How to make the most of your next 6 months - Nicky Gumbel - HTB at Home

i want to talk to you today about how to make the most of your next six months i don't know whether you know what the most quoted verse on twitter instagram and facebook is in fact it's a verse i've put on all three of those um platforms this week because it's in the bible in one year this week it's from jeremiah 29 11 where god says this 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 but what is the context the original context of that verse and why is it that the context of that verse tells us so much about how we can make the most of the next six months of our lives the original context was the exile the people of god were in a really uncomfortable situation they'd gone into exile in babylon this is the sixth century bc it's two and a half thousand years ago and they were they were thinking and hoping and in fact the false prophets were telling them look don't worry it's all going to be over really quickly and jeremiah comes and he says look actually it's not going to be over as quickly as you would like it to be this is a much longer period but in the middle of this period there is hope and i think right now we're in a period where we desperately need hope it's kind of like we've hit a six-month wall as one international security scholar described it like the first six months of the pandemic was all adrenaline and uh we were really hoping that in this period which is not normal it's kind of a systematic disruption and stress but we were hoping like by september it'll all be over it will have disappeared god willing but actually it hasn't and there's a second spike there's a second wave and it's it's a period where we we hit what this this scholar described as this wall where we experience uh fear and exhaustion and anxiety and boredom and isolation and it's tough it's difficult i know for some of you it's it's really tough right now but for all of us i think it there's there's just there's a huge amount of of stress around and it can come out in in all kinds of ways i i went to get some money out of the bank a few days ago and i by mistake i put in my credit card instead of my debit card and it refused to give me the money so i put in the debit card and i got it but then i got a message from the bank saying that there'd been some unusual activity on my account and i needed to contact the fraud department so i contacted them and i said i think i just put in my credit card by mistake and try to get some money out and then i put in my debit card they said well we can't talk to you until you've answered some security questions so they asked me a whole load of security questions and i think i got most of them right i got my name right i got my date of birth i got my mother's maiden name but then they started asking me all sorts of questions i just didn't have the information at hand so i can tell them and so they said well i'm sorry we're gonna have to close all your accounts so i said really it's me uh i tried to be nice but i was like ah just don't please don't close my accounts it's me anyway they said no we're going to close your account so they did and then we rang through and i and i said look now i've got all the details and they said no it's too late we've closed your accounts now you need to send a picture of your passport so i took a picture of my passport and i sent that and right that's it no they said that's not good enough because you need to send a picture of your passport you holding your passport so i took a photo of me holding my passport and i sent it in i thought now they're going to open my accounts but no then there was a phone call they phoned when i was with a bishop so i couldn't answer so i just said sorry will you ring later well they didn't ring so i had to to ring them and i rang and i got into this answer machine which said your call is being held in a queue you are advancing in the queue so great i'm nearly there and that was like five minutes ten minutes eventually it was like 20 i looked it on my phone it was 25 minutes when they eventually answered by that stage i was ready to kill whoever it was who answered but the guy said now i need to ask you some security questions sir oh okay i answered i answered all the security questions and i kept thinking i i feel so cross but i've got to be nice because i i was reminded of the fact it says on my card the reverend nicholas gumble and i thought i mustn't i mustn't but i wanted i felt the frustration i think we're all feeling this kind of frustration i'm not naturally a patient person and so i get very very easily irritated by that these kind of situations but i think it's part of the situation we're in right now where there is so much frustration and the context of jeremiah is it's not just that they were going through such a difficult time they were cut off from the source that fed them the the people of god the worst thing about the exile for the people of god was being away from the temple because the temple was the place of the presence of god that's where they went to get their souls refreshed and i think it's the same for us right now we are we're kind of cut off from so often the sources that feed us whether it's like being in being able to sing in church coming together for for worship is so refreshing being with family and friends you know that's been one of the most frustrating things for us personally is not being able to see family and friends because they are a source of nourishment they feed our souls and hugs and all these kind of things that that are just kind of feed us were cut off from and this is the context in the book of jeremiah and this is where this amazing promise comes from from from the lord i i have plans for you to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future and then the new testament's even stronger so this this promise applies to you because all the promises of god are yes in christ and god we're told in the new testament has a purpose for you which is good and pleasing and perfect and in this context in jeremiah we're told how we can make the most of this time of waiting this time of frustration and what the prophet jeremiah essentially says in this letter to the exiles is bloom where you're planted he says this this is what the lord almighty the god of israel says to 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 numbers and do not decrease also seek the peace and prosperity that's actually one word in the original hebrew it's shalom it's like it's untranslatable by one english word because it's such a beautiful word it means seek the good the peace the blessing all kinds of goodness and love in the community that you're in 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 in other words he says bloom where you are planted make the most of the situation that you find yourself in don't be wishing that it was all over and that you were somewhere else as some paul writes to the uh corinthian church he's he writes this don't be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else where you are right now is god's place for you it may not be where you want to be but it's where you are life is short don't wait for this time to be over eugene peterson who translated the message to isolation puts it in his commentary on jeremiah the only place you have to be human is where you are right now the only opportunity you'll ever have to live by faith is the circumstance you're provided with this very day this house that you live in this family you find yourself in this job you've been given the weather conditions that prevail at the moment in other words make the most of every day make the most of every moment and bloom in your relationship with god the context of of jeremiah 29 11 is the verses that follow where the lord says through jeremiah 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 i will be found by you declares the lord this is so beautiful we can we can seek god in this time i think like a few days ago i reached this point where i thought i have got so many anxieties and worries there's so many things that are going wrong or potentially going wrong with my health with family health with decisions that i had to take with with people with pastoral situations they're just so many things going wrong i thought rather than just worrying about all these things i'm going to give up i'm going to resign as the general manager of the universe and i'm just going to hand all of this stuff over to god i'm just going to say lord you take the lot all i'm going to do is seek you in this time and so that's why i i have i have a routine that at the moment which is like i did the bible in one ear in the morning that's so important i want to seek god first thing lord what are you saying to me today and then right now then my routine is uh because i can't go to the gym right now as i run around the park in the morning and try trying to pray as i run and then i meet up with with my wife pips in the park and we walk around the park trying very unsuccessfully to pray together but it's a way that we're trying to seek god at this time to hear what he's saying and i want to encourage you if you have never found that relationship with god this is the promise if you seek god you will be he will be found by you you seek me and if you seat me with all your heart i will be found by you and uh if you if you've never done alcohol before i would really encourage you this is a great time you can do it online if vipre and i are on our 91st alpha small group our second one online and it's so amazing to see people there seeking god and what i love about alpha it's a place where we can encounter jesus and experience the fact that jesus in jesus you find love jesus loves you so much he died for you and not only that he was raised to life that means that this life is not the end there is hope beyond the grave this is wonderful we have such amazing good news and you can experience on the alpha saturday now that we instead of the weekend on the holy spirit we have a saturday on the holy spirit and people there a lot on the last course yet again experience god's love being poured into their hearts by the holy spirit the holy spirit has been described as the energy of god i love the way in which the african-american theologian how dr howard thurman describes this this is black history month and and i commend to you this book again by um howard thurman jesus and the disinherited this is the book he wrote in 1949 howard thurman grandmother had been a slave he was taught the faith by his grandmother and this is a beautiful book which influenced martin luther king in the civil rights movement in fact martin luther king carried this book in his pocket on the montgomery marches and howard thurman describes the experience of the holy spirit he said he says it's it's it's like that the moment of when time is intersected by eternity this is the experience of the supernatural god who loves you jesus who died for you the holy spirit who fills your heart it's like a kind of taste of eternity and what jeremiah says is bloom take this opportunity to bloom in your relationship with god and in the in the in the community around you have an impact seek the peace and prosperity of the place where you are you can have an influence just by by your life wherever you are however small you may feel however small you may feel your your your sphere of influence is you can have an influence i heard about a woman who was uh worked in a supermarket and isn't it amazing right now the people that we have so much respect for are the people who work in shops the bus drivers the people in the nhs the people who maybe before the pandemic that we didn't have the same respect that we had from them now but the world has been turned upside down and uh every time i go into a shop i i i thank the person i said thank you so much for doing this job it's so important and this this woman where she worked in a in a supermarket she worked on the checkout tool or what she did was check out check out the customers and fill their baggage that their bags with the with the shopping but what she did was she used her sphere of influence it was only six foot square influence but what she did was she was always greeted them enthusiastically she learnt their names and she remembered their names she asked after their families and when they had finished she always said i'll pray for you and your family and this caused a problem because everybody wanted to be checked out by her so there would be like four check out tills three would be empty and then there'd be this long line of people waiting to be checked out by this wonderful woman who was using her sphere of influence when she died the church was absolutely rampant with her customers who had come to eulogize about the impact of this woman on their life and you too can have that impact on those around you by little acts of kindness by by your words your words are so powerful by your words you can change someone's day and even in the most difficult circumstances you can make a difference i love this book uh that it's called the choice written by this edith eager when she was 16 years old she's she was a ballerina she's now a psychologist she was at age 16 in 1944 she was sent to auschwitz and her book is called the choice even in hell hope can flower whatever situation you are in hope can fly because of jesus because jesus died for you and for me and he was raised to life and that means that there is hope beyond this life uh you know i was i was an atheist i didn't believe in jesus but i encountered jesus and i found that in jesus there is life and life in all its fullness doesn't mean that life is easy sometimes life is hard and sometimes hopes seem to be dashed i remember when i finished at theological college i've been embarrassed i'd love my work as a barrister i went to theological college and after three years i started to look for a place to go and work to be to be like a trainee vicar and i went around all these parishes and i went we went to nine parishes and none of them worked out we were turned down over and over again you may not you may think that's not very surprising but it was very disappointing and we ended up without hope of ever finding a job and i was thinking maybe i need to go back try and go back to being a barrister and then i got a phone call from sandy miller who was the vicar of htv at the time saying he was in a position to offer me a job here 34 years ago i'm so thankful that all those places turned me down i'm so thankful that out of the midst of those disappointments hope arose and that's what the prophet is saying i love the way that that uh eugene peterson translates jeremiah 29 verse 11. he says i god says this i know what i'm doing i have it all planned out plans to take care of you not abandon you plans to give you the future you hope for and in the new testament it's even more amazing a good pleasing and perfect plan for your life an even more solid hope so don't waste the next six months make the most of every day at every moment of every day because god has a good purpose for you he wants to give you hope and a future bloom where you are planted don't be wishing you were someplace else or with somewhere else where you are right now is where god wants you to be and you have a purpose you have a hope and not only that you are on the front line of bringing hope to everyone around you in jesus name what we're going to do right now is we're going to do what we always do we're going to invite the holy spirit to come to you right where you are in your home and into your heart and i asked pips alright perfect to come and join us as we pray for the holy spirit to come let's invite the spirit of god right now to come to you where you are so that you know that god has a good purpose for you to give you hope and a future the future you hope for lord that's our prayer right now come holy spirit you know back in the old testament the holy spirit was in the temple that's why the people were so sad in exile right now the holy spirit has come in the person of jesus and now jesus says he comes into your home we will come and make our home with you and the holy spirit is coming right now to your home and into your heart so that you know that you are loved by god that you have a hope not just for this life but for all eternity and i think some of you is like when i was talking about all my worries you think you've got far more work you've had far more worries then you need to hand those over so i want to encourage you to right now do that to take all that stuff to seek the lord but to hand to him the stuff that the frustrations the maybe the anger the sadness the fears the frustrations and just say lord i'm gonna trust you and i'm going to seek you with all of my heart and if you just feel exhausted and don't want to go on not going on like this today the lord can refresh you and give you fresh vision for that future and hope the even if you feel that you've come to a full stop there's a new start and the lord is pouring out his spirit upon everybody to say come on you can keep going and he can renew you restore you give you that energy and strength for this next phase of the journey of the race there's a race set before you there's a goal out there for each one of you to run to take the strength the power of god again win breathe deeply this the power of the holy spirit to strengthen you for this next part of the journey and i sense what the holy spirit wants to give you is shalom that peace that that word which means far more than peace well-being spiritual prosperity goodness love all the positive things that the holy spirit wants to bring to your life is summed up in that word shalom peace and some of you right now you're sensing just a deep deep peace in your heart and that's evidence that the holy spirit is filling you right now giving you hope and enabling you to be a bearer of hope in jesus name amen

Channel: HTB Church

Views: 61,170

Rating: 4.8744698 out of 5

Keywords: Church online, HTB, Faith, Prayer, Hope, Positivity, Good News, Nicky Gumbel

Id: yy-XmE0-kOQ

Length: 24min 14sec (1454 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 18 2020