Planted on Purpose: Seeking Shalom for Fountain Square

Jeremiah 29 opens like a letter nobody wanted to open. God’s people sit in Babylon, far from home, far from the temple, miserable and ready to leave. False prophets tell them what they want to hear: keep the bags by the door, do not unpack, home is coming any minute. Jeremiah’s letter brings a different word from the Lord: build houses, plant gardens, raise families, and seek the peace of the city.

God does not treat Babylon like an accident. God says, “whom I have caused to be carried away,” and that changes the whole story. The exile looked like disaster, but God calls it assignment. The place that felt like a wrong turn was still under God’s hand. God’s people were not just staying there. God was telling them to settle there.

The garden image says something plain. A person does not plant a garden when leaving on Tuesday. A garden says there will be a harvest here. God’s word to the exiles becomes God’s word to Fountain Square: stop living with one foot out the door, stop waiting for someday, unpack the boxes, and put roots down because God intends to grow something here.

Jeremiah 29:7 pushes the call even further. God commands the exiles to seek the shalom of Babylon, the very city that had wounded them. Shalom means more than quiet. It means wholeness, health, flourishing, everything put back the way God meant it to be. God never called his people to hide from the city. God calls his people to heal the city.

That word lands at 1337 Shelby Street. The Salvation Army was made for this kind of work, not hiding on quiet hills, but marching into hard streets with soup, soap, and salvation. God’s vision calls Fountain Square the corps to be more than a church in the neighborhood. God’s vision calls it to be the church for the neighborhood, a fountain of shalom in Fountain Square.

Haggai 2 adds hope for tired saints who remember fuller pews, bigger bands, and busier youth programs. God looks at a smaller, plainer temple and says the latter glory will be greater than the former. Glory is not about gold. Glory is about the presence of God, and the smaller temple one day held Jesus of Nazareth, the glory of God in sandals.

Matthew 9 gives the eyes needed for that vision. Jesus sees the crowds, not as statistics or bother, but as sheep without a shepherd. His compassion hits him in the gut. The good shepherd still sees the worn out, the scattered, the heavy laden, and the harvest still needs faithful laborers.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God plants people on purpose. God’s word to the exiles corrected the lie that Babylon was only a mistake. The place that felt like disaster was still held inside God’s assignment. A person, a corps, and a neighborhood may all be planted where God intends to grow something that could not grow anywhere else. [08:56]
• 2. Settling requires an open heart. Jeremiah’s command to build houses and plant gardens was not short-term advice. A garden is an act of faith that expects a harvest in the very soil where grief has happened. God’s people cannot seek the good of a place while keeping their hearts packed by the door. [11:04]
• 3. Shalom means wholeness for the city. God’s command to pray for Babylon was not sentimental or easy. Shalom means health, flourishing, and things put back the way God intended them to be. The church’s presence in a neighborhood is meant to become visible through meals, prayer, open doors, and hands ready to work. [13:18]
• 4. Glory is presence, not gold. Haggai’s word met people who looked at a smaller temple and grieved what had been lost. God answered that the latter glory would be greater, because glory was never finally about size, gold, or memory. The plain house became greater when Jesus walked into it, because God’s presence makes the future larger than the past. [22:32]
• 5. Jesus sees sheep, not statistics. Matthew says Jesus looked at the crowds and was moved with compassion, not irritation. The need around him did not become a nuisance, but a gut-level burden of love. The harvest still calls for laborers whose eyes have been trained to see worn-out people the way the Shepherd sees them.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [03:54] - Mail No One Wants to Open
• [04:47] - Exiles Waiting in Babylon
• [06:09] - Build Houses and Plant Gardens
• [08:35] - Planted on Purpose
• [11:04] - Stop Living Half Here
• [13:03] - Seek the Shalom of the City
• [15:08] - Soup, Soap, and Salvation
• [18:51] - Greater Glory in This House
• [22:32] - Glory Is Presence, Not Gold
• [25:04] - Seeing What Jesus Sees
• [28:16] - The Shepherd Seeks the Worn Out
• [30:15] - The Harvest Still Needs Saints
• [34:00] - Prayer for Fountain Square

Bible Reading

Jeremiah 29:4-7
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” [06:24]

Haggai 2:9
“The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.” [18:55]

Matthew 9:36-38
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."” [25:40]

Observation questions

1. In Jeremiah 29, what are the specific things God tells the exiles to do while they are in Babylon, and what do those commands suggest about how long they should expect to be there? [11:04]
2. What does Jeremiah 29:7 say the exiles are to seek for the city, and what are they told to do for that city besides seeking its welfare?
3. In Haggai 2:9, what two promises does God make about “this house”? [21:22]
4. In Matthew 9:36-38, how are the crowds described, how does Jesus respond to them, and what does he tell the disciples to pray for? [26:12]

Interpretation questions

1. God says, “whom I have sent into exile.” How does that change the way Babylon should be understood: as a mistake, a punishment only, or also as a place still under God’s rule and purpose? [08:40]
2. Building houses and planting gardens are slow, rooted actions. What does that reveal about the kind of faithfulness God wanted from his people in exile? [11:18]
3. God tells his people to seek the shalom of Babylon, the very place that had wounded them. What does that show about the difference between merely surviving in a city and actually seeking its healing? [14:06]
4. Haggai says the latter glory will be greater than the former, and Matthew shows Jesus full of compassion among the crowds. How do these passages together help a church care more about God’s presence and people than about size, nostalgia, or appearances? [22:49]

Application questions

1. Many people live with their bags still packed spiritually—half here and half somewhere else. Where is that temptation showing up right now: in church life, in relationships, in serving, or in trust toward God? What might it look like to “unpack” in a real way? [12:38]
2. A garden is an act of faith that expects a harvest in the very soil where a person has suffered. What is one “garden” that could be planted in this season—one simple act of faithfulness, service, or prayer that says, “God can grow something here”? [11:06]
3. Seeking the shalom of a neighborhood is not vague. It can look like meals, prayer, open doors, and practical care. What are some real needs nearby that this group already sees? Which of those needs feels close enough to begin praying for and responding to this week? [16:01]
4. God’s people are not called to hide from the city but to help heal it. Is there any part of the surrounding community that feels easy to avoid, judge, or give up on? What would it look like to move toward that place in prayer and mercy instead? [14:37]
5. Some hearts quietly grieve because the present does not look like the past. Where is there a tendency to measure God’s work by fuller rooms, stronger memories, or old patterns? How could God be inviting this group to look for his presence instead? [20:24]
6. Jesus saw the crowds as sheep without a shepherd, not as a nuisance or a number. Who in daily life is easy to pass by without really seeing—someone at work, on the street, in the family, or in the church? What might compassion look like in one concrete next step? [26:35]
7. Jesus says the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. What kind of laborer might God be forming each person here to be right now—not someday, but in this season? What gifts, experience, wounds, or availability could God use for the sake of others? [31:03]