Sheryl Brady - The Gift of an Expected End

I just want to speak on the subject of the gift of an expected end. Spirit of God, I thank You for Your word; I honor and cherish this moment. Lord, we’ve heard a lot of bad news this week, but in the midst of that, we are grateful that we can now pull up our chairs to the good news of Jesus Christ. I ask, Father, that You would anoint me to speak Your word and touch Your people. Find every hero, every person that needs to hear, and even those who do not want to hear. Let Your word find them this day and make them whole. Thank You for the anointing to deliver it, in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen.

In these challenging times that we find ourselves living in, I got myself a notebook, and it’s just my journal of scriptures. As the scripture speaks to me or brings comfort, I log it in that little journal. The one I just read to you, Jeremiah 29:11, is definitely at the top of my list. We know this scripture quite well; it’s very familiar. For those who are facing challenges in life or those who might be in the midst of a storm, these words can be profoundly comforting. When times are troubling, it’s good for us to remind ourselves that the thoughts He thinks toward us are thoughts of peace and not of evil. I love how the Message Bible puts it; that is why I read that version today. I read Ruth out of that version, but when it comes to Jeremiah 29, you ought to read that out of the Message Bible as well. It says this: «I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out: plans to take care of you, plans not to abandon you, plans to give you a future that you hope for.»

That’s good right there! God is saying to us, «Listen, when all is said and done, everything I have planned for your life is going to manifest itself.» He goes on in verse 12 and says, «When you call on Me and when you pray to Me, I will listen to you.» God is saying if you take a minute to call on Me and pray to Me, guess who I am going to listen to? I’m going to listen to you. He said in verse 13, «When you come looking for Me, you will find Me.» That’s a guarantee! When you start looking for Me, He said you’re going to find Me, and when you get serious about finding Me and want it more than anything else, I will make sure you will not be disappointed.

What is God saying to us right here? He’s saying, «Listen, I am giving you the grounds, no matter what you’re facing today, to keep hope alive. I am giving you a promise; I am giving you a basis to believe that it’s going to get better, that it has to get better. I am giving you a basis to believe that you are going to win in the end.» Now, what He doesn’t tell us here is that we are going to feel like we are winning in the middle or at the beginning. But He does say, «I’m going to give you My word on this: when it gets to the end, you are going to be the winner.»

That is why faith is so important. Faith, the Bible tells us, is the substance of the things we are hoping for and the evidence of the things we have not seen. Therefore, I must have faith in order to embrace the expected end that the Father has promised to me. So, we are going to have to have faith; we are going to need to use our faith to push forward and embrace that expected end. You have an expected end that is coming from God, and it is going to require our faith to be able to obtain it.

Now, having that expected end—what does that mean? It’s kind of like when you are boarding a plane. When you used to get on planes often, you would buy a ticket for a particular destination. So, I get on the plane with that destination in mind, and often the flight attendant will check our tickets just to make sure that we are on the right plane, going exactly where we said we would go. The truth is that I know where I’m going; I don’t know exactly what I will encounter between where I am and where I’m going. There may be turbulence, there may be wind, there may be other people going to different destinations, and there might be storms that blow up between me and where I’m headed. But when it is all said and done, I know where I’m going because that is my expected end. When I get on a plane to go to San Francisco, I expect to end up in San Francisco. Why? Because that is my expected end.

Now, there is a lot that can happen between Dallas and San Francisco. There might be some turbulence that we encounter; the flight attendant might have to stay in their seat and not be able to assist.