0:01 Good afternoon, church family. One last time in this location. Praise God. So grateful for what uh the way he's he's led us and continuing to lead us in the months to come. And the boundaries he has appointed in our lives, even as we hit a boundary, 0:19 the Lord will provide. And that's what I want to speak about today. is the beautiful boundaries. Uh I encourage all of you to read Brother Bobby's blog on this topic. We'll try and send it out after this. But that actually 0:32 inspired a lot of what I'm going to share today. So if you turn with me to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. And I'm reading from verse 26. 0:49 And it says here, he made God made one man every nation of mankind. Why did God create us? You can say, why did God create us to live on the face of the earth? This is a reason he created us. And what did he do? He determined 1:07 our appointed times and the boundaries of our habitation. The seasons that you're going through in life, this particular period of time in which we're born, you can say we're born into a perverse generation, we're born into the age of AI. It's a scary time 1:25 for our children. What jobs are they going to get when they graduate college if AI is going to steal up all of their jobs? Uh how are we going to financially provide for them? How are they going to be disciples in this perverse generation 1:38 where we say the last times are going to be like Sodom and Gomorrah. It's already here. Do you believe that the Lord has appointed your children and you for this time? He has appointed you. Each of you sitting here, he has 1:54 appointed you for this time. Not only has he appointed you for this time, he has determined the boundary of your life, of your habitation, all of those boundaries in your life. Where you're living, the financial boundaries, 2:13 the boundaries of your health situation, sickness, boundaries of your who your boss is, your job, the boundaries of your children or teenagers, or who your parents are, how unreasonable they may seem to you in your teenage years, God has created 2:30 those boundaries. That annoying sibling that you can't deal with, God has appointed that boundary. The difficult relative, the members you're committed to in this body, where we're going to be, where we're going to meet as a church, God has 2:49 appointed these boundaries. It's a beautiful thing to see that the Lord has appointed these boundaries. But why has he appointed these boundaries? There's a comma after this verse. Sometimes the the Bible is misleading when you have verses that just end with 3:03 commas, even ones we memorize with If you see a verse that has a comma, go keep reading on. He's appointed these boundaries so that we would seek him. So that perhaps we might grope for him and find him. He's not far from each of one of us. For 3:22 in him we live and move and exist. That's the message. The reason The reason the Lord has appointed the boundaries and the times in which we live in is for one purpose and one purpose alone, is that we would seek him. Not just seek him, but that we would 3:39 grope for him. When I think of that word grope, I think of a lot of blind person who can't Think of a blind person going through a maze, or a mouse going through a maze. Hit a brick wall, what do you do? Grope. That's the way we must seek the Lord 3:56 when we hit a boundary. Not just bang ahead against a brick brick wall and say, "Lord, you appointed this boundary, this season I'm going through in my life right now. This season as a young person that the Lord is leading you through right now, 4:10 he has appointed that boundary not for you to fight against it, not for you to knock down the brick wall, but for you to seek him and to grope for him. That is the boundary that he is That's the reason he has appointed those 4:23 boundaries. And the first reason I believe he has appointed that boundary, the first thing we must examine when we hit a boundary is to see if the Lord is leading us to an opportunity to repent. It must be something that we must 4:36 examine ourselves. Lord, I've hit a boundary over here. It may be sickness in my life. What are you trying to teach me? Is there sin in my life that I have not repented of that you want me to repent? I've hit a boundary here. I'm I'm 4:46 butting heads against my parents. I'm butting heads against uh my situation at work. What are you trying to teach me? There is something perhaps that you want to teach me that I need to repent of. I want to show you a story in Numbers 4:59 chapter 22. Numbers chapter 22 is the story of Balaam. Balaam was a prophet of God. He was a prophet of God. He actually It's a It mentions that he's all right He was not a false prophet at times, but he was in touch with God. God was speaking to him. 5:18 And it says that the king of Moab wanted Balaam to curse the people of Israel. To bring about a curse on the people of Israel. And Balaam at first was in touch with God and God told him, "No, you can't do that. Those are my people." 5:35 And then uh the king of Moab tried to send tried to bribe him, give him a lot of lots of gifts and said, "Please, curse him." And Balaam went back to God trying to negotiate with God. And he was clearly even though God permitted him to go, he was clearly 5:51 violating what God intended for him to do. And so if you read the story from verse 22, it says Balaam starts heading towards the towards the king to curse the people of Israel. It says God was angry because Balaam was going. 6:08 And the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him. Verse verse 23, when the donkey Numbers 22:23, when the donkey saw the angel of 6:21 the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field. Balaam struck the donkey, turned her back into the way. Then the angel of the Lord stood again in a narrow path in the vineyards with a 6:36 wall on this side and a wall on that side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself to the wall. And we know the rest of the story. Balaam strikes the donkey. Balaam It's interesting. Balaam does not see the 6:48 angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord is standing right there. The donkey sees the angel of the Lord. Balaam is headed down the path of destruction to Moab. And there's a lesson there I want to us to pay attention to. 7:02 For those of us who are willing to be donkeys, young people willing to be say we're foolish, we don't know everything there is in in life. Older people, when we're struggling with work situations or whatever the Lord is 7:17 trying to teach us and say, "Lord, we're foolish. We can't do it on our own strength." To such a person, the Lord will reveal the angel of the Lord as the boundary. For the others, they may be just headed back straight into destruction into the 7:31 path of Moab like Balaam. But to the one who is like a donkey, the Lord says, "Here, you see these walls on either side? You see that brick wall you're hitting up against there? See the angel of the Lord that is trying to 7:47 turn you around. That is that boundary where that you think is a brick wall is actually the angel of the Lord asking you to repent inviting you to repent. Make that a practice when we hit boundaries in our life. Some of us have boundaries enforced on 8:06 us by our parents, enforced on us by church, enforced on us by the work situation, by the government. What is it that we when we hit up against those boundaries, do we see the angel of the Lord with a flaming sword saying, "I'm here 8:23 to protect you. This that boundary is here for a reason." There's a verse I believe in Proverbs chapter 15 which says Proverbs 15:25 says, "The Lord" Sorry, not Proverbs 15. It's a different verse 8:41 which says Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22:28 says, "Do not move the ancient boundary which your fathers have set." Proverbs 22:28. Do not move the ancient boundary which your parents have set. Do not move the ancient boundary that the elders are 9:00 setting in the church. There is a blessing in those boundaries, in the boundaries that the Lord has appointed. There's a blessing in the protection that those boundaries have. Even if they may seem perfect. You may say, "I want to I want to get 9:16 close to the edge of the cliff. I want to enjoy the view." And the spiritual authority in your life or the Lord himself puts a boundary and says "No, we're going to get all the way to the opposite. The view is not worth it. 9:28 Even if I'm imperfect in setting that boundary, it's there for your protection." So, I want to say brothers and sisters, when you hit those boundaries in your life, examine yourself. Young people, when you see a boundary that you may be seeing is 9:45 doesn't make sense to you. Why are they being so strict on me? Why are my parents being so strict on me? Why are the elders being so strict? See it as And they may be And I'm not denying there may be imperfection there. 9:58 There is definitely imperfection there at times. But there is greater fruitfulness, especially when there's sincere authority in your life despite the imperfections. When you examine your life, not examine their lives, but 10:11 examine your life and say, "Lord, is there an angel here that is telling me to return, to repent, that is drawing me to repentance? Is this authority, despite this imperfect authority, is there fruitfulness that you have in me 10:27 submitting to this imperfect authority?" And our perfect example of that imperfect authority when we hit those boundaries is Jesus. I want to show you Jesus' example in Luke chapter 2. It's amazing to see Jesus. If you were 10:40 the heavenly Father, and imagine if you were having this conversation with Jesus to say, "Hey, Jesus, I want you to go down to Earth to save the entire world, to save all of mankind that will accept you as savior. I want you to go down 11:00 and save them." What would you think with the perfect in our human wisdom, what would you think the best time for Jesus to come would be? Wouldn't it be in the day and age where there's where Jesus could preach on Zoom to the 11:13 entire world, where there's Starlink, where you can get internet across into the Amazon rainforest, and you can have jets that you can fly? And God says, "No. You're going to go 2,000 years ago, at a time, at a primitive time. Okay, go primitive time. 11:32 Okay, let's at least send me to Rome, which is the main city where I can have a chariot that I can get as fast across the world to preach the gospel. No. You're going to go to a manger in Bethlehem. You're going to do all of your ministry 11:50 on foot. These are the boundaries. I want you to see the boundaries as I'm describing this that God appointed in Jesus' life as an example to us. You're going to go all over on foot. You're going to cover 50 mi square radius just walking. 12:05 Okay, okay. I can deal with that. Okay, how many years am I going to live? 32 years. Okay, let's max out those Let's make the maximum out of those 33 years so I can spread the gospel. So I can walk as much as possible, cover 12:18 almost all the square footage I can't. No. You're going to just spend 30 of those years in your home. 30 of those years in your home? Okay. What am I going to do in that home? You are going to submit to the spiritual authority that I have for you 12:37 in that home. What kind of spiritual authority is that? Yeah, are you going to be perfect like me? No. They're going to be very imperfect. And this is the story of Jesus' first 30 years. Our human wisdom would never have 12:51 sent the savior with this type of boundary. Yet the Lord determined this is the one who's going to be the forerunner so that he can be an example for the young child, for the teenager, for the 20-year-old, for the 25-year-old, 13:11 for us older ones even in ministry to see that the Lord has appointed boundaries and seasons in our lives. So look at Jesus' example during this period of time when he was under 30. Luke chapter 2. And uh 13:29 we know the story that they went down to visit Jerusalem when he was 12 years old. This was uh from verse 41 onwards. And it says in verse 43, "As they were returning after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in 13:44 Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of it." And Jesus is a beautiful picture of Jesus loving to be in the house of the Lord. And his imperfect parents weren't even able to keep track of where he was at that time. But they supposed him to be with the 13:59 caravan. They practically lost him and went a day's journey and then they began looking for him. And when when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for him. Verse 46, after 3 days of losing this child. These are really imperfect 14:12 parents. They lost They lost the son of God for 3 days. But look at how they found him. They found him in the temple sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. I want you to pay attention to the 14:27 posture of Jesus over here. This is the almighty son of God, perfect, saying, "I'm going to sit here in this house of God. I'm not going to sit I'm not going to stand up and challenge and start preaching the word of God at the age of 14:41 12. I'm going to sit here. I'm not going to challenge my parents. I'm not going to challenge the spiritual authority in the church. I'm going to sit here and submit to who? To scribes and Pharisees. These are people who later are going to crucify 14:53 him. He knows he's going to preach out against them one day. But today is the day he's going to sit down and submit to them because the Lord has appointed them as the spiritual authority in the temple for his life at this point. So, 15:09 he's going to sit down. He's going to listen to them. He's going to ask questions. Not with a spirit of contention, but he's going to ask questions the right way with a humble spirit. I want all of you young people pay attention to 15:24 the posture of Jesus here as a 12-year-old. And then when Mary sees him, she brings him back down to Jerusalem uh brings brings him back down from Jerusalem to Nazareth, and this is the only verses that talk about Jesus 15:38 from the as a teenager all the way to 30. Literally the only passage that talks about Jesus in the entire New Testament as far as I know from the age of 13 to 30. Verse 51 and when 52, he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he 15:54 continued in subjection to them. And his mother treasured these things. And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. How did Jesus increase in wisdom? How did Jesus increase in favor with 16:09 God? Young people, do you want to increase in favor with God? Continue in subjection to your imperfect parents. They are very imperfect, but continue in subjection to them. I believe all of us young people here in 16:28 our church, we have at least one godly parent. Despite their imperfections, they're godly and they're sincere, and that's the reason we can say continue in subjection to them. Just like Jesus did with Mary. Those are the boundaries that were 16:41 appointed to Jesus. And Jesus chose to say, "It's a protection for me. It's a protection for me to submit to them in this season so that I don't fall into the sin of pride or insubmission in my in my youth." The other thing I want to share about 17:03 boundaries that the Lord has for us is as for some of us as we're older or even if we're younger in a in a in a season of trial, I believe the Lord appoints those boundaries for our own welfare. We've examined our hearts and we've said 17:19 there's nothing we need to repent of. We are in submission to the spiritual authority that is boundary as a sign for us assigned to us. Then let's look at the Lord's hand of spiritual welfare in that boundary that is appoint for us 17:33 appointed for us. It's not sufficient for us to say, yes, the Lord has appointed us. I'll deal with it. I can live with it. No, we must find spiritual welfare in that boundary. So turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 29. I want to show you this passage 17:50 which talks about welfare. As we read in Acts chapter 17, the reason the Lord appoints boundaries in our life is so that we may seek him and we may grope for him. That verse perhaps is a reference to what it says 18:09 in James in Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 13. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. When we have those boundaries and we seek the Lord and we grope for him with all our heart. Lord, I must find you in 18:23 this trial, in this season. Whatever this season, I'm not going to get frustrated. I'm not even going to pray for you to deliver me from this trial until I have found you in this trial. I want to seek you and I want to search for you with all my 18:37 heart. That's what verse 13 says. And I'm going to go upwards from this from this passage to the earlier verses to show you the context. Verse 11, it's a often quote quoted verse that we've heard. We quote this verse. We pray this verse over our lives. 18:54 But perhaps we've been praying it the wrong way. I want to challenge you to examine this verse in its real context. Jeremiah 29:11, one of the most famous verses quoted by prosperity preachers, quoted by new covenant Christians. 19:08 The Lord says, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. What is a plan for welfare? Is a plan for welfare a prosperous life? A healthy life? 19:23 Good children, good retirement account for your children? Children doing well in school, getting good grades? Is that the plan for welfare the Lord has for you? For the spiritual child, that may be it. But I wanted to show you the context of 19:38 this verse, what spiritual welfare really means in the context of what we're talking here about boundaries. This is what the Lord is talking about and I'll start from verse five. The Lord Keep in mind, this this passage is 19:50 spoken to the nation of Israel and Judah that are in captivity. So, they're in exile in Babylon. And the Lord is saying, "I have a plan for welfare for you, not of calamity, but a plan of welfare to give you a future and 20:05 a hope." Verse seven tells me what that welfare is. Verse seven says, "Seek the welfare of the city where I've sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find welfare." This is the welfare it's talking about 20:23 in in verse 11. It's a welfare while in exile. You will be in You are in the season in this trial right now, in this boundary that I've appointed for you. Seek spiritual welfare, not only seek spiritual welfare of Seek the welfare 20:41 of the situation that's causing that trial. It's an amazing verse. If you have a difficult boss, the Lord is saying, "Pray for the welfare of that Pray for the spiritual welfare of that difficult boss." If you have difficult parents, the Lord 20:56 is saying, "Pray for your parents." If you have somebody, a difficult relative causing a difficult situation for you, or somebody outside the church causing a difficult situation for you, the Lord is saying, "Seek that person's 21:07 spiritual welfare. In their welfare, you will find welfare. Pray to the Lord on its behalf. The Lord is seeking for your spiritual welfare while you are exiled in the current season and the current trial that you're in. 21:24 Verse five says, while you're there, build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce. Where is this? Is this in Israel after you rebuild the temple and after you rebuild the walls? No, this is while you're in exile. It says, the Lord is 21:38 saying, in this trial, I want you to live there. I want you to plant a garden there that is fruitful with my likeness. I want you to bear the fruit of Christ-likeness in this place that I've appointed for you. This is the message 21:56 of spiritual welfare, of the plan of welfare that the Lord has. How do I know that? You You see this in verse 10. It says, "Thus says the Lord, when 70 years have been completed in Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my 22:07 good word to you to bring you back to this place." Imagine if you're here, if you're like Daniel and his friends listening to this message as 20, 30 years old. Wait, this is the plan of welfare is I got to wait till I'm 90 22:20 years old to come back? That can't be. That cannot be the plan of welfare the Lord has for me. The plan of welfare that he has for me where he says in verse 11, "Plans of welfare, not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope," must be 22:35 right here. And Daniel and his friends understood that. Those are the spiritual plans the Lord has for us in the boundaries that he points for us. So, when you're going through a season like or a trial in your life, consider that. 22:52 And the other thing I'll say here is the Lord has put Not only has he appointed those boundaries, he's put put boundary on how much the enemy can attack you in that season. He has put a hedge. There's a boundary that you're hitting, 23:07 but there's a boundary the enemy is hitting in terms of how much they can approach you. Just think about and think about the story. We're just talking about Daniel and his uh and his three friends. We know the story of his three friends 23:21 going through the fire. What happened when they go through went through the fire? There's an attack of the enemy. But did they get burnt? They did not get burnt. The Lord protected them. But there's two amazing miracles that 23:36 are that often get glossed over in that story. I don't have time to turn there. The biggest miracle wasn't that they didn't get burnt. That was probably the smallest miracle, I would say, when I think about that spiritually. 23:52 There are two things that sometimes go unnoticed in that story. One is that they met God while they were in that fire. That's what it says. When they were in the fire, a fourth person appeared that looked like the son of God. 24:05 They met God while they were in the middle of that fire. That was miracle number one. Miracle number two is they came out and the fire served its purpose. How did the fire serve its purpose? It burnt up the cords that were binding them. 24:19 So, when we have those trials that seem like fires in our life, there's a verse I believe in Isaiah 43 which says, "Even though the waters may overflow you, even though you walk through the fire, it will not overcome you. It will not burn you." 24:34 So, Daniel and and his three friends had seen that verse and had heard these words of God and had said, "Lord, you must have welfare for me over here, and I believe this fire is not going to burn me, but there is something special that's going to 24:47 happen. It's going to burn up my cords." So, as you brothers and sisters go through seasons in your life where the Lord may be appointing a boundary, a trial, don't just ask for deliverance from that trial. That's a secondary prayer. The 25:01 Lord will absolutely make sure you're not burnt through that trial. But pray that the Lord will burn up the cords that are binding you. That's a picture of sin that is binding you. Pray that you will repent amidst that trial. 25:15 And pray that you will meet God in the midst of that trial. I want to talk a little bit about in closing about the fact that the Lord appoints a boundary not just on us, but a boundary against the enemy. If you turn 25:33 turn with me to Job chapter 38. This is what the Lord says about 25:56 This is a picture of the Lord forming the universe, but this can be a picture of the Lord's uh appointing a boundaries on our trials. Verse two says, "Who is it that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" This is the type of person that is 26:09 darkening the counsel of the Lord by thinking that trial is going to overwhelm them and does not realize that the Lord is in control of their trial. Verse four, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, do 26:20 you have any understanding? Who set the measurements of your trial? Who stretched the line on it?" Verse eight says, "Who enclosed the sea with the doors when it was bursting forth?" Verse nine, "When I made a cloud its 26:37 garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and I placed boundaries on on the ocean and set a bolt and doors." Do you know with all of your trials in your life, the Lord has set a bolt and a door saying, 26:56 "No trial has overcome you, but that which is common to man." And there's a door of escape. He's put a bolt for now, but at some point in time he's going to open that bolt. This is the Lord's promise, "I'm not going to let the enemy overwhelm you." 27:10 He set a bolt and doors and boundaries on it. And where it says, "Thus far you shall come and no further. Here shall your proud waves stop." So, we can trust that the Lord is in control of these boundaries that he puts in our lives. And that we are in 27:27 his thoughts and he's got his best for us. But may we be eager to repent as the Lord appoints us. As the Lord appoints those trials in our life. As we see those walls of protection. Let me show you one more passage in Micah chapter 7. Just coming back to 27:46 this thought of repentance. Micah chapter 7 It's a beautiful passage on repentance and how the Lord restores us when we repent. Micah chapter 7 verse 28:05 7 says, "As for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me." This is a new covenant verse. "I will wait for the God of my salvation. The Lord will hear me." And 28:19 proclaim this. Young person, if you're struggling with sin in your life, proclaim this over the enemy. Verse 8, "Do not rejoice over me, my enemy. Though I have fallen, I will rise again. Though I have dwelt in darkness, the 28:34 Lord is a light for me." Verse 9, "I will bear the indignation of the Lord." In the new covenant, you don't even have to bear the indignation of the Lord. Jesus has borne the indignation of God of God's wrath on you. "Because I 28:47 have because I have sinned against him. And here's this beautiful part. This is the new covenant. Because Jesus has played my case and he is executing justice for me. The Lord is pleading my case and he's executing justice for me. He 29:02 will bring me out to the light and I will see his righteousness. It's a beautiful picture of where repentance must lead. To the Lord proclaiming righteousness over us. But then I want you to see couple verses later. What is the 29:17 result of that repentance? Verse 11. This must be the fruit of repentance. Verse 11. It will be a day for building your walls. And it will be a day for establishing your boundaries. Establishing and extending your boundaries. 29:37 Once the Lord has Once we have repented of what the Lord has convicted us of, the Lord wants to establish new walls of protection around us. Don't when you see walls being established, when you see boundaries being established in your 29:54 life, that is a sign that the Lord has an amazing purpose for you in your life. And wants to use those to lead you to repentance, to lead you to welfare, to plans of welfare, and to 30:12 lead you to greater fruitfulness, to meet with him. So I pray that I pray that the Lord will continue to work with us, work in us, work in our young people's lives. That we will see those boundaries as protection. We'll see the boundaries of 30:28 trials as an opportunity to meet with the Lord. And we would see those boundaries as an opportunity for us to be spiritually prosperous in those seasons. Amen.
