God's Big Plans [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

I know what's going on in my mind towards you, and he's thinking about in his own glory and his own joy, God's own joy, and finding himself delighted with the thoughts that he has for his own people. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series called Providence as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout today's entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

So as you listen to today's message, go deeper in your study as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. We'd like to believe sometimes that when one of these in between places that it's going to be so brief that really we get into a kind of denial about what we're actually going through. And the problem with that is that in that mentality we tend to just postpone living. It's a little bit like what we were feeling during the pandemic where, you know, we just didn't know what was going on.

And so first everybody is sequestered and quarantined. But then we think, well, is it going to be over soon? Does anybody remember how we thought it was going to just be flatten the curve for a few weeks? And all the preachers in America thought we're going to be back by Easter and it's going to be the biggest in-person Easter services in the history of the world. Here we are years later. And what we've done, regardless of all the variety of opinions about what ought to be done, what we've all done is we finally said, we can't postpone living forever. We just got to go on and live.

We got to do some things. At first everybody was postponing their weddings. Everybody was postponing. People are postponing funerals.

People are postponing everything because this will be brief and then we'll just and then somewhere you suddenly go, it's not that brief. And we can't just not live. So that's one of the perils of exile time is just put off living. And one of the things God's saying is don't do that.

I want I want you while you're in exile, give your sons and daughters to marriage, build your houses, build up your businesses, be involved in the community. It's not your ultimate home. This is not the place where you're going to be forever.

This is not where your grandchildren are going to be raised. But for now, don't put off living. Be a blessing and bloom where you're planted. The other peril, of course, is to think that the exile is forever in which you despair of living.

If you think, well, this is never going to be better, it's always going to be this way, then you can sort of give up and despair of a future. And that's why God has to send word and say, well, on the one hand, this is not a blip on the radar and it's not that brief. On the other hand, you must know that I have beautiful thoughts towards your future and I want you to think about how much I think about those beautiful thoughts. It is because of this that then He can say, I want you to be for the welfare of your cities wherever you are. And this is the very reason that we're going to be serving on this beautiful Saturday in November. If God be for us, who could be against us? And I just want us to walk this out like just God loves us when we didn't deserve it. So just go and love somebody, not because they deserve it, not because they got their act together, but just because of love.

Be for the welfare of your city because I have good plans for you. So if we are either postponing living or despairing of living, we'll never be able to be the blessing God wants us to be while we're living. So God wants them to know He has plans.

That's the context of Jeremiah 29. They're going to come back. They've taken an exile in 586.

They're going to come back in 536. And you can have peace and you can have joy by just thinking about God's big plans for your life. Well, in case you missed last week, the world shifted last Saturday when Mia Joy Wright came into the world. And y'all, it was just, I mean, it is, it's fantastic.

And it just, it's just fantastic. After church last Sunday, she was born Saturday night, I rushed down to Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte to go to the hospital and meets me there. And she was actually down the coast.

So she comes driving in, you know, we go and find them in their room there with this baby that is less than a day old. And, you know, holding her is just, wow. And I'm just sitting there, you know, just remembering. Like, it seems like yesterday that I'm holding Bennett in my arms the day he was born.

And now here he is, the father. And I just hand him back over to Bennett. I hand Mia back over to Bennett, hand her over. And while I'm handing her back to Bennett, I'm getting so choked up, you know, thinking about it all.

And Bennett's getting choked up. And I'm thinking about what it's like to become a dad when everything in your life is changed because your every thought and every measure of happiness is now wrapped up with your well-being of your child. And there is a love that you find that you couldn't have known was possible.

It's like a deeper level, a whole other gear, a whole other something that's just there. And I'm thinking about this and I just handed her back over. And all I said to him was I was fighting back the tears. All I could muster was, now you know.

Now you know. Now you know what it's like to have all of your thoughts consumed with all the good thoughts and plans and intentions you have for your baby girl. Thoughts and plans and intentions that she has no idea about.

But you do. This is what it means really to begin to understand the love of God. Is to understand that you're like a baby in his arms.

And as vast as his thoughts are, no one could know the sum of them. So at some point walking with God and trusting with God is just letting yourself be held and trusting in his good plans. Verse 10. Thus says the Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon. 70 is an interesting number. It corresponds roughly to the number of years that they literally were in exile. Depends on when you date the start of exile.

And there are various proposals for this. But also I think it's important to remember that seven and ten are two of the most highly symbolic numbers in the Bible. And both of them have a sense of completion. Like seven days to a week, it's a full week. Or ten, like ten fingers and ten toes, it's all of them. And so seven times ten is a picture of like in the fullness of time. After the complete time is up. After these 70 years. And I think it's so interesting that the restriction or the limit or the end of it is not when the 70 years are completed for you. But did you notice that verse 10? When 70 years are completed for Babylon. This is a reference to God's limiting the span of wickedness.

I love that. That God's grace doesn't run out, but evil empires do. And it means that God is not putting his people in exile into some sort of cosmic time out. That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. God's love. You've heard about it with your ears.

You've believed it in your mind. Now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book, Lover of My Soul. The Bible is a love story from beginning to end. You are the spiritual bride of Christ, the perfect bridegroom. The Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you, to win you, and to walk with you hand in hand. For any man who has fallen in love with a woman, you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like. For any woman who has searched for true love, what you long for can only be found fully in God. Gary Chapman, renowned author of the five love languages, says the incredible reality that God pursues us in love comes to life in Lover of My Soul. Ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart. Accept Christ's proposal, enjoy his embrace, revel in his love.

After all, it's a match made in heaven. It's Lover of My Soul by Alan Wright. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Now we are in our final days of offering this special product. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. He's not saying that I can't stand the sight of you, so go to your room and you think about this until you've proven that you're repentant enough. He's essentially saying, no, there's going to be a defined amount of time that you're going to experience this discipline and you're going to learn and grow through it, but it's limited. And you need to know that, that wickedness and evil that has hurt you so much, I will not allow it to continue indefinitely, but my grace for you will continue forever and forever. This is part of what it means to know God has a plan for you. And this at verse 10 also, he says, I will visit you. I will fulfill to you my promise. I will bring you back to this place.

I will, I will, I will. Our repentance and our obedience is powerful for our own well-being and glorifying to God. But it is not a prerequisite for the love of God or the restoration of God.

God has not put the impetus on his people. He has not said, you prove yourselves, then I'll finally bring you back. He says, no, there's a limit to the evil.

There's definitely a limit to the evil. I'm only allow it for a certain period of time. And he says, I will be the one that will restore you. I will come to you. I will restore you.

I'm going to do this for you. That's, that's how you believe in a good plan from God is that when you are in a place of captivity, you know, you're not getting yourself out. God is going to get you out. He is not allowing evil to run sovereign over you and he is going to get you out. Hallelujah. He says, I will visit and I will fulfill.

And the word for fulfill comes from a root that means to stand up or arise in defense of something. I'll come. I'll come near you and I'm going to stand up for my own promises. God's more committed to his own promise to you than you can even imagine because God is 100 percent truthful and he can't speak what he doesn't do. So he's standing up for his promise to come and get you. God says he's going to come get you.

He's going to come get you. And God therefore is giving this good word, attending to his people, and then standing up for his promise. Verse 11, for I know the plans I have for you.

I, it reads like this in Hebrew, I myself know the plans I have for you. I know them and that's what matters, God's saying. You don't know them, but I know them.

Yadah in Hebrew, that's an intimate knowing. I am intimately acquainted with. I am fully aware of my own thoughts. They are not haphazard.

They are not, they are not a matter of being fickle and changing from day to day. I know all of these thoughts and you don't know them. What I'm saying is if a daddy can hold his one day old and have plans for her and thoughts for her well-being that she has no capacity to process how much more so your father in heaven who is infinite in knowledge wisdom and power and love.

He's holding on to you and he's thinking good thoughts towards you. I know the plans, verse 11. I love this word because it really, it's hard to know how to translate it. The theological word book of the Old Testament says of this word that's usually translated plans that the basic idea of the word is the employment of the mind in thinking activity. The reference is not so much to understanding but to the creating of new ideas. That's why some translations render this I know the thoughts I have towards you, but what it really means is God is saying I know how my own mind is imaginatively in process right now of thinking of all of the good intentions towards you. I know what's going on in my mind towards you and he's thinking about in his own glory and his own his own joy God's own joy and finding himself delighted with the thoughts that he has for his own people.

He wants you just to know that to have to have these thoughts towards you. Interestingly it's the same root of the word that is used to describe the notion of what we call theologically imputation. When we speak of God imputing for example Genesis 15 6 when God imputes righteousness to Abraham. Abraham believed the Lord and God counted it to him as righteousness. That word for counted it to him or imputed it to him or it's the same word from Jeremiah 29 about thoughts. He's saying he thought of Abraham as righteous but that word doesn't quite do it. It means he he sees him that way and so he is that way. Do you know how it is like if you've ever seen somebody in the wrong way well everything in your mind aligns to how you see them and unless it's corrected you'll see them wrongly and you'll treat them wrongly but God doesn't see you incorrectly he sees you and he thinks of you as the one that he has good intentions towards and he sees you that way.

The word is also used to describe the work of the head builder of the tabernacle who was devising artistic productions the faults of the artist. God knows all of this and see as God is speaking through Jeremiah he's not just thinking about how he's going to raise up Cyrus of Persia in 536 and Cyrus is going to overrun Babylon and how Cyrus is going to send the people back home because of a different political policy. He's not just thinking about that although he's thinking about that. He's not just thinking about those people that will be able to return and rebuild a temple and rebuild their lives and the people that will rebuild their family businesses and the children and grandchildren that will grow up back home where they have always wanted to be. He's thinking about all of that but he's thinking about more than that when he says I know the plans that I have for you he's thinking about his own son he's thinking about the kind of love that he has the kind of love that makes a father in an instant be willing to lay his life down for his baby girl he's thinking like that and he's thinking about his plan that he's known from the very moment that sin entered the world and God knew that in the fullness of time he would send his only begotten son that he himself would come that he would live a sinless life that he would take into his very being the sin of the world and hang upon a cross so that anyone who would trust in him would be forgiven set free and thought of by God imputed with the very righteousness of Jesus so that then you could become a co-heir with Christ and live with God forever and ever in a new heaven and a new earth where we who are in Christ know each other love each other enjoy each other laugh with one another and continue to grow and expand as the people that God has made us to be he saw all of it he thought of all of it when he said I know the plans I have for you God's got big plans God's got big plans for you the power of knowing this is well in the first place let me tell you let me just give you several of the benefits of trusting in God's plan knowing he has a plan thinking of it being a baby in his arm and knowing he's got a plan is in the first place it gives you peace it's like getting on an airplane and you have no idea how the plane is going to get to where you're supposed to go but the pilot has filed a flight plan and not just on a commercial flight but I've flown a lot privately with friends and I've sat there and watched them file their flight plan and the flight plan includes a lot of factors the weather and if you have to go out of the way to get around a certain storm and other traffic and where the smooth air is going to be at what elevation and then the flight plan is submitted to the air traffic controller and they sometimes amend it and it comes back and then there's an agreed upon flight plan and that's the way the plane's going to fly and the passenger doesn't have any idea you just sit there and read your book and drink your coffee take your nap and just let the flight plan happen. Alan Wright our good news message God's big plans from the series Providence please stay with us Pastor Alan is back joining me in the studio sharing his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. God's love you've heard about it with your ears you've believed it in your mind now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book Lover of My Soul. The Bible is a love story from beginning to end.

You are the spiritual bride of Christ the perfect bridegroom. The Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you to win you and to walk with you hand in hand. For any man who has fallen in love with a woman you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like. For any woman who has searched for true love which you long for can only be found fully in God. Gary Chapman renowned author of the five love languages says the incredible reality that God pursues us and love comes to life and lover of my soul. Ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart accept Christ's proposal enjoy his embrace revel in his love after all it's a match made in heaven.

It's Lover of My Soul by Alan Wright. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. Now we are in our final days of offering this special product. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries.

Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website PastorAlan.org. Back here sharing Pastor Alan's parting good news thought for the day and if we went back a few teachings we could talk about worry and how if you knew all the inner workings of even like an airplane and the flight plan there'd be a lot to worry about and on the flip side the big plan that God is unfolding in our lives even at this very moment should give us reassurance. I'm sure that we have listeners right now can identify with the feeling of being in exile. This text is prophetic to those that are in exile that would one day be brought back home and you know when you're in exile you can get in mind well it's just so temporary I'll just postpone living or you can start thinking I'm stuck here and lose all of your hope and I think God has a third way for us and it's the way of saying no it's not your permanent home but it is significant what you're walking through so don't postpone living but don't lose your hope because I've got big plans for you and think much of this you you we're just we're like my you know we're like my little grandbaby Mia who she has no idea all the plans that have been laid up for her she doesn't even know you know it's just that's the way of little children someone who knows more has more can do more is making plans that you don't even understand how much more so are infinitely good and powerful God. God's got big plans. teaching delivered right to your email inbox free find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org that's pastorallen.org today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.