Jentezen Franklin - Better Is Coming - Part 1
Jeremiah 32:6, «And Jeremiah said, 'The word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you saying, 'Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.'» And no sooner had God spoken that word to him, «Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, 'Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. So I bought the field from Hanamel, my uncle, and I gave him the money seventeen shekels of silver».
Verse 10, «I signed the deed, I sealed it, I took witnesses, I weighed the money on scales. I took the purchase deed, according to the law and the custom, and the purchase deed was taken». And listen to verse 12. And he said, «I did this in the presence of the witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison». Verse 15, «For thus says the Lord», now all of that’s done, it seems strange, it seems weird, what in the world does that got to do with anything? But here’s what it’s connected to.
Verse 15, «For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Houses and fields, vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.' Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying,» everybody read verse 17 out loud please. «'Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.'» I wanna talk to you, and I’ve got a three-word sermon title that is more than a word. It is a prophetic proclamation. It is something I want to get lodged into your mind, and into your spirit, in your mentality, and in your heart. Three words, «Better is Coming».
Would you say that with me? Better is coming. I want you to turn to somebody beside you and shake 'em a little bit and say, «I’m telling you, better is coming». It’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming. Death, and disease, and disaster was at the door. Nebuchadnezzar had invaded Israel, he had leveled and decimated their armies of resistance, and now they had completely surrounded and besieged the city of Jerusalem. All hope was gone. They were about to be taken into 70 years of captivity. Jeremiah, the prophet, went to the king before it ever happened and warned him that if he didn’t turn back to God, the nation would be devastated and destroyed. And instead of receiving the prophecy, he rejected it, and for pastor appreciation threw Jeremiah into a pit, the Bible called it mire.
The scripture said that they took clothing, cloths, tied them together, imagine this, lowered him down by his arms into this deep, deep pit that was full of mire, full of waste, full of the sewage from the palace. It was up to… your Bible gives great descriptions in this. Up to his chest and neck. He stayed there for days and days. Now, you understand, «Then the word of the Lord came unto me saying,» in these horrible, deplorable, dark, devastating, in a dungeon, a good man is having bad things. He’s in the king’s palace. This is even worse. He’s in the king’s palace. The dungeon in the king’s palace. It’s one thing when you’re not a king’s kid. It’s one thing when you’re going through stuff and you don’t belong to the king, but it’s when you’re in his house and you feel like you’re in the dungeon.
Sometimes, we don’t understand when bad gets good things and good gets bad things, but it happens. And in that situation, that’s when the word of the Lord came to him, I’m reading it right in text. And the Lord said, «Now, your uncle’s about to show up with a real estate contract and I want you to buy it. I want you to buy the land that he’s offering you». How ridiculous. The enemy is outside, the land has been taken, the homes have been burned, the city’s about to be decimated, and everybody’s selling, nobody’s buying, and God says to him in the lowest, most unbelievable conditions, «Buy into the fact that better is coming in the place that looks like nothing but bad is happening. Your conditions are going to change. And they don’t know it, but I want you to do this in front of all the prisoners who are in the same condition you’re in. I wanna teach people what they are to do when it looks like everything is gone and they’re in the lowest place they’ve ever been in their life».
That’s when you don’t buy in to the bad, you buy in to brighter days are ahead. This is what faith does. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And He said in those conditions, death is at the door, you’re in the dungeon, all hell… Ten thousand of the most talented young people are being chained even as He’s speaking and being hauled off to Babylon to build the kingdom of Babylon, and the city of Jerusalem will be left no stone unturned. And in the middle of that, you get a real estate contract, and you buy what everybody else is selling. He’s coming to offer you, and this is so important, Hanamel, Not cannibal. Hanamel is coming, and Hanamel…
And I challenge you after this message to look this up if you don’t believe me because in the Hebrew language, that name means, «Grace is coming». Grace is coming to your dungeon. And Anathoth, the piece of property, the Hebrew meaning is answers. I could not believe it, but I looked up on that one. Truth. Answers. Answers are coming. Grace is coming with answers to your lowest place. And when it’s offered to you, buy it. Buy it. Notice when grace comes, it never comes with pity. Grace and God’s word will never come to you and say in your lowest moments, «You ought to feel sorry for yourself. Yes, I agree with you. You ought to quit. Yes, as a matter of fact, if I were you, I would just check out and end it all».
Grace never does that. Grace always comes with hope. Grace always comes and says, «Better is coming». You hold on, God’s not through, God’s not finished. God’s not done with your family and all of its dysfunction, with your business and all of its struggle, with your marriage and all of its trouble. God says, «I am the one who… and is anything too hard for me»? That scripture is connected to this. And you think your problem is severe, how severe was this man’s problem and God said, «Don’t back off now, buy into it». Buy into better days and brighter days, they’re on the way. The answer always comes with action when grace shows up. More is going on here than a real estate transaction and money being exchanged for a piece of property. It was a mindset that God wanted us to get. And it goes in great detail, «I signed the contract, I put it in a earthen vessel, I sealed the earthen vessel, and I buried it in the ground».
If you read the whole story, «I buried it in the ground». And even though my problem would not be solved in a week, or three weeks, or even three months, I can’t promise you how quick your miracle will come. That’s our problem, we quit and give up when it’s not easy to hold on. But He said, «I want my people to, spiritually, when I give them a promise, put it in a earthen vessel». We’re that earthen vessel. How you gon' do that? Put it in a spiritual jar, sign that contract, seal it, and shove it in your mind, your upper room. And I want you, when you’re in Babylon and having a bad day, not to whine and cry with no hope, but I want you to remember, over there in Jerusalem I’ve got a document that says, «It ain’t gonna always be like this, it’s not gon' end like this».
You may not understand where you are, you may feel so distraught with what’s going on in your life, but better is coming. I feel like shouting that over America right now. Better is coming. Don’t you think the Babylonians are in control, God is in control. God says, «Is anything too hard for me»? No. He can do anything. He can do everything. And He says, «Don’t be owned by your present. Invest in your future». It’s not going to always be like this, it’s gonna be different. Hallelujah. Somebody needs to hear that watching me on television. It’s gonna be better. That’s why you can’t quit now, that’s why you can’t take your life now, that’s why you can’t go back to drugs because now the enemy has brought another hit, and you just feel like you’ve hit bottom.
The future is bright if you’ll hold on and if you’ll buy into the fact that God said better is coming. Get that mentality, shove that promise in your mind and say, «I can’t quit now. My family is gonna see better days, my marriage is gonna see better days, my grandchildren are gonna… My addicted son or my bound daughter, my daddy, who’s an alcoholic. I’m not gonna live, I’m not buying into bad». Hallelujah. «I’m not buying into broken. I’m not buying into dysfunction. I’m not buying into depression. I’m buying into weeping may endure for the night, but joy is coming back to my life and to my family and to my world». And He said, «The reason I want you to buy right now is because brighter days are coming». Whoo, hallelujah.
When I think about the fact that 70 years of bondage and God said, «Don’t buy 30 years from now. Don’t buy in 20 years, or 60 years from now, or 55 years, or 75 year or 65 years. Don’t buy in then 'cause you’re getting a feeling like things are turning». But He said, «I want you to buy in right where you are because the same field, the same piece of ground that the enemy has broken you, and devastated you, and taken away your family, and done so much to you, this is the very same field I’m gonna bring you back to and it will be the place of your greatest joy and your greatest victory and your greatest anointing». Hallelujah. Take a praise break right now and shout a little bit.
Woah, I feel something stirring in this house. I’m trying to behave. We’ve got new people watching 'cause we bought 1.8 million dollars' worth of airtime, but I still believe that He doesn’t just restore our lives, He restores our joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength, and in the same place that you’ve wept, you’re gonna rejoice and say, «Oh my God, look what God did with the mess». Turn to somebody and say, «Don’t wait till the trial’s over, believe better is coming right now». «Well, you don’t know the pain of my past». Well, you don’t know the favor of your future. Better days are ahead. Better days are ahead for America, but stop buying into bitter. Stop buying into broken. Just because your family’s broken in some areas for generations, we don’t have to buy into that. We know the one, the God who said, «Nothing is too hard for me and I’m making promises to families».
God made that promise to families. In the same land the enemy thinks he took, there is, in your mindset, a promise from God that says, «It doesn’t look good right now, but I walk by faith, not by sight». Better days are coming, a better season is coming, better blessings are coming. Hallelujah. Don’t let the inner internal storm make you bitter and broken and think, «Bad, bad, bad, bad». That’s not the gospel. We’re not called to be a bunch of pessimistic people who hate half the country 'cause they don’t see what we see. They don’t know who we know. They don’t know the truth of what we know so all we need to do is stand here and say, «I got a promise, and I’m standing on the promise, and better is on the way».
Now, watch this, God said, «Here’s what you do when you end up in a horrible situation and it’s not gonna change in a day, a year, or even three years, or a long time». «What do we do, Lord»? This is given to the same people, Jeremiah 29. «Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel to all the people who were carried away captive and now they’re down there in Babylon,» and that’s where we are, spiritually speaking. We’re in Babylon. This old world is not our home. We’re headed to New Jerusalem. And He says, «So, here’s what you do in the meantime before better gets there,» He said, «You build some houses, dwell in 'em, plant gardens, eat fruit, find you a wife». That’s a blessed word right there, «Beget sons and daughters».
Y’all know what that means? «And take wives for your sons and your daughters». There’s only two options up there if you notice: that you may be increased and not diminished. And listen to this, «I’m just packing my bags and I bless God the antichrist is coming, I’m gonna… And seek peace for the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to,» pray, pray, pray, pray, «To the Lord». In other words, affect your communities, affect your nation. I’m so tired of people telling me faith doesn’t belong in the government and politics and all that, they shouldn’t have nothing to do with us. You don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re here to build homes, and get married, and have babies, and have grandbabies, and make sure that the nation they come up in is one that fears God.
In God we trust, and nothing wrong with that. We’re supposed to carry our faith in every aspect of our life. I can’t check my faith in. I am who I am because of who He is. And I love it, I love those instructions. Everybody say, «Build houses». Doesn’t sound like a bunch of old sad sacks sitting back, beat up victims. Poor us, oh my God, bad, bad, bad. He said, «No, be productive». If you’re gonna build a house, number one, that means get a job. Get a job. And then, He said, «Find you a wife if you’re a man and find you a husband if you’re a woman».
I’m gonna preach to young men right quick. Get off the dumb video game and find you a wife, get you a job, build you a house, fall in love, get married, get married. But get a job and get off the dumb video game, and get out of Facebook, and meet somebody for real. Aren’t you tired of touching the screen? You could be touching a pretty little face and holding somebody’s hand. What is wrong with you? Get a dream, build a house, get you some land, own a piece of property. It’ll do something for your testosterone. That’s why they all confused and don’t know if I’m a cat, or I’m a male, or a female. You gotta get something going. I’m not trying to be funny, I’m just trying to preach the word.
And that’s how far we’ve drifted as a culture, but we’re called to build. Build our cities, and build businesses, and show the world another way. That you can do it and you can do it for the glory of God, and you can raise a family in Babylon, and they have children and children’s children. We ought not to be giving up on our school system, giving up on our legal system. Do something about it. Get in it and fix it. And we’re the salt, we’re called to do it. Look at what it said, «Seek peace for the city, for the nation». Influence it. Get on the school boards. Quit whining about, «Oh, they’re not…» Get on the school board then. Run for it.
Tell me you’re running for it. I’ll put your thing up there. I’ll tell you what, we ain’t got time to play these stupid games. It’s time for the church to be the church and stand for what is right. We want our children to learn how to read and write and do arithmetic and build and be successful, not nonsense. Come on, church. Better is coming. We’re better than this and better is coming. Pray. Keep loving people. Don’t get all caught up in bitterness and hatred for people who don’t see what you see and think like you think. Truth is, they know some things, probably that are a great truths that every side needs to just grow up and quit being a bunch of babies. We need one another. So, what that verse is saying is, better is coming. So, you work real hard and don’t ever give up on the land that God has put you in.