Well, I hope you have your Bibles with you, cuz I'm gonna have you do a lot of thumbing! Amen? I want to start in the book of Jerimiah chapter 29 as today I want to share with you a word the Lord has laid heavily on my heart. I have named this message after the name given for it in the Bible, "A Letter To The Exiles", because many of us are in exile as we speak. Some of you are in exile from your family. Some are in exile from your children. Some of you are in exile from people who were, at one time, your friends. And some of you are in exile from your spouse. How many of you know that exile does not always mean to be driven out of a certain place? Amen? You can be in exile from someone and still be under the same roof! But I have a word from God that will bring you hope in your time in exile from whatever it is you are in exile for. Amen?
Jerimiah 29:4-14, "This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in My Name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord."
(Pause) I want you to get a tight grip on that last part. "I have NOT sent them, declares the Lord" Many of you have be deceived and led astray by people in the church who say they are saved, who say they are born again, people who say they have heard from the Lord and in reality, they were the proverbial wolves in sheep's clothing! Many of you have given ear to doctrine that is not backed up by the Bible. Some of you have revealed secrets to these people they have no business knowing! Some of you have been horribly tricked and led astray by people who appear to be as sheep on the outside, but inside they are ravenous, vicious wolves who are there for no other reason than to pull you away from God, to pull you away from His promises, to pull you away from His blessings, and to pull you away from your very faith! Some of you have made friends in the church who appear to be sweet as a honeysuckle, they're so friendly and caring. They always have an encouraging word for you. They flatter you with their words. On the surface, they appear to be right as rain, but if you look closely with the eyes of the Spirit, you'll see the eyes of a vicious wolf! You'll see those eerie red eyes, you'll see the eyes of a snake, you'll see them for what they really are, and that is agents of your enemy, the devil himself!
Verse 10, "This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. (Somebody say, "THIS place") 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 on 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. (Say, "ALL your heart") I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Let's pray. "Heavenly Father, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Today, we come into Your Gates with thanksgiving and into Your Courts with praise for the sacrifice Your Son made on the cross for our redemption. Today, Father God, let Your Word ring and resound in the hearts of everyone who read this message. Let the angels of the Most-High God fill the room where they are today and fill their hearts with peace, with grace, with mercy, and with revelation today. Let us receive from You today, Lord Jesus. Let us hear Your voice within these pages today. Let the voice of the Lord be heard in all nations and in all homes today. Show us Your Glory, oh God! Show us what You want us to see today. In Jesus Name we pray and ask it in faith believing and expecting. Amen and Amen!
God said, "When the appointed years are completed." How many of you know that certain exiles and banishments are longer than others? Amen. "When the APPOINTED years are completed." How many years did He say here? 70. That's the part that is for the people of Jerusalem. Not us. So, don't get spooked. That's for them, but the rest is for us today. God said, "I will come to you and fulfill My good promise to bring you out of this place." What place is He talking about here? The place of exile, right? Okay. He says, "I will bring you OUT of this place of exile. I will bring you OUT of this place of banishment. I will bring you OUT of this place of loneliness. I will bring you OUT of this place of "Babylon"!" Some of you are still in your "Babylon" today, but I'm here to tell you, that God is about to move in a way you thought was no longer possible! God is about to restore what you thought was irretrievably broken! God is about to cause old things to pass away and make ALL things new! Can I get a witness in here today?! HALLELUJAH!!!!!!
2 Corinthains 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." Say, "ALL things!" Some people don't want their relationship restored. Some people don't want their marriages restored. Some people don't want a lot of things restored! Why? Because they've got it in their heads that if they allow it to be restored, it'll be just as it was before. But can I tell you today, that if God restores it, it ain't gonna be they way it used to be! If God restores it, it'll be made new! If God restores it, it'll be BETTER than new! Why would God make you go back to the way it used to be, when He can make better than it used be and make it the way it was ALWAYS SUPPOSED to be? That don't even make sense.
Why would God restore a marriage and have everything like it was before divorce came into the picture? God ain't gonna do that! Before He'll restore it, He'll first lay out the plans for it. When someone restores a car or a house, they don't jump right in and take it as it goes! No! They make plans for it. See, they inspect it first and look for what made it fall apart in the first place. Whewww!!! Excuse me a minute while I speak in tongues. I FEEL YA, HOLY SPIRIT!!!!!!
You don't go into a restoration project and just start brushing it up like new! Let me say that again, You don't go into a restoration project and just start brushing it up LIKE new! No, no, no, no, no. See, before there can be a restoration, you first have to have a tear down. Have you ever seen that show that was on CMT called, "Trick My Truck"? Do you know what they did? They went out and found someone who had a truck in serious need of restoration. They'd give the owner of that truck a loaner to drive while they got to work on their truck. They'd get it into the shop and what's the first thing they did? They tore down. Can I tell you this? Some of you are in the aftermath of a tear down, but God. Somebody say, "But GOD!" God has already finished the plans for that restoration and is ready to start rebuilding! Some of you have been tore down and just left in a heap, but can I tell you? God is about to start the RE-fabrication process! Oh, Hallelujah! Can I get a witness to that?!
Some of you are about to see the hand of God move in your life. And what you thought was over, what you thought was finished and done, God is about to make new! What you thought was beyond all hope, has NEVER been beyond all hope in Jesus! Some of you may even think you don't want that thing restored. Some of you may actually think you're better off the way things are. But can I tell you? God said in our text, "I KNOW the plans I have for you!" He said these were GOOD plans. Plans that promise you a future and a hope. Can I tell you this? Some of you are in a position where you think you're better off, you think it's better this way, but the harsh reality is, you have no future. You have no hope. Why? Because you have allowed the agents of the enemy to come in and whisper in your ear things that God would NEVER tell you!
Some of you have been deceived into thinking something the Word of God clearly opposes! Why do you think we have things like the LGBTQ? Why do you think we have abortions in our society? Why do think we have all this chaos happening in the world today? Because Satan has whispered in their ears of the saints and the people of the world through false prophets or wolves in sheep's clothing! The enemy has deceived the very hearts of those who have been hurt in the past. He has deceived those who have been betrayed in life. He has whispered in their ears and convinced them to do what God Word says He hates!
When you experience a hurt like betrayal, mark my words, it will scar you for life! The pain and the heartache of that betrayal will always be in your mind. Why? Cause Satan will always cling to that if he thinks for one second that it will pull you away from the promises of God. Some of you refuse to let go of that past hurt. Some of you don't want to forget that past hurt because you never want to be hurt like that again. And again, I remind you what God said in His Word, "I know the plans that I have for you. Plans of good and not evil. Plans that will give you both a future and a hope." Can I tell you that if you don't accept God's plan for you, you reject Him flat-out! If you refuse even ONE of God's promises or blessings, you reject them all! Why? Why would God offer you any blessing or promise if you refuse and reject the one? I'm not saying it'll never be available again, but in order for you to receive all the other blessings and promises of God, you have to accept that one first. Otherwise, God's not going to give you another blessing.
Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
You can still be saved. You can still have your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. But if you reject even ONE of God's blessings, you have rejected them all. Be careful what you reject and what you receive.
Exodus 23:20-24, "Behold, I send an Angel before you. (Notice how the word, "Angel" is capitalized? That means the Angel He's talking about here is Jesus.) To keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared." (Notice here God says, "I have prepared it!" Some of you, God is trying to bring you into a place that HE has prepared, but you're not having to do with that because you're afraid history will only repeat itself. When we don't understand God's ways, that's when we need to trust His Wisdom. Don't let the shadows of the past and how it all went down before keep you from receiving what God has for you! If God has spoken it, don't go, "But is it God's Will?" Please?! Are you serious?! He spoke it, didn't He? What more proof do you want that it is His Will? If it wasn't His Will, He wouldn't have spoken it!) He says, "Beware of Him (talking about this Angel) and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars."
Can I tell you something? Some of you are in fellowship with people who worship a God OTHER THAN the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Some of you are staying in fellowship with those who bow down to idols, who bow down to pagan gods, who cling to things like horoscopes and what not, instead of the Living God! Be careful who you allow into your life! If the Bible says, and it does, that we entertain angels unaware, what makes you think you're not doing the same thing with demons?
God has put this word on my heart to tell you, some of you are living according to traditions and customs of this world. Some of you are doing things the world's way and not God's way. You may have a relationship with a family member, a loved one, or a friend that is severed because of foolish things. Some of you may have been married at one time, and filed for divorce because they didn't do what YOU wanted them to do. Maybe they didn't make enough money on their job. Maybe they had trouble even finding a job. Maybe they tried to do things their way as well. I don't know. Maybe they didn't have the same interests and desires you have. Maybe they don't have dreams of bigger and better things. Maybe you just thought marriage was supposed to be anything but what you had. But the plain, simple matter of the fact is, if you filed for divorce for ANY other reason than what the Bible gives us, your "divorce", in the eyes of God, is illegitimate and He will NEVER acknowledge it no matter you think, no matter what you believe, no matter what any legal beagle has told you!
If you filed for divorce for any other reason other than adultery or abandonment from a non-believer, your divorce is nothing but a piece of paper that means absolutely nothing in the eyes of God! "Well, what if they DID commit adultery, but I forgave them?" If you forgave them, then you no longer have that exception for divorce. It's that simple. If your spouse cheated on you, but regretted it, repented of it, and received God's forgiveness and yours, you have no cause for divorce anymore. See, you did it right the first time. They repented, they came to their senses or whatever, and you forgave them. Besides that, just because God says you're permitted to divorce, doesn't mean you should, or you have to.
God said in His own Word in Malachi 2:13-16, "And this is the second thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying; so He does not regard the offering anymore, nor receive it with goodwill from your hands. Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. “For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence,” says the Lord of hosts. “Therefore, take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”
The problem in the world is, they have made it to where both marriage and divorce are on the same level. The world sees both of them as a piece of paper, both signed by one who has authority in the land to validate each of them. But it's still man. It's not God. All the priest or man or woman of God does is officiate the ceremony. You don't make your vows to the clergyman, the Justice of the Peace, or even the judge. You make them to God and each other. But the world would have you believe that marriage is nothing more than a legal document, signed by the officiant and the man or woman at the government office. That's what people actually believe marriage is. But marriage is not a contract! It's not a license! It's not a piece of paper! Marriage is a covenant! God did not create divorce, man did that! In fact, it was Moses who did that because the children of Israel were so full of sin, that refused to accept God at His Word! How many of you are in the same boat, I wonder? Are you refusing to take God at His Word today?
How many of you have allowed compromise with the world on your faith just to satisfy them or just to get them off your back? Can I tell you this? Compromise with the world is TREASON in the Courts of Heaven! Let me say that again. Compromise with the world is TREASON in the Courts of Heaven!
Look at Matthew 15:13-26, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My Name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another. “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning."
You may be IN this world, but you are NOT part of it. If you are in Christ, you are not of this world! But if you allow the things of this world to come into your life in such a way, you start second guessing God's Word, Christ is not in you. You are a Christian in name ONLY! True fellowship with God means that there is NOTHING in this world that is more important to you than Him! And yet, people everyday are going into this world to have the '"luxuries" of life. There is NOTHING in the world that I would DARE choose of my Jesus! Nothing in this world is more important to me than my Jesus! He's the Lamb of God! He's the Lion of the Tribe of Judah! He's the Alpha and the Omega! He's the beginning and the end! He is MY Tribal Chief and the Head of the ONLY table that matters! SOMEBODY SHOUT UNTO GOD WHERE YOU ARE!!!
1 John 2:15-16, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world."
Bottom line: NEVER compromise with this world for any reason! Compromise with the world is TREASON in the Courts of Heaven! DON'T DO IT!!! It will never be worth it! But how many of you are in exile today? How many of you want that relationship or that marriage restored and made better than new? God is about to move on your behalf. God is about to make all things new today. You may think it's beyond all hope, you may think you'll just be going back to the way it was, you may think it's not worth it anymore, you might think, "You can have that! I don't even want that!" But God's Word is absolute. God's Word is finite. It never changes. It still stands to this day. And will forever more.
But the problem is, we have allowed the ways of this world to twist our way of thinking to actually believe that things like divorce, same sex marriage, and abortion are totally okay and we shouldn't be ashamed of that. Well, let me tell this God-less, sin-ridden world what GOD says about it all!
First, divorce. Matthew 19:3-9, "Some Pharisees came to Him to test Him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” “Haven’t you read,” He replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality (aka, adultery), and marries another woman commits adultery.”
"What GOD has joined together, let NO ONE separate!" That means, unless you divorce your spouse for any reason other than adultery or abandonment, your divorce is illegitimate. It is null and void in the eyes of God. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7:1-16, "Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But I say this as a concession, not as a commandment. For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am; but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, LET HER REMAIN UNMARRIED OR BE RECONCILLED TO HER HUSBAND. AND A HUSBAND IS NOT TO DIVORCE HIS WIFE. But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But GOD HAS CALLED US TO PEACE. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?
Let me explain something here. To both the ladies and the men, but mostly the ladies because I have seen this mostly in you. Marriage is not about you having YOUR way. It's not about you having what YOU want. Marriage is a covenant sealed by God for the sole purpose of spreading His image throughout the world. Happiness and joy are the PURPOSE of marriage, they are the BENEFITS of marriage. When you take the benefit and make it the purpose, you flip God's whole plan for marriage upside down. No wonder so many marriages fail. You got it all backwards!
When you take your vows at the ceremony, you are asked if you take each other for better or worse. For richer or poorer. In sickness and in health. But people nowadays take off when the poor, the worse and the sickness show up. You said you'd take them either way! But when things start getting real, when life starts getting real and the fairytale has ended, people want to bail! QUIT NITPICKING THE COVENANT OF GOD AND OWN UP TO YOUR COMMITTMENT!
The Bible says that He desires, "Godly offspring". That means children. The Bibles says that children are a heritage of the Lord. Another translation reads that children are an INHERITANCE from the Lord. God has blessed your marriage with children. They're not a burden! They're not there by accident! God make that child! Not you! You only supplied the necessary ingredients God needed to bring it to pass. But God brought you that baby. He blessed your union and your intimacy with offspring and every time you look at that child, you should say to yourself, "GOD gave me this child! GOD gave us that baby! This child is a sign of God's blessings on our marriage!"
Stop making marriage and divorce mirror images of each other! They're not even on the same level! Marriage is a covenant established by God! Divorce is man's way to take the easy way out! Have you ever noticed that when a man and a woman want to get married, they go to God's House to say, "I do"? But they want a divorce, they go to MAN, as in mankind, in the form of a judge in a courtroom to say, "I QUIT!"? Now you tell me how these two are one and the same? You tell me how they go hand in hand? You tell me how they are nothing more than what the world has made them out to be?
Marriage and divorce ain't even what the world says it is! The Bible says that marriage covers one's garments with blood and violence. It's a death! It's the spilling of innocent blood! OH HO!!! That touched something there! It's the shedding of innocent blood! And don't worry, I'm about to get to that. Yeah, and you thought that verse was just talking about abortion. Nah, nah. It means much more than that, I can assure ya!
But marriage is a covenant. Genesis 2:18-25, "And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So, Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called, "Woman", because she was taken out of man.” Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." That's the covenant as it was created to be.
Now, same-sex marriage: Leviticus 18:22, "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination." What IS an abomination? Simple, it's more than just sin. An abomination is a sin that is in DIRECT defiance of God Himself! When you commit an act of abomination such as homosexuality, and I don't care if the world calls it homosexuality for men only and lesbianism for women, it's homosexuality pure and simple! No ands ifs or buts about it! But when you commit an act such as this, you might as well be spitting in the very FACE of God! That's why same-sex marriage is never going to be an actual marriage. Because it's not of God's divine order. It's an act of defiance to God. And it is forbidden by God!
And finally, abortion: Proverbs 6:16-19, "These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, HANDS THAT SHED INNOCENT BLOOD, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren." Now that last part takes me back to listening to people who are wolves in sheep's clothing. God hates people who sow discords discord among the church! That would mean someone who causes the church to turn on each other, cause married couples to turn on each other and divorce, and cause people to leave the church because they started believing the lies these people told them.
But God is telling His people today, "It doesn't matter what this person said, or that person says. It's not about you having it your way!" God's plan is not the menu at "Burger King"! You're not always gonna get YOUR way! Which is more important to you? Getting your OWN way, or having GOD's way? You may think you have it all figured out, but in the long run, what will any of it accomplish you if you don't have Jesus at the helm guiding your every step? Amen?
I pray this word has encouraged you if you're in a season of exile. I hope it has gotten you to think about things in a whole new light. But most of all, I hope you have heard God's voice today. Will you pray this prayer with me?
"Heavenly Father, as we come to a close today, let every heart be touched by Your amazing grace, Lord. Let every person here feel the hand of God Himself on them right now. And Father, if there is anyone here who is in a season of exile, or who has exiled someone from their life, I pray that You would bridge that gap and bring them together according to Your Word, oh God. let them find peace and let them find reconciliation today. In Jesus Name, we pray. Amen and Amen!
