For I Know the Plans: Hope and Future

Jeremiah speaks into a room that knows change. His promise lands on a day of vows and first communion, not as a ribbon on a finished course, but as the start of a long obedience. God’s words, I know the plans I have for you, cut through a loud and confusing world that keeps selling hollow scripts. “Follow your heart.” Hogwash. “Create your own truth.” A load of hooey. Jeremiah refuses those slogans by re-centering hope, not on a roadmap, but on the Planner himself. Hope is not found in knowing the plan. It is found in knowing the Planner.

Exile becomes the framing image. Israel’s future looked shattered, their city fallen, their temple gone. Yet exile, Jeremiah says, was not proof of abandonment. It was the place where God kept working. What undid Israel was not pain, but prosperity. Success crept in, worship faded, and hearts drifted. So God allowed Babylon, not to destroy, but to restore. That warning fits a confirmation day. The pressure ahead is real, and the greater danger might be success. A full schedule can replace prayer. Achievement can replace humility. Comfort can replace dependence on Christ. Today, the confirmands step into their “seventy years,” so to speak, learning to live as exiles who keep their compass fixed on God’s promises.

Blessing, then, needs new definition. Jeremiah is not handing out guarantees of health, ease, or cash. Blessing means living under God’s gracious favor and protective hand. God’s presence is with them, God’s promises are over them, God’s power is at work through them, and an eternal inheritance waits for them. The plan may not track with their blueprint, but their life is safely in his hands, aimed at an eternal future in Christ.

How is that future held? Then you will call on me… and I will listen to you. The God who governs history leans in when his children pray. And you will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Not halfway. Not casually. “Faith cannot survive on leftovers.” Family faith cannot carry them. Personal, wholehearted seeking matters, not because they are strong enough, but because Christ first came seeking them.

Baptism anchors this story inside the Triune life. The apostolic blessing names it straight: the grace of Jesus, the love of the Father, the fellowship of the Spirit. In baptism, they were brought into God’s family and washed by Jesus’ blood. In the Supper they now receive, Jesus keeps placing his body and blood into repentant hands for the forgiveness of sins, uniting them in a confessed faith and sustaining exiles on the way home.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Hope rests in the Planner Security grows when attention moves from outcomes to the One who holds outcomes. God knows the plans, which means uncertainty does not mean instability. Trust feeds on God’s character when the path is foggy. The promise steadies anxious hearts. [33:32]
• 2. Exile restores, not destroys God sometimes permits hard places to remove what quietly ruins souls. Israel’s comfort hollowed worship, so exile became surgery, not abandonment. Restoration often begins where self-reliance runs out. Love risks discomfort to recover the heart. [35:01]
• 3. Success can unseat dependence The easier danger is often ease. A crowded calendar thins prayer, and achievement trains the soul to forget its need. True prosperity is to stay small before Christ when life feels big. Seek practices that keep dependence alive. [36:42]
• 4. Blessing is presence, not padding Jeremiah’s blessing is not lifestyle insulation but God’s gracious favor over a life. His presence, promises, power, and inheritance define prosperity. Plans may cross personal preferences, yet the destination is eternal. Real blessing is God with his people. [37:46]
• 5. Seek wholeheartedly, and find God listens, and he is findable, but not on leftovers. Halfway pursuit starves love, while whole-hearted turning uncovers the God who first sought his children. Personal engagement matters because grace has already moved toward the seeker. [39:26]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [07:58] - Confirmation and communion practice
• [16:32] - Scripture readings: Jeremiah and 2 Corinthians
• [22:33] - Children’s message: confirmation means strengthening
• [26:39] - Life events that change everything
• [28:59] - Cultural slogans called hogwash
• [30:19] - God’s plans in exile
• [34:32] - Success as hidden threat
• [37:46] - Blessing redefined as God’s favor
• [39:26] - Seek and find wholeheartedly
• [41:18] - The apostolic blessing in baptism
• [58:24] - Confirmation vows and verses
• [65:02] - Communion liturgy and blessing
• [81:11] - Announcements and summer series
• [86:27] - Closing mission statement

1. What specific promises does God make in Jeremiah 29:11-14, and what conditions (if any) are attached to them?
2. The sermon describes exile as a place where God “kept working” rather than abandoning His people ([35:01]). How does Jeremiah 29:11-14 redefine Israel’s understanding of their exile?
3. According to the sermon, why is “success” described as a “hidden threat” to faith ([36:42])? What examples were given?
4. The apostolic blessing in 2 Corinthians 13:14 mentions the Trinity. How does this connect to the sermon’s emphasis on baptism and communion?

1. Why might God allow His people to experience exile or hardship even when they are not overtly rebellious (see Jeremiah 29:4-7)? How does this challenge common assumptions about suffering?
2. The sermon claims, “Faith cannot survive on leftovers” ([39:26]). What does this mean in light of Jeremiah 29:13 (“seek me with all your heart”)?
3. How does redefining “blessing” as God’s presence rather than material comfort ([37:46]) change the way we interpret struggles or unanswered prayers?
4. Why does the sermon link baptism and communion to the idea of being “exiles” in the world ([41:18])?

1. When facing uncertainty, how can you intentionally shift your focus from knowing the plan to trusting the Planner? What practical step will you take this week to do this?
2. Reflect on a time when comfort or success made you spiritually complacent ([36:42]). What habits or practices could help you maintain dependence on Christ during seasons of ease?
3. The sermon warns that “a full schedule can replace prayer” ([36:42]). How might you reorganize your priorities to ensure prayer and humility are not crowded out?
4. Jeremiah 29:13 calls for wholehearted seeking. What distractions or “leftovers” in your life currently compete with your pursuit of God? How will you address one of them?
5. Baptism unites believers with the Triune God ([41:18]). How can you live out your baptismal identity this week in a way that reflects grace, love, and fellowship with others?
6. The sermon says exile is where “self-reliance runs out” ([35:01]). Are you in a situation that feels like exile? How might God be using it to restore, not destroy, your heart?