# Living for the Lord after Inauguration

Key Passage: Jeremiah 29
Date: June 7, 2024

Jeremiah chapter number 29. I did not say Jeremiah was a bullfrog, Jeremiah 29, amen. And Thomas Whitby said, and he’s a little boy, I believe I remember the story right. How many know Thomas Woodby come sometimes? He said he had pastor and said something about Jeremiah, and he was just a little fella. I believe he said he was standing up in the pew, just a little fellow, you know. His mom, and he just yelled out, “Jeremiah was a bullfrog.” And he said his mom took care of that later on. We’ll just say it that way, you know. And Jeremiah, chapter number 29. And kind of wait, if you turn over there, just want to talk for just a minute as we get going here. And I don’t want you to look over there.

I mentioned, I had you look over there a week or so ago, Ezekiel 9, and it’s a vision of the slaying in Jerusalem. It’s a prophecy, but the thing I mentioned to you, if you remember that, that—everybody looking up, everybody, look it up, everybody—there we go, good, good, good. They had that angel, remember it went through.

And the people that had sighed and cried over the abominations of the land. Remember that? He said, put a mark on their forehead. Of course, those that are saved during tribulation prayer don’t have a mark, by the way. We don’t mention that much. I mentioned the Mark of the Beast a lot. But also God puts a mark in His people.

Anyway, in that vision, then He sent that angel out and He just started to bring destruction. Remember that? Utterly slay them: old, young, women, maidens, even children. He said, “Don’t pity them.” By the way, we attempt to pity them. But He said, those that have the mark, He said, “No, I don’t want you to touch them,” and those that had sighed and cried over it.

And I just want to remind you of that, those of you that spent a lot of time praying over this election and sighing over it and shedding tears. Those are not in vain. God heard all those. And God, when He is bringing judgment on Jerusalem, He said, those that have sighed and cried—every, I put that mark in their forehead—don’t you touch them.

There’s a difference, though, for those that did spend time. I know many of you did. Many of you did here at the church, and we had the 24-hour prayer meeting. Many of you did Monday nights, and many of you couldn’t come to those; you did it at home. But I want you to know those were not in vain.

But when you pray about something, all of us—and this is important, it really is. Hey, well, can we do this? Can we do it? Our young people, we try to get you. Can we get you to move up back there in the back? Can we get you to move on up? There we go. Come on, Caden and Emily and all that. We try to keep you in the front seven rows. That’s kind of been our rule all these years. We get you. There we go. Good deal. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you all for helping with that. Help us keep a rule. It’s been in place for a while, for a long time. Thank you for helping me with that. I appreciate that.

But when you pray about something, you always got to put that in there like Jesus did: “Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done.”

And even in a prayer request such as this, I don’t like the outcome of it either, but I must put that in there also in this: “Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.”

Just kind of getting some thoughts out there a little bit on these things. Now we’re going to look at Jeremiah 29. It is not an exact comparison; I want you to know that up front. I’m not trying to twist something; I’m just being very open with it. But I believe there’s some comparison from Jeremiah 29 into our country and what just happened today, right?

So we’re going to read the first verse. We’ll pray, and then we’ll go on down a little bit. But Jeremiah 29, let me just give you a little of what’s going on here. They were in captivity because of sin, and judgment came. And God is giving people direction about what to do during that time of judgment. He was giving His people, matter in Babylon and captive, giving them instructions: “Look, this is how you’re going to handle this judgment.” That’s what God’s telling them. That’s not exact, and I want to say that up front. But there are some lessons we can learn from it, how God told His people to handle that judgment and how we can handle what’s going on in our country and our day and time. I believe the Lord just has us compare that a little bit tonight.

And so Jeremiah 29, we’re just going to read verse number one. Jeremiah 29 and verse number one of God’s word. The Bible says, “Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah, the prophet, sent from Jerusalem.” Remember, Jeremiah never went over there into captivity. He stayed in Jerusalem with the people there, suffering Egypt a little bit. But he’s writing a letter to God’s people that were in captivity over Babylon. “Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah, the prophet, sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests and to the prophets and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.”

God’s given those people that were under judgment: “This is how I want you to handle it.” He’s talking to those people. There are just a couple of comparisons before we pray.

Of course, Israel is God’s chosen people, especially in a way. And I do believe America has been God’s special country for years and years. And you look at our Founding Fathers, you look at the Mayflower Compact, the first legal document before even, actually, even landed on the shores. They declared on that it was for spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, for His glory—actually, “ye glory” is the word in it—which I think is a fair comparison there.

Israel was warned for years and years and years. The dating of the prophets is amazing how long they warned Israel. I’ll be honest with you, I grew up in churches hearing those old preachers. I can hear them now saying, “If God doesn’t bring judgment on America, He’s going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” How many have you heard statements like that? Amen. Sure, we’ve heard those. America’s been warned.

It was just similarities. It was a sad time for Israel; it’s been a sad day. How many are battling it a little bit today to stay on top of the side? Let’s all be honest. Okay, let’s raise a hand, half here, you know. Yeah, yeah. It was a sad time for Israel, same thing. They had been slaughtered and many of them taken back to captivity—a sad time. Fair comparison.

They were in captivity. We don’t know what the next four years hold. We have already seen some churches in California in places where they can’t even have church. They’re trying to stop them from assembling. By the way, that’s what church means—they’re called out assembly. And if you can’t assemble, that’s what the name means. I’d have to question if it’s still a church if you can never assemble. You understand? So we’ve got major issues, and if there’s more of that, there are some problems there.

It was for a set time. They knew it was for 70 years, and we’ll read the verse—I think here in a minute—whether they knew that. We don’t know how long, of course. We’re not sure of all that; maybe till the rapture. That might not be near as long as 70 years. But I think there are some fair comparisons. We’re just trying to learn and glean some things about how to live for the Lord after inauguration. Let’s just talk about that tonight. We’re going to try to pull some things out of this scripture here about that.

If you’ll jump down to verse number five of Jeremiah 29. Verse number five, this is where He’s telling them how He wants them to live in captivity in Babylon.

Verse number five, He says, “Build ye houses and dwell in them and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them.” Let’s just stop there for the time being. All right? Let’s just stop for a second. Let’s just get the other verses later on here. You’re getting ahead of the ballgame. That’s cheating now. You can’t do that.

Can I just put it this way? He’s telling them, even though My judgment is coming, and yes, My chastening hand is on you, I want you to keep living life. I want you to build houses. I want you to live in them. I want you to plant gardens. That was their economy. That’s how they worked and fed their family. He said, “I want you to live life.”

I used this scenario when we were praying about this election: If a guy put a gun up to you and he said, “Get in the car,” the best time to fight is before you get in the car. That was true for people always. That’s true. Best time to fight is before you get in the car. But can I say tonight, if you have to get in the car, don’t give up in the car. You might have lost the best opportunity, but you don’t lay down and let the guy kill you. You still fight. And we’ve still got to live life.

Don’t cash in your retirement. I get numbers mixed up—401(k)s or 401(k)s, I get those numbers mixed up. I’m not dyslexic, but I’m dysgraphic. I really am. That’s my excuse why I can’t spell, you know. But don’t cash all that in and go spend all your money. Okay? You say that’s the craziest thing. Hey, it’s happened. I mean, you… Those who’ve been around long enough, you remember the '88 reasons why the Lord’s going to come back in '88? Or Haley’s Comet or 2000, you know, Y2K and all these. Hey, friend, Christians of all kinds went out and lived on islands during these times. That’s the honest truth. Live life. They said, “Don’t just—you can’t just stop everything.” Don’t go get in debt. “Well, the Lord’s coming back tomorrow, so I’m going to get in debt.” No, the borrower is still servant to the lender. Those truths are still real and still true.

We’ve tried to kind of set this at our house. Now, we’ve had our ups and downs too. I don’t act like we’ve got it all together because we don’t. My wife does, but I don’t. Okay, you know. We try to say at our house, “Hey, we’re just going to enjoy life and win souls.” We’re just going to enjoy it. Have fun. Win souls. By the way, you know what? People seem like they’re more ready to listen than just about any time.

I did not lead anybody back to the Lord on this trip, but I was witnessing a lot on this trip. I don’t think I had one person turn me down. Most people said at least they were saved. I was amazed.

Monday morning, I flew out about seven, I think, from the Nashville airport, and you get in that security line, you know. And nobody likes this security line. Dirty, bigger, back, or slatter of you know, and then you’ve got to take your shoes off and all that other stuff. And, you know, and you haven’t put your socks in the washing machine for three weeks, so they stink and all the rest of that, you know.

I was just getting in the security line, and I did spirit, amen, with no baggage. I just had my carry-on. Save money. I’m a cheap preacher, amen, you know. Thirty-seven bucks to fly to Orlando, Florida. Somebody say amen right there. Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. A little bit more because I had to be back from church tonight on the Southwest flying back. But anyway.

And so you come to that line, I got my bag, you know, and this lady comes up and she says, “Hey, sir, I’ll get you a VIP pass for free. I’ll get you in the front of the line.” I said, “I’m all right, I’m all right, I’m all right, I’m right.” She said, “Come on, it’s free,” you know. She asked me, she said, “Do you like to suffer?” I don’t know. I was like, “Well, not really,” you know.

So finally she convinced me, and she gets me over here on this thing, and I realize, all right, it’s one of these deals, but it’s like three months for free, and then—and I was like, “I don’t like to do those deals, ma’am. I got enough going on. I always forget to cancel on those deals.” And she says, “Oh no, no, we’ll send you three emails, but you know, and we’ll give you—you won’t have to pay a dime.” You know how the salesperson goes. Oh, yeah. She was working me over, you know, and she said, “You’ll need it flying back from Orlando. You’ll need it. You’ll get the front of the line everywhere you go,” you know. And I’m like, you know, three months free, hey, well, you know. And all that was going on. Praise the Lord, it would not take my identification on their little thing. I think they have me marked. I’m a terrorist is what it is, you know. I mean, yeah.

At that point I was praying, “Lord, don’t let that crazy thing work. I don’t want to get signed up on this deal,” you know. Got in the front of the line anyway after it was all over. That’s exactly right, praise the Lord.

But this is an amazing thing. Spanish lady, and I talked to her about the Lord and all that stuff. I mean, if I can push her stuff, I can push my stuff, amen, you know. And I gave her a tract before I left, and she said this more than once. Even though it did not work, she didn’t get a sale—it just, for some reason, it wouldn’t take my driver’s license. I even tried to use my carry permit, you know; we tried it all. It wouldn’t take it. I praise the Lord, I don’t need that crazy thing anyway. But she said more than once, she said, “The whole reason why all this happened is because I need to get in church. I’m going to go to your church.” She kept saying that. She kept saying, “This is the reason why all this happened because I need to get in church.”

And I told so many people on this trip, man, we’re getting close. I left the motel this morning and saw a guy over here in a pickup truck. I went and got him to take my tract, gave him a tract, and said, “Hey, they’ll tell you how to get to heaven and tell you about Jesus.” And he said, “Thank you.” I said, “Boy, it’s getting close.” I’ve told that to so many people, and nobody has denied it. Everybody says, “You’re right.” I just—people are listening.

I sat down in the airplane, you know, they have a seat in between that’s open now. That’s kind of a nice thing, by the way, COVID or not, amen. It’s just nice to have a little room, you know. And she’s over there, and, of course, I’m trying to start up a conversation because I like to witness to her, you know. And she’s a nice lady. She said she was saved. And her husband’s working in Nashville; she lives in Florida. They do. But he’s trying to talk her into moving up here. And I told her, I said, “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but preachers have a hard time keeping their opinions to themselves. But I want you to move up here to be with your husband. I just like to see husbands and wives together. I hope you don’t mind me.” And she was good. Amen. Before we split up, it was all over. I gave her a tract. And she said, “Thank you.” If I moved to Tennessee, and I told her, she’s saved but out of church. And I said, “Boy, you need a good church.” She said the Lord’s coming back soon. She says, “Oh, you’re so right He is.” She said, “I need to find a good truth.” And she was glad to get that tract. She said, “If I moved to Tennessee, you know, we’re going to visit.”

I’m just saying people are listening. I mean, I’m saying, don’t give up now. Hey, God’s been plowing the fields. People know—even movies nowadays are about the end of time. That’s all the truth. Just the everyday man knows, “Hey, this isn’t Mayberry anymore; something’s going on,” you know. And I’m saying, “Hey, let’s live life.” I’m looking forward to spring soul when I’m coming around, amen. Amen. That’d be just good to get back out there with the house.

He said, “Look, go ahead and keep—get your house, build your house, and live in that thing, and plant your garden.” It sure looks like it’s going to be, you know, next week when the Lord comes back, but we don’t know. And live life. Get a garden going. Part of living life is laying up treasures in heaven. We want to find us so doing anyway.

And He said, just live high. By the way, now is it time to be in church more than ever? You ever think about that verse? The verse we use, and there are other places in Scripture, but the verse we use about if somebody tells them, “Hey, why should you go to church?” Because the Bible says to go to church. The verse we typically use is Hebrews 10:25. Look it up real quick if you—a lot of you know it already, Hebrews 10:25. I’ll quote it. You make sure I quote it right because I’ll probably mess it up a little bit. Brother Dumpur will catch me. Hebrews 10:25 is a great verse. I want you to notice a little phrase in that verse. Hebrews 10:25. Notice what He says there.

Hebrews 10, verse number 25, if you’re there, would you say amen? Notice He says there, He says, “Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together,” that is interesting. “The assembling of yourselves together is a manner of some is, but exhorting one another.” Well, I’m saying it, I’m saying it slowly, I’m exhorting one another, “and so much the more, so much the more as you see…”

Yeah. Hey, can you see the day approaching? We need church now more than ever. Man, it’s not time to lay out of church and say, “Well, I’m just too depressed.” Hey, “so much the more as you see the day approaching.” I’d encourage those online, do your best, man, get back in church. Do everything you can. You need it as you see the day approaching.

By the way, it doesn’t matter if it’s the last day before the Lord comes back. “Upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” That gate stands for Bill Gates too, amen. Back scenes, all that. I do that, all that stuff.

Hey, it’s time to live life. Let’s stay in church. By the way, God didn’t give us those 15 acres over there for us to do nothing about it. He gave us those for a reason. He’s not done. He’s still working.

We came in from the airport this afternoon and got off the exit of 24 there, right there at Ambleville Road. And man, going to the right, it was backed up past the ramp on the side of 24—cars backed up. So, man, by the Lord, it’s not me, no way. The Lord is putting our church right on that road. All the cars were turning that way for the most part. God’s putting His church right there.

Man, it’s time to be involved in church and say, “Hey, we want to exhort.” You can’t exhort somebody if you’re not there. I’m going to be in there, just being there. You know who exhorts me? And all of you do, but old Bill being faithful to church. Sometimes, you know who’s going to pick up the van? You know, typically John does Sunday nights, typically, and Brother Anthony does Wednesday nights and, you know, bus drops Sunday morning. But sometimes things get out of whack, whatever, and Bill will be texting, “Who’s going to pick me up tonight?” I love it. He wants to make sure he’s in church. And that’s exhorting. He exhorts me. And we need all that. “So much more as you see the day approaching.”

By the way, you know, often in history, the church has grown under persecution. Very often. I don’t like it. I battle it just like you’re battling it. Hey, it may be God’s trying to purify His church and do a great work in His church in the last days.

So how do you live for the Lord after inauguration? Keep living life. Keep living for the Lord. Let’s look at the next thing. Look in verse number six, if you would. Look at verse number six there, Jeremiah 29. Look at verse number six.

Next thing He says, He says, “Take ye wives.” Now there are about four men right to the right. Well, there we go. Brother Gregory and your three friends, y’all could say amen on that. You can say amen on that. “Take ye wives.” Amen? They’re like, “That’s good preaching right there, brother.” But let’s read that. Let’s read that verse out: “Take ye wives and get sons and daughters. And take wives for your sons and give your daughters to your husbands that they may bear sons and daughters, that ye may be increased and not diminished.”

Can I just kind of title that one there? Keep having a godly family. Keep raising your kids for the Lord. Nothing speaks to this old world more than good, godly kids in 2021. With Biden and men in the White House, you can still raise good kids, by God’s grace. By the way, it doesn’t take a village to raise a kid. God didn’t give that kid to a village; He gave that kid to a mom and dad.

You get a good, godly home, and they get in a good church, and the church assists that home. By the way, if it’s a good thing, if you get them in a good Christian school, that assists at home also, by the way, we’re working on starting that. You can still have good, godly kids in 2021. Even if Biden’s in the White House, and even if Democrats control the House and the Senate, you can still raise good, godly kids. Amen. God’s promises about working in children’s hearts and lives—it doesn’t matter; they’re still true.

By the way, I tend to think it’s more important for there to be a godly family that’s separated from the world now more than ever. It’s not time to kind of water down everything and kowtow and, you know, “Well, it’s mixed with the world.” It’s time to separate more than ever. The world’s just going off the deep end. Time for us to say, “Hey, you go ahead off the deep end over there. We’re going to stay serving the Lord over here.” And that’s two different directions.

The Bible still says over there in 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?” Still in the Bible. He goes on now, there was that verse number seven: “Be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. And I will receive you,” would be a father, “and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” I mean, if there ever was a time for us to separate from the world, it’s now.

I was telling my wife, I don’t mind you separating even a little bit more right now because I won’t stay up top. I want to be down in the mud and the mulligrubs all the time. And for a family, there still can be good, godly families in 2021.

So verse number five, really, if you will—if you don’t mind me just kind of titling it—keep living life. Verse number six: Hey, keep having godly families. That’s the key. That’s the unit of society; the building block is good, godly families. Let’s keep going here. Keep going.

Look at the next verse, verse number seven, Jeremiah 29, verse number seven. “And seek the peace of the city, whether I have called you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof ye shall have peace.” Here’s just—I’ve just titled this: Keep praying for America. I’m going to keep praying for Biden. The Bible tells me to.

And I don’t know that—I don’t know that I don’t call him President Biden because I don’t believe he earned it; I believe he cheated his way to that. But he still is an authority. The Bible tells me to pray for him. I’m not going to pray for him whether they got there right or not; he’s there in authority. I’m not going to tell you I’m going to pray for him the right way. The Bible tells me to do that. It’s 1 Timothy 2:1: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

I never thought we’d really make it through eight years of Obama, to be honest. Eight years. By the way, the first two years of Obama, they had the presidency, the House, and the Senate then also for the first two years—the 111th Congress, check it out. Now, it changed after two years. But we made it. I was depressed the second time he got in, I’ll be honest. I was depressed for about three months. No, I don’t know how; I battled it, I’ll say that. I don’t know. But we made it. I pray for America. We don’t know what God’s doing. God may be trying to… By the way, D.C. is the head of America. The church is the heart of America. And we’ve got a lot of heart problems in America, too. God might be trying to get the heart right. By the way, D.C. doesn’t necessarily define what America is or isn’t. The American people define what America is or isn’t. Churches across this land somewhat define America. Don’t give up totally on America. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We just trust it. But pray for America. Keep praying.

Let’s keep going just a little bit more. We’re almost done. We’re almost done. Look at verse number eight, Jeremiah 29. Look at verse number eight. And we’re just comparing how God told them. By the way, can I remind you that they’re in pagan, pagan Babylon? You talk about bad. Yeah. That’s where they’re at. And God’s telling how to live over there in the midst of that.

Look at verse number eight, if you would, please. Verse number eight: “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.”

“For thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.”

Here’s what was going on: There were fellas coming along saying, “Well, God’s going to get us out of this thing in six months. This is going to go.” No, no, it’s going to be 70 years.

By the way, how many have seen—on YouTube, I’ve seen a lot of them leading up to the election—this prophet had this prophecy. If I remember right, even President Trump had visited church, and one—I think it was a lady—that’s against the Bible. Anyway, this lady prophet or preacher, whatever, all that. She said, telling Trump how she had seen this prophecy, how he was going to win the election. Well, how’d that turn out?

By the way, the Bible tells us over there, look, man, if that prophet is wrong, mark him off; he’s a prophet from God. Yeah, I’m getting off here, but even Jonathan Cahn and some of those guys, they’ve been wrong before. The Bible says if they’re wrong, mark them off. The Bible says so. But here’s what he’s saying. He said, “Don’t get caught up on all that stuff. Just accept it. God has some judgment here on it. You’re going to be in captivity for 70 years.”

And he said there’s going to be all these voices. He’s just kind of accepted: “Hey, God’s chastening you right now.” By the way, I can’t blame God too much when I look at the filth that America has spread across the world. We have missionaries in Muslim parts of the world, and the missionaries say, “We don’t go over there and call ourselves Christians because they associate us with Western Christianity that is very watered down and sinful and fleshly.” And they’re like, “Man, if that’s Christianity, I don’t want to do it. I don’t have anything to do with that.” So they call themselves Christ followers. They’re trying to kind of separate themselves from Western Christianity. I’m just saying that’s kind of—that’s a lot of how the world views us like that.

All these crosses out here, praise what Brother Gordon is putting out, and I appreciate Brother Patterson putting a sign up, and we’re going to face that Sunday, and some of the reasons why we’re going to talk about abortion like we always do Sunday. By the way, we’re going to show a very powerful video Sunday. I mean, be ready for that thing. It’s a powerful one. We’re going to do that because we’re not changing. We’re still going to do it. Stand up where it’s right. We’re still going to proclaim the truth, no matter what. But what? Sixty-one million now, baby, slaughtered.

So when I see these things, I say, “Wait a second.” I realize the just God, He has the right and the ability, and He is the judge to say, “Hey, America, you need some—need some wake-up calls for sure.” Not that He’s not going to take care of His people in the midst of all. I’m like you. I was with you. I was here praying in the middle of the night and all that too. And I was praying and hoping, begging for other things.

My old pastor, Pastor Carter—I mentioned him earlier—50 years in that church, just a man of God. He’s a guy; he’s very political. Every service, politics. Went out to eat with one of my old buddies; he grew up in that church, and, you know, Pastor Carter resigned. He looks like another guy, a good guy is going to take it, and praise the Lord for all that. He’s a good man. And he said, “I just don’t know. I’m used to every service, Pastor Carter preaching on politics. I don’t know if I can take it if somebody else…” You know, this other guy is not every service politics. I’m just trying to give you a little bit of reference what Pastor Carter was preaching before, by the way.

But Pastor Carter said, man, he had prayed, “Lord, do this angle and do that angle,” and you know how all of us have been doing. And he said when he finally put that in there, “Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done,” he said, “I go that way a little bit. He said, I found a whole lot of peace there.” And God will have the grace that we need for every step of the way. Sometimes you got to accept it. And all these prophets were there: “Oh, God’s going to do it.” I said, “No, no, they’re not speaking from me. They’re going to be there for 70 years.” And there’s peace.

Now, I don’t know the future. I don’t know what tomorrow holds. I accepted: God has allowed this thing. And I don’t like it just like you, and I’ve spent much time praying over it and begging over and pleading over it, and I battled being upset overall, but somewhere along the line, I say, “All right, it’s what God has allowed to happen.” So I live life. I just keep living for the Lord in our day and time. We keep having good, godly families in our day and time, raising our kids for the Lord, praying for America. And it was just accepting the fact, “Hey, this is my lot for now. That’s what God’s allowed.”

And let’s look at verse number 11. Verse number 11, we’re going to close it out for the night. And I hope this is encouraging. I hope it doesn’t discourage you. I hope the Lord will use it, maybe give us marching orders from today on. Look in verse number 11, if you would, Jeremiah 29. Look at verse number 11. I know this God, He can speak in the middle of all this.

He says, “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.” Verses often used in our end times, using that in context. God has a plan for His people. In the midst of this, while we’re all struggling with what happened, God says, “If you only knew My thoughts that I think toward you,” especially His people. He’s talking to His people in the midst of you, you that have been praying and agonizing. God’s been thinking about you. Thoughts of peace. Those of you who have been losing sleep over it and begging and pleading, God says, “I’ve been thinking—My thoughts, if you only knew My thoughts about you—thoughts of peace, not of evil.”

Yes, God, in this judgment, this justice, sometimes He must bring some judgment, some chastening, but God says, “My people, I’m thinking good of them. I’ve got an end,” He says, “for you.” Now, I don’t know what the end of this thing is. I don’t know. Maybe—maybe some have said, maybe God, I believe God’s going to bring revival through this thing. I hope you’re right. I don’t know. Maybe God’s bringing the rapture; maybe the rapture is going to come real soon. Sure looks that way. Have revival or rapture? Either one’s pretty good. I’ll take either one. It’s just, hey, in the midst of this, I’m thinking thoughts of peace, not of evil, and I’ve got an expected end.

Somebody today—Sarah, we were joking when she was driving to the airport today, and we were joking about something I can’t remember it was—and she said this: She said, “I’m standing here now.” That is a little bit of a mock of Brother Larry. Brother Larry could have that northern accent, and I didn’t say it real good, but he could do that. That Maryland Yankee—Miss Tammy can do it real good. She’s from New Jersey, if you didn’t know that. Originally, I rescued her from the enemy lines. I went up behind her enemy lines and rescued her, brought her out into safety a bit. But in our house, that’s kind of one of their jokes. You know, “I’m standing here,” you know, and Brother Larry would say that, and Sarah said that. I knew what it kind of referenced in my mind; it just flooded with memories about Brother Larry. We had a joke right down here, and he’d say that. We’d just been joking around. I love those people. I miss some brave people.

Hey, if the rapture comes, that’s all right. He’s going to bring them with Him. You check that over there. It’s like that’s on His four. They’re going to come with Him. It’s going to be a grand reunion day. Amen. I see my dad again.

I don’t know. Ms. Tammy was wording it this way, and it’s a pretty good way to word it a week or two ago. She said, “Well, it’s a win-win. Trump gets in, that’s a win. Biden gets in, that’s a win because the Lord’s coming back sooner.”

And God, in the midst of this thing, He says, “Hey,” He says, “if you only knew My thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Now, God’s—Brother Kevin prayed in this prayer. This didn’t catch God by surprise. You’ve heard it said, “Has it ever occurred to you that nothing’s ever new to God?” You’ve heard that. It’s true. And God has an expected end to it all. By the way, if they want this old world so bad they have to cheat to get it, God’s going to say, “I’ll give it to you for seven years.” They’re not going to like it so good during that time. Everyone smiles at all right, say, “Hey, you want it? God’s about to give it to you, bud.” But until then, we just keep living for You. It may get bad; I don’t know. But God’s got His people doing that time. Just keep living for the Lord. Building those families, keeping a godly family separate from the world, raising your kids for the Lord. Let’s lay a couple more treasures up in heaven for them in the meantime. Try to win another crown. Keep praying for America. And God says, “Hey, I have good thoughts on you.”

Maybe we’ll go through some suffering. I don’t know. We’ll just have to see. Look over one more passage, if you will. Look over Romans chapter number eight. A lot of you will know this verse; it’s a great verse. Romans 8:18—a lot of good ones in there. Romans 8:28, it’s a great one. It’s a great one. But let’s look at Romans 8:18, if you would. Romans 8, look in verse number 18, if you would, please.

Romans 8:18, He says, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Maybe we will have a little suffering. I don’t know. I know God’s going to give us the grace to go through it, whatever it may be. Also, know whatever the suffering is, it’s not going to be worthy to be compared. You can’t even compare the two with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

I don’t know if I’ve ever told this story about my dad. I don’t like to tell this story for two different reasons. You’ll kind of see them. I don’t like—well, I’ll tell you, I don’t like to tell it because when my dad got hit in the story, I don’t like that. And then I don’t like to tell it because I don’t want to make you afraid of suffering. But it’s a very rare story.

When my dad was just a young Christian, just got saved, been saved a little bit—praise the Lord, my dad got saved, man, he just started telling everybody about Jesus. I’m so thankful for that. I probably wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for that. But he would often say, he said, “I got saved, and that Monday I went back to work. And he said, I got home that Monday night, and I was so tired.” He said, “Well, I’m so tired from work.” He just went to work, you know. “I’m doing it all the time. I’m more tired today.” And he thought, “Man, everywhere I went today across the factory, I told them, ‘I got saved.’ I tell everybody about Jesus. That’s why I’m worn out. I’ve been talking all that long.” I like it.

He’d been saved, I think, a little over a year—I think it was in Chattanooga. And he was out witnessing to someone. He was outside on a porch, I believe, and he was witnessing to a lady and just trying to—nothing inappropriate—just trying to tell her about the Lord, how to get saved. And the husband came out. He said, “I don’t know if they had gotten in a fight or something; they were having some jealousy things.” He said, “I don’t know.” But the guy came out; he was mad. And he hit my dad. And I don’t want to tell the part—Dad had a hat on him. He was cold; he had a hat on. And it knocked his hat off. And Dad said, “Well, I reached down and picked my hat up.” And he said, “I went to walk away.” He said, “But I hadn’t been saved long at the time. He said, ‘I had enough of the world in me. I said, I’m going to knock the guy’s block off.’”

And he picked the hat up, and he turned around, and he said, just the Lord so clearly said, “Hey, after all I suffered for you on the cross, you can’t take one little bit of a hit like that? After I bled, they beat me with the cat o’ nine tails, they plucked my beard out, spat on it—you can’t take a little bit of a hit like that?” My dad said, “I’m sorry, Lord.”

Hey friend, maybe we’ll have to suffer a little bit. I don’t know. He said, “But I reckon that the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” It may be God wants to give us a little bit more rewards. You can only earn some rewards by some persecution.

So let’s just live life. Let’s keep winning souls. He’s going to build His church. Whatever, however it is, the gates of hell are not going to prevail against it. Let’s keep raising good, godly families. Keep praying for America. In the meantime, He says, “I have good thoughts on you.” Maybe we’ll go through some suffering; I don’t know. We’ll just have to see.

You know, that thing, that thing about, “Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done”—that’s not always just a statement. You realize Jesus prayed for an hour, an hour in Gethsemane. “Nevertheless, not my will”—that was part of that hour Him agonizing. He sweated great drops of blood during that time. Then another hour. And what, three hours for me to get that peace? It may take some time on our knees. It may take some agony. I mean, Jesus, that’s when He just sweat. They say the capillaries of your skin can burst; you get so intense, and you can actually sweat blood, so intense. Jesus was pretty intense during that time. It may take some long prayer meetings to get some peace. That’s right. God honors that. “Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.”

Amen, amen. Appreciate you being in church tonight. Praise the Lord. And good to have some guests, somewhat guests. They’ve been with us before. Good to have them back, though. That’s great. Good to see everybody out tonight. Thank you, young people, for moving up for them. I hope you’re not too mad at me. I’ve seen a couple trying to stare right at me. No, you’re good guys. They’re great guys. I praise the Lord for them. Glad you’re in church. Glad you’re here tonight. That’s great. That’s wonderful. You’re in church. Good to see everybody out. I’m excited about that church directory; that’ll be a blessing. And make sure you get signed up for all those. Valentine’s Day will be here before we know it, and we’ve got some special things coming up in February. We’ll focus on family a lot. And then we’re going to do it—it looks like we’ll be doing an end-time series here real soon, too. That’ll be exciting. And let’s just stay after for the Lord. Amen. Brother Fontaine’s got a whole stack of tracts with him right there. Look, he’s ready to go. He’s buying ammunition. Amen. He’s got his AR ready to go right there. Amen. Amen. Glad you’re in church. Now, thank you for being here. That’s a blessing. And Brother Humphers back there, would you dismiss us in a word of prayer, please, brother?

Original File: Living for the Lord after Inauguration - Pastor Chisgar