As we read Jeremiah 29:4-14 we discover that“The Jews were living in captivity as if they were not going to be in Babylon very long.” As a result of this misconception, they refused to invest themselves. They refused to test or even challenge themselves. They refused to involve themselves in the affairs of the nation they had been sent to simply, because they missed home. They felt that there was no place like Jerusalem. One Jewish person penned these words in Psalms 137, upon being deported to Babylon, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion (home). We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. The Jews replied, How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? They went on to say, ‘If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.”

So these people were and are to this day very serious about their homeland. In light of this fact, God had spoken through Jeremiah, several years before in Jeremiah 25;12 that Judah would be taken into captivity and have to remain there, in captivity in Babylon, for seventy years. The reason given for this sentence, the Jews had omitted the true worship of God for seventy years.

So God exiled them to Babylon for the same amount of years that they had sinned in failing to worship him. The punishment fit the crime. 2 Chronicles 36:20-21 reports ,”He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him (King Nebuchadnezzar) and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia., to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had made up for its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years. Once more, you find an explanation of the law these people broke in Leviticus 25:4. It reads, “In the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.” Not only were these people guilty of breaking the sabbath, but they broke the spirit of the command in Leviticus 26:1-2. It reads,“Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 26:33 says among other things that if you do not do these things then “I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.” Someone said, The only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing at all. And thats what happened in this instance, good people did nothing and evil waxed worse and the good ended up suffering right along with the bad.

Here in the text, Jeremiah 29:4-14, we join the good people as they are serving out their sentence. The sinners if you will had been slain by the sword, but the well meaning folk suffered too as they marched 900 miles from Jerusalem to Babylon with only the belongings they could carry in their hands.On several occasions the southern kingdom of Judah, that Jeremiah, a priest who became a prophet, ministered to violated God’s commands in spirit and in action. They failed to keep the sabbath and they worshipped other gods. Jeremiah tells them in Jeremiah 7:6 that they had violated the spirit of the sabbath by oppressing the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, and shedding innocent blood in this place, the sanctuary,and by worshipping other gods. Time and time again throughout the reign of three kings, Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, we see God’s mercy as God pleaded with the people to turn back to him. Each time however, they refused. So God gave them over to his judgement.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people

The executor of his judgement was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. In 605 B.C he became the Super power of the world and he marched into Jerusalem and gave most of the Jews an EVICTION NOTICE. . He proceeded to set up a puppet government in Jerusalem and made the people left behind pay him taxes. He also evicted and deported a select group of Jews by the name of Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego. In addition, he took a few things from the temple home with him. The puppet king of Jerusalem was known as Jehoakin. In 597 BC, he rebelled against paying taxes and Nebuchadnezzar came back a second time to Jerusalem. This time he took the king and the skilled laborers and the educated people to Babylon. Once more he set up another king, by the name of Zedekiah. He too rebelled and Babylon returned to Jerusalem a third and final time in 587 BC. At this time they put Jerusalem under siege until the country of Judah fell. This time the city of Jerusalem was burned to the ground, the walls were torn down,and the center of worship was destroyed. King Zedekiah was blinded and the rest of the educated and skilled folk were led away into exile in Babylon. Sometimes Bad things happen to good people. Judah’s failure to pay the King of Babylon Ruined there credit. It put a blotch on their TRW. They were denied additional credit and Nebuchaddnezzar came to take there house, their land, and all that they had because they did not keep there word and they rebelled against him. So God gave them over to judgement.

Not, however, before giving Jeremiah a promise through an illustration concerning good figs and bad figs. What God said to Jeremiah through this pictoral illustration was that God was going to preserve a remnant in Jeremiah 24: 5-7. “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their good. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them, and not pull them down: and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.”

PIE IN THE SKY, BY AND BY

The people that had been carried off to Babylon closely resemble some of our churches. The Bible, in fact says that the elders, preachers and prophets were in this religious bunch that had been carted off to Babylon. Figuratively speaking, Babylon for the Jew represented the world. And as we have already established Jerusalem or Judah was home for the Jew. In time the Jews grew restless in Babylon and complained perhaps that “there is no place like home.” To demonstrate their displeasure at their station in life, they refused to make themselves at home in Babylon. They anxiously and with great expectation awaited the day when they could return to the city of peace and walk the streets of Jerusalem. Today we might say they were so heavenly minded that they were no earthly good. All these people talked about was going home. They didn’t realize that as someone said, “ That they were in the world for the world.” Ye are the salt of the earth.

MOVING FROM BEING A CREDIT RISK TO CREDIT WORTHY

1.OFFSET THE BAD CREDIT WITH GOOD CREDIT 2. FIGURE OUT YOUR NET WORTH 3. SET SOME GOALS FOR YOUR FINANCIAL WELL BEING

So God commissions Jeremiah to write them this letter about there stand against the world. The first thing God tells them is that he sent them to Babylon. The captivity was of the Lord’s doing. Twice Jeremiahs letter states that God sent them into the world. It was not man’s doing but God’s doing.

There’s nothing like a home to build net worth

Next, God outlines what he sees to be their responsibility while they are in Babylon. They are told to build homes. They were renting instead of owning anything. They were throwing their money away in paying rent on a place they would never own. They refused to invest themselves. They would not invest in themselves. Before you buy a home Financial advisors caution: If you’re not wealthy, but want to be someday never purchase a home that requires a mortgage that is more than twice your households annual income. When you build a home you plan on being here awhile. Secondly, if God wants me to build a house than I must know something about construction and building materials, and building costs, interest rates,and mortgages. I need to have me some money saved up. And be able to get a mortgage. God was moving them from being a credit risk to being credit worthy. Next he tells them to dwell there, stay there long enough to develop some equity in your home. That way when the bank ask what do you have for collateral you can say I have equity in my home of 30,000 dollars. Shake off the teaching that says, “you are suppose to be broke.” You are never supposed to own anything. If the Lord tarries, you are going to be in the world awhile so you better live your life to the fullest. Who told you poverty is a sign of piety? ‘I’m just waiting to get mine in the by and by.’ I know the Bible says, the love of money is the root of all evil. And that the poor you will always have with you, but it didn’t mean you had to be the poor. People can be flat broke and still be in love with money. Its your attitude about money that God is concerned about.

THERE’S NOTHING LIKE HAVING YOUR OWN BUSINESS If you want further proof that God wants you to have something read a little further. For the scripture instructs them to start a home based business. Turn your hobby into a business. Keep it in your home until it grows large enough to expand the business. Why? So that you can take advantage of business deductions, thereby lowering your taxes. Scripture says plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. Reap the rewards of your labor. Again not only were they to know construction but they were to know how to farm. When you farm you’ve got to be a planner. You must exercise some patience. You must realize that most overnite successes took about 10 to 15 years. This ground may not have yielded much last year, but I’m not going to sell it. I’m going to keep investing the money I did make in the business and turning it over until I reap a reward. After you’ve started your business men you can go get you a wife. And as a result of having a home and a thriving business you can have you some sons and daughters. Are as they say today 2.5 children and a dog. In the following generation, I will bless you to do so well until your sons and daughters can look forward to getting married and having you some grandchildren.

GOD WANTS YOU TO INCREASE, NOT DECRESE God sums up their responsibilites by saying INCREASE. Do not decrease! But the church has not heeded this command of God. We haven’t told you that to be heavenly minded is to do the most good here on earth. We haven’t told you that Planned Parenthood is wrong when it says you should cut down on the number of children that you have to reduce the risk of population explosion. We have failed to show you how to organize your home so that it generates wealth for you to take care of your family. We’ve all but encouraged young girls to get abortions the next time around, by abandoning them after they have the first baby. People in the church question “how do you make it with all those children?” I could never afford to have that many children. And we respond yeah it sure is a load on me. When we should be saying, “My children are an inheritance from the Lord. And because he is my shepherd we shall not want. If I were you I couldn’t afford to have all these children either, but I don’t have to worry about it because the earth is the Lord’s the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. The cattle upon a thousand hills belongs to him. David said, “I once was young but now I’m old and I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken, nor receive beggging bread. Don’t you worry about it, because he is watching over us! So God said increase, don’t decrease. He’s given you ability to make wealth. African Americans have bought the lie that you can’t have anything if you have a lot of children. We’ve been taught to live for ourselves. This is evidenced by the reduction in the number of blacks having babies. At the same time the Hispanic population isn’t paying any attention to these quacks who say cut back,and they as a race are having as many children as they can. God is blessing them because he said Increase, do not decrease. In playing it safe, we’ve lost our bargaining chip. Governor Bush doesn’t need your vote anymore. You can march all you want. He’s got enough votes from the Hispanic population in Texas and Florida to get elected without you. When God says increase, you better increase. God would not give you something that he can’t handle. If he gives you five children, then he will put the resources there to take care of them.

Furthermore, to increase in America, you must decrease your taxes by investing in business, buying a house. This government rewards those who save and invest and punishes those who spend. Put your money in things that appreciate in value. Houses appreciate, cars depreciate. As soon as you drive your Lincoln off the lot it loses 33% of its value. You can’t increase your wealth by buying things that lose their value. Not everyone is going to own a business, and for those people Charles Ross of God’s Plan for your financial Success, suggest you take advantage of your company’s profit sharing plan or 401(k). These plans allow you to save for retirement and reduce your taxes.

Next, God tells them as they become homeowners, to seek the peace of the city where, again, I sent you. Become politically involved. Form neighborhood watches. Determine that we are going to have some peace around here. Get these kids that are slipping through the cracks of the educational system and start tutoring them in an afterschool program. Stop letting these industries dump toxins in your drinking water. Speak out against tax hikes. Demand that businesses be given the same kind of incentives to build on this side of town as they are given to build on other sides of town. Be apart of the solution, instead of the problem. Seek the wholeness or prosperity of the city. If you see a problem work to correct it. Realize its not their problem its our problem. Its not somebody elses child, tommorrow it may very well be my child out on the street. Work to make this a model community. In doing so you will ensure that your property value goes up.

Too many of us are a liability to the world. Our relationship to the world is best characterized by the biological term symbiosis. That is together living. Close association between members of two or more species. Under this definition you have three categories of symbiosis. One is mutualism, thats when there is a close association between members of different species, ie the church and the world, that benefits both. The world should be a better place because we are in it. Your workplace should be more like heaven than it is like hell because you are in it. Your home life should be peaches and cream because one or two Christians reside at that address. The next type of symbiosis is commensalism. That is a close association between members of different species in which one member benefits and the effect on the other is neutral or not known. That’s when you withold your goods from people in need, and tell them I’m praying for you instead. The is not known. Last of all we have what is known as parasite. That is an organism that feeds on another living organism without killing it. Some of us reap the benefits of the world by feeding on it. We never contribute anything, but we’re constantly sucking it dry.

Finally, he tells them that after seventy years they shall return home again. Look at what happens when they return. Because they obeyed the voice of God in building homes,and starting businesses. Because they increased and did not decrease when it came time for retirement at age 70 they were able to retire comfortably. Grandpa didn’t have to work at McDonald’s and Burger King to eat. He had an estate. He had a business. And when he got ready to call it quits he was able to sell the house and live off the principal. He was able to sell the business and give the proceeds to his family to ensure they had a bright tomorrow. He sold the house and the business when it was time to leave Babylon for more than he had invested in it. Not only that when the Jews left Babylon after the seventy years Ezra records that 42,360 of them and an additional 7,337 servants brought back 17,300 pounds of gold and 6,250 pounds of silver. They also recovered the temple artifacts that had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar, but given back by Cyrus. They left Jerusalem 70 years before with the clothes on their back and what they could carry in their hand,and when God got ready to send them back to Jerusalem, they went back more blessed then when they came.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS.

When you do a thing God’s way you can expect many happy returns. God told them in Jeremiah 29:11. “For surely I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for your harm, to give you a future with hope.”

Now what exactly are those plans?

PLAN A says-If a thing is taken away from you - the thief will have to return it seven fold. PLAN B says - If a thing is voluntarily given up - you must be compensated 100 fold. PLAN C says - If you hold out for what God has in store for you the value is unknown as to what you shall receive. There are no indicators, no systems of measurement to express what God has in store for them that keep on loving him. Some ambitious folk hold out for Plan C. We read about them in Hebrews 11:32-35. It says they did not accept deliverance, but they held out for a better resurrection or return. Paul picked it up in Romans 8:18 by saying, “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed in us. Paul also said, Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into to heart the things God has prepared for them that love Him. Thats all you got to do is keep on loving him. Keep on obeying his commands. Thats your investment and He’s promised many happy returns. Paul explained but for the joy that was set before Jesus he endured the cross, despising the shame, and now is set down at the right hand of the father. He held out for plan C. I may have to go through. I may have to scrimp and struggle, but I’m going to hold on to God’s unchanging hand. He’s promised me many happy returns. That’s why I can count it all joy when I fall into divers trials and temptations knowing that the trying of my faith worketh patience, and patience experience,and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed. We count them happy who have endured. There remains a rest (a home) for the people of God and many happy returns.