Hope for the Future

A sermon developed by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett about hope for the future based on Jeremiah 29:11-13.

Jeremiah 29:11-13
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Introduction:

•             This passage was written by the prophet Jeremiah approximately 600 years before Christ.
•             The prophet Jeremiah was serving the Lord at a time of great difficulty.
•             The nation was about to fall apart.
•             Most of his friends had abandoned all faith in God and were focused on doing whatever they wanted to instead of following the Lord.
•             Jeremiah’s situation was not that much different than our own.
•             Jeremiah was watching his nation go through tremendous economic decline.
•             Our young people are entering adulthood at a time in which jobs are scarce and taxes are on the rise.
•             Jeremiah was watching his nation take a beating on the international front, America is mocked around the world by Islamic extremists sworn to destroy us.
•             Jeremiah witnessed a great falling away from faith. We are seeing the same thing happen in America.
•             On April 29, 2010, the USA Today newspaper reported that a recent survey of 18-29 year olds discovered:
•             65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.
•             65% rarely or never attend worship services.
•             67% don't read the Bible or any sacred texts.
•             Jeremiah did not know what his future held, but it seemed bleak and looked like it might be a great disappointment.
•             Many young people today feel the same way.
•             It was in that context that this scripture was written.

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.

•             God spoke to Jeremiah and reminded him that God had big plans for Jeremiah.
•             God’s plan was to prosper Jeremiah, not to harm him.
•             Though Jeremiah went through some very difficult times and they sure felt harmful at times, God used those experiences to teach others many good things.
•             2600 years later, we are still learning good things from Jeremiah’s difficulties!
•             We often go through difficult times in our own lives.
•             At times we wonder how those difficult things will work out, but we must remember that God never stops working behind the scenes to turn difficult situations into positive life lessons.
•             We have to trust God and wait for His timing.
•             God’s plan includes hope.
•             With all the negativity around us, it is easy to lose our hope.
•             We must keep focusing on the Lord and the good He has already done in our lives, as well as the good He continues to do in our lives in order to see hope for the future.
•             We also need to surround ourselves with hope filled people!
•             God plan focuses on the future.
•             Sometimes we feel frustrated when things do not happen the way we had hoped.
•             Sometime we focus on the mistakes or difficulties of the past.
•             It is okay to remember the joys and the life lessons of the past, but we must learn to release the pain of the past in order to have hope for the future.
•             We must learn to look beyond our frustrations and find hope in every situation.
•             We must look to the future and walk forward boldly trusting God to guide us along the way.

Verse 12 - Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

•             One way we find hope in difficult times is to call upon the Lord.
•             When we talk to the Lord, He takes away frustration, fear, anxiety, anger, stress and other negative emotions and replaces them with hope.
•             Prayer can make a real difference in our lives if we practice it regularly.
•             Numerous scientific studies have evaluated the therapeutic effects of prayer.
Statistics show that:
•             People who pray regularly are less likely to become ill and that when they do, they tend to recover faster.
•             People who pray regularly have lower depression and suicide rates.
•             People who pray regularly are 40% less likely to have high blood pressure.
•             Elderly women who pray regularly and had hip-fracture surgery were able to walk greater distances when they left the hospital than those who were not as religious.
•             In a study of 393 coronary heart disease patients with similar symptoms where half the patients were prayed for regularly, while the other half were not, the ones prayed for regularly required less ventilation/intubation, needed fewer drugs and contracted pneumonia less than those who were not prayed for.
•             A similar 1998 study of 40 people with AIDS, published in the Western Journal of Medicine, showed that the half who were prayed for regularly by total strangers felt better and had fewer medical complications than those who did not receive the ongoing prayer support.
•             Sometimes we may wonder if God really hears our prayers.
•             This verse reminds us that when we call upon the Lord in prayer, God does listen to us.
•             God does not just listen, God answers!
•             God answers prayer through the Bible, the church, circumstances, and through the Holy Spirit. We must learn to listen to His voice.

Verse 13 - You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

•             Perhaps we have tried to pray in the past and it did not seem like God heard us.
•             Perhaps we tried to listen to God speak but just could not seem to hear His voice clearly.
•             This verse reminds us that we will find God when we seek Him with all our heart.
•             We seldom seek God with all our hearts. Instead, we tend to give God our leftovers.
•             We give God our leftover time.
•             We give God our leftover energy.
•             We give God our leftover talents.
•             We give God our leftover money.
•             And when we do not have any leftovers, then we give God nothing.
•             Since we seldom have leftovers, God gets left out of our lives way too often.
•             Then when a life challenge arises, people get upset with God because we do not feel He was there for us.
•             God was there all the time; people are the ones who go AWOL.
•             AWOL means “absent without leave” and it is a military term that refers to a soldier who has left his post without permission. It is a bad thing to do!
•             Many Christians have gone AWOL in their faith and want to blame God for it.
•             NEWS FLASH: ALL LEAVES ARE CANCELLED!!!!
•             If we want the joy God promises, we must report for duty!
•             If we want the prosperity God promises, we must report for duty!
•             If we want the hope God promises, we must report for duty!
•             If we want the future God promises, we must report for duty!
•             We must seek God with all of our hearts.
•             There are many ways we can do this, but it starts with having a real relationship with Jesus Christ.
•             We must have more than just ritualistic religion.
•             We must have a real relationship with Jesus Christ that begins with an acceptance of who He is and what He has done.
•             Once we have begun a relationship with Christ by accepting Him as Lord and Savior, then we begin to grow in our relationship with Him.
•             We grow through having a daily quiet time of Bible reading and prayer.
•             We grow by worshipping Him fully at church.
•             We grow though baptism, communion and other spiritual experiences.
•             We grow by looking for ways to include Him in our daily lives instead of just on Sundays.

Conclusion:

•             The world can be a rough place, especially for young people.
•             We can face the world with hope for a prosperous future if we learn the value of prayer.
•             We can face the world with hope for a prosperous future if we have a growing relationship with Jesus that began with a salvation experience but continues until it extends into every area of life.
•             What does our future hold?