God's Appointments

Bunbury

Sun am

16/01/11

“God’s appointments”

Intro: *** Amongst the many stories of bravery during the Queensland floods an unconfirmed story has emerged in the media of a man who apparently made his way onto a bridge w/ flood waters lapping at the bridge. The man had seen a girl sitting atop of a car that was floating down the river. The outcome of the scene was obvious, when the car reached the bridge it would hit the bridge, be submerged & the girl would probably be swept away to her death. It was reported that the man in the nick of time managed to grab the girl’s arms & pull her up to safety on the bridge, thus saving her life.

*** Another true story to come out of South America paints a similar picture for us. A 66-year-old Brazilian man wrestled with a 5m anaconda for nearly half an hour to free his grandson from the snake's crushing death grip, a Sao Paulo newspaper reported. Matheus Pereira de Araujo, 8, would likely be dead inside the belly of the 35kg anaconda if his grandfather had not heard his screams for help, zoologists said. The boy was playing with friends on Wednesday near a creek on his grandfather's farm in Cosmorama, 500km west of Sao Paulo, when the snake attacked him.

The grandfather was driving home when he heard his grandson screaming. He jumped into the ravine and grappled with the snake, which started coiling around him as well.

Mr Pereira attacked it with stones and a machete and killed it, freeing the boy, who needed 21 stitches on his chest where the snake bit him.

"It was the most terrible scene that I've seen in my life," Mr Pereira said. "It was totally coiled around him while he was screaming that he was dying.

But ........ here was a man who just happened to be driving down the road when he heard his grandson screaming for help.

Here are two men who just happened to be in the right place @ the right time!

It sometimes seems in life as though God pulls back the veil & gives us glimpses of the fact that our lives are being divinely appointed to certain places at certain times.

But for much of our lives we aren’t even conscious that our lives are being divinely directed by God.

So t/m we want to consider the thought of ‘God’s appointments’.

Text: Luke 19:1-10 (NKJV) 1Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. 4So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. 5And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. 7But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” 8Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” 9And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; 10for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

# 1. Divine appointments.

A. God works through our lives by divine appointments.

a. Much of the time as we live our lives we’re unconscious of God @ work, moving / intervening.

i. Scripture is filled w/ the notion of God working through appointed times & in appointed places w/ His people.

ii. This concept is thoroughly woven throughout the fabric of God’s word.

iii. No less than 110 x in the Bible we read the words ...... “In that day ....”

iv. A further 78 x we come across the phrase ....... “At that time .....”

v. We also read the words ......... “it came to pass .......”

vi. We find the phrase ‘appointed time’ 18 x in the Bible.

vii. All of these thoughts convey the idea that God makes & keeps appointments w/ His people.

b. More specifically what I am alluding to is that each & every one of our lives is a divine appointment of God.

i. As most of us live our lives we aren’t even conscious of how God is at work & moving through us to bring about His purposes.