God’s Plans For You

GOD’S PLANS FOR YOU

Jer. 29:11

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: NOT FORGIVING, GOING FISHING

1. A boy went to the grocery store with his mom. He’d already gotten in trouble for touching things, and she said, “Don’t touch anything on the shelves!”

2. When his Mom wasn’t looking, he bumped a large display of cans and there was a huge crash; hundreds of cans tumbling down.

3. He could tell his mom was really mad, so he said, “Mom, do you remember the other day we read that when God forgives our sins, he puts them at the bottom of the ocean?” “Yes.”

4. “And you said God never brings them up again?” “Yes son.” “Well mom, I’ve asked the Lord to forgive me. So when we get home, I hope you’re not planning on going on a fishing expedition!”

B. TEXT

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jer. 29:11.

C. THESIS

The Hebrew word translated “plans” in Jer. 29:11 (machashabah) means “imaginations” (Prov. 6:18; Lam. 3:60-61, KJV). So it could read, “I know the imaginations I have for YOU…” This verse tells us 3 THINGS:

I. GOD IS THINKING ABOUT YOU

A. FOCUS OF THE DIVINE MIND

1. God says, “For I know the THOUGHTS that I think toward you….”

2. It’s a happy thought that God is constantly thinking about you! God was thinking about you before the first mountain was formed. There’s never been a time when God wasn’t thinking about you!

3. God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you.”

4. David realized what a privilege this is; “I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinks upon me” Ps. 40:17. David said how God made the Sun, Moon, and Stars, then said, “What are we that you’re mindful of us, and why would You care for us?” Ps. 8:3-4. It’s stunning!

5. It’s wonderful to be thought of by your friends, but how much more to be thought of by GOD! The Lord says He’ll never forget us – He’s even engraved us upon the palms of His hands!

B. ILLUSTRATION: HIS THOUGHTS NOT RECOGNIZED

1. The Kansas City Star Newspaper once fired a cartoonist (in 1919). Their reason? Because the editor felt he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”

2. Who was this cartoonist? He was Mr. Creativity himself, Walt Disney! Years later Walt Disney bought the Kansas City Star!

3. Just because other people don’t see your possibilities doesn’t mean you don’t have value: God sees the wonderful things you will be able to do some day!

II. GOD WANTS TO BLESS YOU

A. GOD LOVES YOU, HE’S ON YOUR SIDE

1. The Bible tells us that God loves YOU! One time King Richard the Lion-Hearted was kidnapped. He was so loved by the people of England, that all of them gave their money and ransomed him (paid his kidnappers to let him go) with a ‘king’s ransom.’

2. God loved YOU so much, that when God knew you’d someday be in trouble, due to your sins, God paid for YOUR ransom with the most valuable thing in Heaven, His own Son, Jesus! He sent Him to the cross to pay your debt! Why? Because You’re the apple of God’s eye, His own dear children.

3. He says, “The very hairs of your heads are all numbered.” He’s aware of you all day, and all night. He knows when you sit down & when you get up; He knows your thoughts and every word you say, even before you say it.

4. Paul says God is working “all things together for good to those who love God” Rom. 8:28-29, NKJV. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” So You need to start living with a higher purpose!

B. WE SHOULD LIVE DIFFERENTLY

1. Leonard Ravenhill, as a young man, was walking in the city of Bath, England in the 1940s. He saw two very fine young ladies, nicely dressed, walking across the town square. The moment he saw them he thought, "There's something different about those girls."

2. Later he discovered they were princesses; one is the present Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth, and the other, her sister, Margaret. They were part of English royalty, and there was a dignity about them very different from anybody else who walked there.

3. As Christians, we’re part of GOD'S Royal Family, and it should be evident to all who meet us that we’re different and live for a higher purpose!

B. WHAT IF WE’VE HAD BAD CIRCUMSTANCES?

1. Many of God’s servants in the Bible had bad circumstances. Think of Joseph, who was hated by his brothers and then sold as a slave. Later he was lied about and forgotten. But everything that happened to him was for good – it moved him closer and closer to the throne of Egypt and eventually he was made Prime Minister of Egypt!