Plan or Perish - 3 of 5
Proverbs 29:18 - Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Sermon:
Hebrews 11:3 declares, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things that do appear.” Through faith we understand that the cosmos were framed by the logos of theos. The word logos denotes an expression of thought, and is the same word used in John 1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Everything tangible was made or is the result of an expression of thought.
A thought becomes a word and a word becomes plan, and a plan becomes matter. Every building began as a thought. You had a thought of so many square feet with this many bedrooms and this many bathrooms sitting on this many acres and you talked with an architect and he drew it into plans; now some building can be done. Why laugh at somebody who has an idea? He has the primary ingredient to getting the job done. Have you noticed that people who have ideas make the most money? Some of the wealthiest people in this world got where they are because they had increase on their minds.
I want to know what is on your mind? What are you thinking about? When God you power to get wealth, one of the most neglected avenues of that power is the power of thought. No one has a copyright on thinking. You have the ability to come up with a groundbreaking idea that will change the world. And as a believer, you got something living down on the inside. Don’t limit the ministry of the Holy Ghost to inspiring the preacher or inciting an emotional explosion of joy. Why can’t the Spirit of the Living God, the ‘Stablisher, the Savior, and Sustainer of the universe, who made everything that has been made and knows everything about everything, sit down in your spirit and walk you through a business plan? Some of you are so full of ideas that have not been matured into reality because they can’t make and carry out plans.
Today I want to be the coach that motivates you to action and helps you excavate that creativity that God has invested in you.
In Exodus 25:8-9, God speaks to Moses about building the tabernacle, but it had to be according to his pattern or to his plan. The secret of prosperity, success, and effectiveness is working the plan. A plan tailors talents and directs them toward a specific goal. Everybody has a talent, but if you don’t have a plan, you’ll fall short of your goal every time. The plan doesn’t have to be perfect. Adjustments are fine, but if you plan, you have to prepare. Now you have a chance to identify what inevitable and unforeseeable bumps are on up the road to your destiny.
If every building project begins with a blueprints and plans, why do we try to build our lives without a plan? It’s time to stop the madness and accept the fact that you need a plan. If you end up with a great amount of money, you need estate planning. If you invest, you need investment planning. If you’re going to have surgery, there is surgical planning. Everything needs a plan, and success demands it.
Every plan begins with an idea or a dream. If you have no goal, you have nothing to accomplish. There is something I want to attain, somewhere I want to go so I set as a goal and plan to attain it. The problem most of us are facing is we plan on rather than planning to. There is a difference. When you start planning to you’ll start researching and making phone calls because it is something you have concrete in your mind to do, but when you start planning on, it might get done but then again it might not.
I love Joseph because Joseph was a planner. No matter where his path took him, he never forgot who he was, where he came from, where he was, and where he was going. But I want us to see something from his life, today. When Pharaoh called Joseph from prison to interpret two dreams to him, Joseph not only gave the interpretation of the dream, but he gave him a plan to change the situation. When it came time to hire somebody to execute the plan, Pharaoh looked at Joseph and said, “Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art: Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. ” One plan took him from obscurity to noterity.
Joseph had favor on his life. Favor comes to people that understand who God is and who you are and you know your purpose in life. What the devil meant for evil, God turned it around and blessed his socks off. God had given him a divine destiny, and Joseph walked upright in integrity even in the pits and prisons of his life. Don’t you know even in the unpleasant moments of your life, God’s favor is still there? I like to suggest that it is those difficult times that show us just how favored we are.
If I never got into trouble, how would I know he would fix it?
If I never went through a storm, how would I know he is a shelter in the time of a storm.
If I never was hungry, how would I know he was bread in a starving land.
If I never had my back up against the wall, how would I know he’ll make a way out of no way?
And even when I’m going through my struggles and situations I keep my mind focused on the plan he gave me and my eyes on the prize he showed me and that gives me the strength to make it. That destiny on the inside of you will keep you alive while waiting to see it come to pass. If you sit a carrot in front of the horse, he’ll run faster. People with a destiny, with a dream, run with everything they got because they are motivated by their goal.
They are motivated by their vision
They are motivated by their dream
They are motivated by their revelation
They are motivated by their passion
But not only did he have favor he had a unique gift. Every last one of us has an awesome gift in us, but it is up to us what we do with it.
You can recognize it or ignore it
You can nurture it or neglect it
You can utilize it or waste it
But in order to reach your full potential in life, you have to appreciate your gift. You have people and things in your to pour life changing information into you if you would utilize it. Open your eyes to the possibilities and opportunities around you. Don’t sit around here with your head hanging down, feeling sorry for yourself because you didn’t have this opportunity or because that wasn’t possible for you. Pick your head up and look around you. There are goldmines sitting to the left and right of you if you make yourself available to receive. You have to start looking inside yourself and start recognizing what’s in you.
What ability haven’t I used?
What knowledge haven’t I used?
What skills haven’t I used?
What power haven’t I used?
What have I not done before?
What haven’t I tried before?
Where haven’t I been before?
What attitude didn’t I try?
What method haven’t I used?
What’s in me that I haven’t tapped into before? That thing that you haven’t trapped into just might be the thing God wants to use to bless and change your life.
You may be an artist
You may be a business person
You may be somebody who works with older people
You may be somebody who works well with children
You may be somebody who is good with numbers
You may be somebody who can cook food that nobody can resist.
And God will put something or somebody in your life that will put their foot in your back and your foot in the door and force you into your purpose. If God put you here to do it he will give you everything you need to get it done. He’ll set the stage where you can’t help but be successful. You just got to make up your mind that you going for the goal.
You may want a voice like Mahalia Jackson
You may want the athletic ability of Kobe Bryant
You may want the entrepreneurial skills of Donald Trump
You may want the sermonic style of C.L. Franklin or Jasper Williams
You may want to cook like Emeril Lagosse from the food network.
Each are awesome gifts, the only problem is you are not Mahalia, Kobe, Donald, C.L., Jasper, or Emeril. You have your own little something that makes you stand out that can’t nobody else do but you. If you expect the increase, you have to be ready to spend some of the riches and resources of your own ability. You can miss your chance to succeed because you appreciate somebody else’s gift more than you do your own, and some people go so far as to imitate other people rather than just being themselves. I understand that they do well, but that’s not you! Be who you is, cause if you is who you aint, you ain’t who you is.
Joseph was an administrator. He had what it took to get people on his side and then get them to work harder. Even in jail he was an administrator, because he took his ability to the place of need and took availability and ability and turned it into activity. He didn’t mind doing what he did. There was willingness. Your plan to get increase has to include willingness to make it do what it do when you do what you do. You have to do your very best whether in the spotlight or in the background. You got to do a million dollar job whether or not you get paid. The path of success leads through ups and downs, victories, failures, pits, prisons and palaces. I told you last week, “a man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.” If you work your plan it will open doors you need to succeed and go to the next level of your life.
I cannot stress how important it is to have a plan. It isn’t enough to have a dream. A dream is only the seed. The talent is important too. It is the water for the seed, and that dream can’t grow without the talent. But I don’t care how much talent you got, without a plan nothing is going to happen. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail because without a plan you don’t have any structure and no order. A plan takes all of your aspirations and all the stipulations to get the manifestation of your dreams, gives it structures, and sets things in order for effectiveness.
Next week we are going to look into budgeting, sowing, living, and some other things, but a plan for increase will involve some changes in your attitude and actions. You are going to have to learn how to discipline yourself to stick to that budget. You are going to have to liberate your mind from this live by the plastic die by the interest mentality. You’re going to have to stop eating up all your seed and start investing.
You want to be blessed. The blessing of the Lord maketh rich and addeth no sorrow to it.” But the accumulation of wealth is not the objective. Wealth is not the end but the means to the end. This gospel has got to be preached to every creature in this entire world and the lives of people are changed. Jesus said in Luke 4:18 and 19, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to them that are blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
I’m closing but I hear Solomon saying in Proverbs 3, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.”
David said the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
So order my steps in your word dear Lord
Lead me guide me everyday
Send your anointing Father I pray
Order my steps in your word
For thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
And where he leads me I will follow
I’ll go with him all the way
I can hear my savior calling
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
I came to Jesus
Just as I was
Weary
Wounded
And sad
But I found in him
A resting Place
And he has made me glad
He is the First and Last, the Beginning and the End!
He is the keeper of Creation and the Creator of all!
He is the Architect of the universe and
The Manager of all times.
He always was, He always is, and He always will be...
Unmoved, Unchanged, Undefeated, and never Undone!
He was bruised and brought healing!
He was pierced and eased pain!
He was persecuted and brought freedom!
He was dead and brought life!
He is raised and brings power!
He reigns and brings Peace!
I love the Lord
He heard my cry
And pitied my every groan
Long as I live and troubles rise
I’ll hasten to his throne.
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I shall not trust the sweetest frain
But wholly lean on Jesus name
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