An Inside Look at God's Thoughts About You

0:00 Today's message is entitled, An Inside Look at God's Thoughts About You. I want to get you to open your Bibles to... Jeremiah chapter 29. When you get it, I want you to stand. Thank the United Voices for leading us in worship today. God bless you this morning. This is a familiar passage of Scripture.

0:34 If you've been around church any length of time, you have probably seen, read, or heard this verse. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil. To give you a future and a hope. Amen. I want to talk about God's thoughts. An inside look at God's thoughts about you. he'd be thinking about you Father thank you for this privilege to be in the house of prayer thank you for this opportunity to cry out and call on your name pray that you speak to us challenge us convert somebody's life put a hedge of protection around this place Father please rebuke and bind every distracting spirit by your spirit I pray Father that you would allow your presence and your might to accomplish what you've ordained in Jesus name Amen you can be seated Go ahead and look at your neighbor and say, God, I've been thinking about you.

1:53 Did y'all look at the person in the eyeballs and tell them that? This is a passage of scripture where the children of God are in Babylon. They are not at home. They are slaves in another country. And they are frustrated, disappointed, and in some cases feel defeated because life has not gone their way. They want to be free. they want to be in a different place they want to be back at their homeland but they're not and they're a little frustrated so God raises up Jeremiah and Jeremiah has the assignment of communicating to these chosen people of God who during the course of this journey in their lives find themselves in a troubling situation I thought I ought to talk about it for a few moments because some of y'all have found yourselves in a troubling situation between your own personal life and the economy and the government and jobs and health and all kind of challenges, I thought it would be good for me just to tell you what God's thinking about.

3:11 If you don't bring your thought processes in line with God's thought processes, you'll be frustrated, depressed, defeated. I have often mentioned to you, those of you who have been here any length of time, that I've talked on multiple occasions about the seasons in my life when I felt depressed, suicidal, frustrated. But all of that happened before I understood what it is I'm about to tell you. Because I want to bind the spirit of depression and suicide and defeat. If you just get a hold of this verse, this one verse right here, one passage.

4:12 As a matter of fact, if you get a hold of one word that I'm about to talk about, it's going to make all the difference in the world in your life. here is the this is Jeremiah 29 11 I know God says I know God says I know the thoughts that I think toward you I love this verse right here it's life changing if you have not memorized this verse I want to encourage you to memorize it it is life changing God says I know what I'm thinking about you now the reason is so significant and important is because God says, I don't assume. He didn't say I hope. He didn't say I ponder. He says, I think. I know. I'm sorry. I know what I'm thinking about you. That word know is an assurance. It's a positive word. He says, I know the thoughts. And I want to zoom in on this word thoughts. Somebody holler back. Say thoughts. Look at your neighbor and say, I hope you ain't got no stinking thinking.

5:18 Tell your neighbor, I hope you ain't got no stinking thinking. He said, I know the thoughts that I have, and I love this word, toward you. Notice he didn't say, I know the thoughts that I think about you. He said, I know the thoughts that I think toward you. In other words, with God's thinking, he's going to direct his thoughts toward you. Now, some of y'all have probably thought some stuff about people.

5:55 But thanks be to God, you don't have no power to do with what you think. I know y'all don't want to admit this, but sometimes people be talking to me and what I'm thinking is not the most godly thing in the world. Okay, I see some of y'all willing to be honest.

6:17 But when God thinks, something happens. And he says this, he says, the thought, this is the key word here is thoughts. The key word is the word thoughts. He says, I know the thoughts that I think towards you. And the word thoughts here is a Hebrew word that has three connotations, three elements, three meanings to it. And that's what I want to spend the rest of this time talking about are these three meanings. Let me begin by the first meaning of the first meaning behind what the word thoughts mean, the Hebrew word thoughts. first of all it is an accounting term somebody say accounting it's an accounting term it is a it is a term that calculates and here's what God when he says I know the thoughts that I think he is here's what God is saying I have I have accounted for your life I've looked at your life I've looked at the circumstances and by the way he's looked at the full picture he's he doesn't just look at one moment. He doesn't look at one day. He doesn't look at one week. He look at the whole scope of your life. He says, I've accounted for it. I looked at your whole life. And when I add it all up, when I calculate everything all up, when I look from the beginning to the end, and I've added all up, I looked at your bad days. I looked at your good days. And when I finished looking at the whole deal, it's a positive that you're here.

7:45 Oh, y'all missed a great spot to say amen. I know y'all ain't got it. God is saying, I have evaluated and calculated the value that you bring to life. Some of you don't know it now because you're looking at your life on the basis of the drama that you're going through right now based on the status of where you are right now. But this is just one little piece of what your life is. This is not the total story. God looks at the whole story. He calculates everything all up. And when he comes to the end, it's a positive equation. Can I get an amen right there? I know it may not look like it. I know it may look tough. I mean, I know you're spending some time crying right now. I know you're frustrated, but guess what? God looks at the whole picture and he's calculating and he's putting it on the calculator. He's hitting the...

8:43 And it keeps going and going and going. And when it all gets completed, you come out on the plus side of life. I need to tell somebody today, when it's all calculated, when it's all added up, when it's all multiplied, when it's all separated, when it's all divided, when everything has been done, I am going to win. Go ahead, high five your neighbor. Say it adds up, it adds up, it adds up. I'm on the plus side. I'm on the plus side. What you don't see is that God is accounting for it. You don't see it. It's not always evident to your eyes, but he's multiplying. It's a multiplication process. You can't see it right now, but when it's all said and done, he has calculated it all and multiplied.

9:43 I used to pastor in King George, Virginia. 60 miles, 55 miles one way. 55 miles one way. to preach on Easter to about 35 people.

10:12 On Thursday nights, another ride. Ten people. I'm looking at other jokers getting big churches while I'm driving 55 miles one way. And it can get depressing driving on Thursday and nine people show up. It can be depressing. But now that I'm 67, and I can look back at the whole equation of life.

10:48 God used King George to prepare me for what I'm doing right now. Amen. Let's go. Amen. Woo! Can I get somebody to say amen? Amen. Knowing what I know now that God used King George to prepare me for Prince George. Y'all ain't hear what I'm saying. Now that I know now that he was using that to get me ready for now, I'll take King George with a smile on my face. Who am I preaching to today who might be in your King George, but God's calculating it all up because he's looked at the whole picture. Somebody say it's an accounting term. He's ended up in your life right now. But that is not only an accounting term.

11:46 It's also a military term. Somebody say the military. Look at your neighbor say military. It's a military term. It means here's what it means. I know the thoughts that I think not only is an accounting term, it's a military term. And what it means is he's saying, I looked at the whole picture. And again, at the end of the story, you win. Every time it just, when you get to the conclusion, you win.

12:24 Amen. It doesn't look like it. Look, if or when y'all get y'all termination letters, Don't make a determination based on what you see right now. who am I preaching to today I just want you to get ready to say that somehow some way through some circumstance God's going to do something because he this situation didn't catch him by surprise y'all ain't hear what I'm saying he didn't wake up this morning and just somehow discovered that you got a termination letter he looked at the whole picture he knew about your termination before the foundations of the world I'm running ahead of myself I'm running ahead of myself let me stop I'm running ahead of myself I'm about to let the cat out the bag but the bottom line is when it's all said and done you're going to win Hallelujah. Amen.

13:48 See, I can handle King George if I can see Prince George. Y'all understand what I'm saying? I can handle Union Bethel Baptist Church when Miss Johnson told me, if you can't do it the way we do it down here, you need to go on back up to Maryland. Wanted to punch her in her face. But I couldn't. I couldn't do that. Wouldn't be nice for the pastor to be punching people in their face.

14:23 And I didn't. Thank the Lord I didn't. Amen. Thank God I didn't. but I thought it amen but now that I know and that's all I'm trying to tell you is don't judge your future by your present circumstance do not judge your future by your present so it's a military term that God has looked at the whole picture and he has seen the whole end of the story and at the end of the story, you win. Amen.

15:12 Thirdly, this word thoughts, I know the thoughts that I think towards you, that I have towards you, he says. Thirdly, it is an artistic term. Somebody say artistic. Say it again, artistic. It's an artistic term. And... the best way I know to describe it as an artistic term is if a person is making a rug and they're twisting and plaiting and weaving threads together, right? It's going to produce a beautiful rug that lays on the floor. brilliant colors very creative beautiful on the top of the rug but if you were to lift the rug up and look underneath of the rug it's all just stuff going everywhere and all over.

16:20 It's not pretty on the underside as it is on the upper side. And if the truth be told, your life has got an upside and an underside. Y'all not hear what I'm saying to you today. Underneath the rug, underneath in the dark places of your life, it's jacked up. You got some messed up stuff. You said some messed up things. You've done some bad stuff. You hooked up in some bad situations. You thought some ugly things. You went some ugly places. You did some stuff that you're not proud of. But God used all of the undercovering of what's underneath of that to help produce the beauty that's on the top of the rug. It's an artistic term. Here's what God is saying. And what you might not understand is there's some weaving and turning and twisting and threading and all of this is moving on. And while some of it is ugly underneath, on the top I'm creating a beautiful picture that your life is going to tell somebody.

17:20 Do y'all understand that? Y'all looking up here like, y'all look saved. Y'all look righteous. Y'all look like y'all love Jesus. Y'all look like you know the Bible. You look like you in love with the Lord, but underneath it here, you are jacked up joking. I like to know.

17:44 Underneath is a mess. Underneath, you don't want nobody to see. You want to hide. They ain't saying nothing over here. Let me go. They acting like over here, they don't know what I'm talking about. Maybe the people over here will be honest and say something like, yeah. This is the jacked up section over here, the jacked up jokers who are willing to be honest about the ugliness in their life and the failures in their life and the mess ups in their life. And all I'm trying to tell you is God used all of that as ugly as it might seem, as bad as it might be. If the truth be told, if the truth be told, if the person sitting next to you knew what was underneath the rug, they would get up and go sit someplace else. Yes, Lord. They be running right now.

18:36 Have I? What did you say? They be running right now. Yes, but it's okay. God uses even the ugly things in your life to accomplish his goals. Hallelujah.

19:03 Be not dismayed. Whatever will happen, God will take care of you. There are plans God's working plans God's working arrangements He's moving and orchestrating things that you don't even know about God's doing it for you He's doing stuff that you don't even know that's going to benefit you Thank you.

19:43 a woman some years ago got pregnant and had a baby a baby girl the doctors discovered that the baby girl was born with her stomach upside down so they needed for her to live they needed to flip it around so they did surgery on the little baby and during the surgery the baby died the baby died the baby died and the doctor said the baby's gone. So they buttoned up their stuff and left. They left the nurses to clean up the operating room. And while the nurses was cleaning up the operating room,

20:28 the nurse noticed that the baby was still breathing. She called the doctors back in. They came back in and finished everything up. And I didn't know it, but that little baby girl's name was Juanita Prather, who happens to be my wife's mother. y'all ain't y'all ain't got it you don't understand that god knew back then that i was gonna need a trina jenkins in my life today y'all know what i'm saying so he he had to work it out so that y'all excuse me for just a second for just a moment god knew what i was going to need in my life. and all I can do is praise the Lord that why I need a praise that kept on living and had Trina Jenkins so God knew I was going to need a Trina Jenkins in my life you know what I'm trying to tell you there are things going on that you don't know nothing about that seems to be disconnected to you that looks like and appears as though it has nothing to do with you.

21:53 But the fact of the matter is God is orchestrating things that are far from you, look like they're not related to you, but when it's all said and done, he's working it out for your benefit. Somebody high five your neighbor and say, God is working for my benefit. Tell him on the other side, he's working for my benefit to give me a future and a hope. God's got a future for me. I got a destiny. You have a destiny. You have a future. Don't judge your future by your present circumstances. Somebody give God praise. Say, you know what? Excuse me, I'm getting so excited. You know what I want you to do? I want you to say, God, I don't know what you're doing. I don't know how it's working out, but all I know is that you're working something for my good.

22:52 Hallelujah! Hey! You might not see it, but he's creating jobs right now for you. He's creating businesses right now for you. He's creating medicines right now for you. He's creating hospitals right now for you. He's creating stuff that will benefit your life. Glory to God. And I don't know where y'all are. I don't have to wait till I get the benefit. Let me go ahead and thank him ahead of time. His credit is good for me and with me. He's worthy of all of my praise.

23:47 Hey! Now I don't know who I'm talking to today But the enemy has convinced you to think That you have no future But God says I'm going to give you a future And a hope You know what future means? He's thinking about your kids. This is my son Jimmy right here. Y'all know he the one that... If he had been first, there would be no other Jenkins children.

24:45 I tell you all that all the time. He's our fourth child out of six, Jimmy Jenkins. He just finished filming his next movie. You know what the name of the movie is going to be? God is with us.

25:12 Is that right? Now, four or five years ago, I'm fussing at him about taking the cuss words out of his film that he be making. Because he's making stuff and they're saying words that I'm not exactly pleased with.

25:33 but unbeknownst to me, God is orchestrating people to come in his life. Because how many of y'all know that the kids will listen to the neighbor down the street before they listen to their mom and their daddy? Do I have any witnesses here? I don't care who God uses, as long as he uses somebody to accomplish his will in their life. I ain't mad that God works on people to come into his life and speak and talk to him and influence him to take that stuff out of his film. And now God is blessing him and favoring him and opening up doors for him and using him. I'm so proud of you. I'm proud of you. God's orchestrating the events of your life to accomplish and bring you a future and a hope.

26:32 to give you peace and not evil. Amen. Stop listening to the voices that's telling you that God's trying to hurt you. He ain't trying to hurt you. If he was going to hurt you, you would have been dead a long time ago.