with a yielded heart to the

purposes of the lord

song of solomon though i sleep yet my

heart is awake

that posture positions us

to have divine dreams all right look at

it again the last

part of verse 8 nor listen to your

dreams

which you cause to be dreamed

for they prophesy falsely to you in my

name i’ve not sent them says the lord

thus says the lord after seventy years i

completed at babylon i will visit you

and perform my good word

toward you cause you to return to this

place

for i know the thoughts that i think

toward you says the lord thoughts of

peace

not evil to give you a future and to

hope

then you will call upon me and go and

pray to me and i will listen to you

and you will seek me and find me when

you search for me with all your heart

and i will be found by you says the lord

look at verse 13 again what we’ll

wrap up the reading up with this you

will seek me

and find me when you search for me

with all your heart i will be found by

you it’s interesting jesus

used a very similar um

language in the gospel of john where he

said

he said i will be found by you and he

uses a word that says

i will make myself conspicuous in other

words you’re going to be going down the

road looking

and i’m going to jump in the middle of

your path and do something like this

that you can’t miss me

and we have that kind of a father who

wants to be known

and discovered by his own and every

person watching this whether you’re part

of the bethel family tribe

and this uh news is uh this morning as

devastating to you as it is to me

uh it rattles us deeply or you’re a

guest and you’re watching and

and and you don’t have quite the history

to feel some of what we’re feeling

regardless of what

position you’re in the lord makes a

covenantal promise to you

and he says if you search for me

with all your heart you’ll find me

i will make sure that i am in the middle

of whatever road you’re walking down

and you will discover me there will be

that encounter that changes everything

our life as disciples of jesus our our

life as followers of the lord

is hinged upon us encountering him

it’s not peripheral it’s not an addition

to it is life

his voice brings us life we live because

he talks

this word is the living word of god he

speaks in it and

through it and he enhances and adds

strength and life to us

to carry out his purposes but this story

this great

grand promise that god gives i know the

thoughts

that i think towards you the thoughts i

have for you

their thoughts of your welfare not your

calamity

they uh to give you a future to give you

a hope

that pristine promise

came at the most unexpected and awkward

time and it’s the mercy of the lord

that regardless of whatever hell hole

you think you’re in right now whatever

the situation might be

if you’ll calm your heart just a bit

turn to the word of god

god will speak to you and bring a

promise

that is so opposite to your surroundings

that it will shock you it will stun you

imagine

being carried away captive not willingly

unwillingly bound taken to another

nation

you are now subservient to this ruling

class of people you are prisoners there

and the lord comes to you and all you

can see is the restrictions the

restraints the problems

all you remember is what you left behind

what you lost how it could have been the

promises you had over your life and they

didn’t come to pass

you got all this stuff swirling around

you and the lord steps into the middle

of that absolute chaos and he says

i want you to know what i’m thinking

about i’m thinking really good thoughts

about you

and it’s about your it’s about your

welfare it’s actually about your

prosperity

i’ve got a lot of plans i i daydream

about you

and i think about these moments that are

so difficult for you

but if you’ll take just a moment you’ll

rediscover the promise of the lord

and i remind you of that psalm that is

so

important to all of us the 23rd psalm he

says i prepare a

table before you in the presence of your

enemies

think through that i prepare tape what’s

the table the table is a place of

exchange the table is a place of

fellowship

the table is a place to eat it’s a place

of nourishment and strengthening

so the lord says i prepare this place of

personal strength and personal encounter

in the midst of your enemies and

oftentimes we’re

overly mindful of what’s not right

and we’ve lost sight of the very fact

that the lord put a table

right in the middle of the most

unexpected place and we find it again

in jeremiah 29 i know the thoughts that

i have

towards you they’re thoughts of your of

your blessing

of your your prosperity i’m gonna bring

you into wholeness

i’m gonna i’m gonna bring you into why

you’re on the planet in the first place

you’ll not miss a thing i’m bringing you

back

and then he says be careful don’t listen

to those who’s

who uh who announced to you that uh

that god is not in this he has arranged

us and i don’t care

he’s not the god of calamity uh he’s not

the god who creates

viruses and all this junk that’s going

on but i tell you what he is still god

in the midst of it

and what’s important for us is to not

fight

it’s going to sound awkward don’t fight

the restraint

strengths the restrictions

masks pandemic

we’re going to have a mass burning party

someday but until then there are some of

you that believe

it’s the absolute key to remaining

healthy is

as a as a community

fine promote it in the spirit of christ

do your best to hold up that standard

and i will support you

there are others of you that believe

that it is

from the pit of hell and you will have

nothing to do with it

fine just do so in the spirit of christ

the point is is we’ve got to hold to

what we’re doing

realizing we are a diverse family we

never require you to think this way

what i want you to do is i want you to

learn how to think

how to respond

not give you our prescription on how to

you know make it through this pandemic

that’s not important to me

i i know the lord has convictions about

stuff but sometimes

there are some issues that we face in

our life i don’t

the devil doesn’t care what your opinion

is as long as you leave the spirit of

christ

to promote it if you sacrifice

this so that you you promote i don’t

care what

noble cause you have i watch i watch

right now it’s at a heightened level in

our nation

where people leave and forsake the

spirit of christ to promote their agenda

and i’ll tell you what it is that drive

in here to promote an agenda apart from

the pro

the spirit of christ that actually

creates in us the capacity to dream

things that are not from god

so look at these verses number one

we’re in a situation we can’t get out of

you you pick pick whatever one you want

i feel like i’m holding up a deck of

cards just pick a card any card

we’ve got enough things going on right

now just pick one

i don’t care what your favorite your

least favorite is just pick one

we’re not in a position to change it

what are we in a position to do

we are in a position in the middle of

whatever crisis you may be facing to

find the word of the lord

you’re responsible for it i’ve told you

before in these what

i don’t know how many hundreds of years

it’s been since we’ve met together

but i’ve mentioned before if if you have

more input from social media from

mainstream media than you do the word of

god then your discouragement is

self-inflicted you’re responsible

you cannot have a garden and have a key

to the gate

and invite the enemy to come in and

plant weeds and then moan to god about

it you’ve got to repent

for the fact you’ve entertained things

that are in conflict with the will and

purposes of god

we’ve got to take ownership of this the

the gate if you will to our own hearts

the gate if you will to

to our own assignment here in life as we

guard well what god has said

so number one stop fighting the

restriction

learn how to flourish in it

amen bill i think you’re on to something

number one

stop trying to fight where god put you

number two

be restored to the promise of the lord

rediscover for yourself not just

something you can quote flippantly but i

mean the heart-to-heart connection with

the father

who honestly looks for your welfare he

fights for your welfare he

contends for your blessing not your

calamity be restored to that

face to face that mouth-to-mouth

connection with the father who says

this is how my heart burns for you my

imagination runs

wild of the things that i want to do for

you

get get back to that one the father

and then the last one

is set your heart to seek the face of

the lord

these are all things that are normal

parts of the christian life

but i feel like in this moment it would

be critical for us

to review and to renew

it’s kind of like when the lord spoke in

revelation to the church

at ephesus he

corrected them he rebuked them because

they had

lost their first love but what was his

prescription that he wrote out for them

he says

do the deeds you did at first be

restored

to what you used to do and i i’m coming

to you right now not with the first love

message but with

just the overall message right now right

now

stop trying to fight a setting or a

situation

that you’re in where

god has placed you

and you have to discern that one but

where god has placed you

stop trying to fight it number two

instead of focusing on what isn’t going

right that enemy that surrounds you

because he will he we all know from

experience he torments us

torments us by attacking us in our

thought realm

instead of being that where we anchor

our souls and our thought life

this is where we deliberately return to

the promise of the lord

the table of the lord and have the face

to face fellowship with the king

of kings our father

and we get restored to that place of

confidence god i don’t know why this is

happening

i don’t know what’s going on i don’t

know the answer

there’s so many things i wish i would

have done differently and i tell you i’m

speaking out of experience

so many things i wish i would have done

differently

but i’m here

and i’m still on your mind

i’m still in your heart

and your intentions for me have never

changed

they are nothing but the best even when

i feel so

unqualified so undeserving

for your best and yet you’ve set it

aside for me

so father i sit and i i return to that

table

where i refuse to be distracted by the

circumstances of my life

and i choose to be occupied with the

face of the one who brought me to the

table

stop fighting the restriction rediscover

the table

and set your heart to seek the face of

the lord

because he’s given us a promise i will

be found by you

i will be found by you

it is impossible to hunger after the

lord

and not discover him it is the

covenantal promise

of the one who is more perfect than the

rising of the sun to more

tomorrow morning it is more dependable

than the rising of the sun in the

morning he is that kind of a father

now i realize that there are some

watching

this

this service who don’t have a personal

relationship with jesus

you know what put everything else

everything that we’ve said put it aside

this is what’s important is that jesus

suffered and died with you in mind

he actually wanted to make it possible

for you to know what eternal life is

and we’ve got people on the youtube

channel and the bethel tv and

podcasts and other other forms of

broadcasting

that are available to talk and pray with

you i want you just to

put it on there and just say i i want to

know jesus i want to know what it is to

be

forgiven i want to know what it is to be

born again i want to i commit my life to

follow

this jesus let me pray for you

and then we’re going to wrap this up and

i’ll turn it over to our team that will

close the service

so father

we just we just put on the child’s hat

and take off all the other significant

hats and important hats and

responsibility and position and title

and all the other stuff and we just

we just say father here we are we’re

we’re kids

we don’t know what we’re doing

but we sure do love you and we sure do

trust you

and so we just turn our hearts to you we

say father

we trust you father we love you

and we ask be glorified right now

in our lives together this global family

the local bethlehem family father be

glorified

in the individual members with eric and

candace with

us who remain here in this place most of

all father be glorified

i ask this in the honor of the name

jesus

amen