It's Time to Go | Pastor Brandon Sichting

Pastor Brandon Sichting
It’s Time to Go
Jeremiah 29:10-14 KJV
Sunday AM 9/8/24
Good Shepherd Baptist Church
1150 State Road 144
Mooresville, IN 46158
gsbcindy.com
Perhaps you have used this same expression at your house: “It’s time to go.” With God, things are different. God had not forgotten His people, even though they were captives in Babylon. It is amazing that God loves us no matter where we are in life. The setting of the book of Ezra is near the end of the Israelites’ 70-year captivity in Babylon. God used Jeremiah to predict both the captivity and the return of His people. The captivity was a result of Israel’s disobedience. Yet during that time, God mercifully prepared someone with a message for them. Often, God will use someone in our lives as well. Jeremiah’s message was, “It’s time to go.” It was a reminder that God was thinking about them. God had told them they would return, and they would. God always keeps His word. When we are in difficult times, we must remember God is not against us, He is for us.
Jeremiah 29:10-11 says, “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. 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.” It was also a message of repentance. God always has an action for us to do.
Jeremiah 29:12-13 continues, “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” God promises to end the captivity. Jeremiah 29:14 says, “And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” He is the same today! Hebrews 13:8 declares, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” How would God do that for them, and how will He do it for you?
Notice the work took finances to be accomplished. Ezra 1:4 says, “And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.” Those that did not go back were to help fund the work. It takes money to do the Lord’s work. It is important enough that it is mentioned again.
Ezra 1:6 says, “And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.” It is also important to note that the leaders were out front. Ezra 1:5 says, “Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.” Lastly, they had to replace those things that had been lost.
Ezra 1:7 says, “Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods.” You may need to put some things that used to be in your life back into your life. These could include church attendance, Bible reading, prayer, giving, or soul-winning. The book begins with the question of who will go. It is time to go. Are you ready?