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.
ii. I’m sure that far too often what is really God moving & intervening in the midst of life is written off as coincidence.
*** One day a woman was rushing home from a doctor’s appointment. The doctor had been somewhat delayed at the hospital, and the lab work took a little longer than usual so by the time she left the clinic she was running quite a bit behind schedule. She still had to pick up her prescription, pick up the children from the baby-sitter, and get home and make supper, all in time to make it to the prayer meeting at her church that evening. As she began to circle the busy Wal-Mart parking lot, looking for a space, the windows of heaven were opened, and a downpour began. While she wasn’t usually the type to bother God with small problems, she began to pray as she turned down the row closest to the front door. "Lord, you know what kind of a day I’ve had, and there’s still an awful lot to do. Could you please grant me a parking space right away, oh, and close to the building so I don’t get soaked." The words weren’t even completely out of her mouth when she saw the backup lights of a car come on at the end of the row. It was the best space in the whole parking lot, right next to the handicap spots and straight out from the front door. She made straight for it and as she pulled in, she said, "never mind God, something just opened up."
iii. How many times have given the credit to coincidence when in reality it was God moving in our lives in a million small ways?
iv. The truth is that God desires to partner His work w/ men..... think about it, God could do everything Himself – but He doesn’t!
Mark 1:17-18 (NKJV) Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
v. This is no less true in your life ..... God has a divine appointment for your life, you have been appointed as a divine representative of Almighty God here on earth.
B. This means that sooner or later God is going to meet w/ you.
Vs 5. 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.”
a. God knows all about you!
i. God knows where you are right now, not only physically but emotionally.
ii. He knows your mental condition / searches our heart / knows your weaknesses & strengths.
iii. He u/s your marriage / r/s w/ your children / thoughts / intentions / character & lack thereof.
iv. Your financial situation / business dealings / works habits are no secret to Him either.
Hebrews 4:13 (NKJV) 13And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
v. Think about this ..... in spite of all this Jesus has chosen you & saved you for Himself!
*** John Wesley’s father, Samuel, was a dedicated pastor, but there were those in his parish who did not like him. On February 9, 1709, a fire broke out in the rectory at Epworth, possibly set by one of the rector’s enemies. Young John, not yet six years old, was stranded on an upper floor of the building. Two neighbours rescued the lad just seconds before the roof crashed in. One neighbour stood on the other’s shoulders and pulled young John through the window. Samuel Wesley said, “Come, neighbours, let us kneel down. Let us give thanks to God.
John Wesley often referred to himself as a “brand plucked out of the fire”
But the truth is that everyone of us are just like that – brands plucked out of the fire!
b. You have been salvaged / redeemed b/c God has a divine appointment for your life.
Vs 5. 5And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, .......
i. Here is the wonder of it all God had an appointment w/ this man Zacchaeus.
ii. Knowing fully who / what he was Jesus was determined to meet w/ him ...... God had an appointment w/ Zacchaeus the hated tax collector.
Vs 5. 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.”
iii. You see God’s hand is constantly – even though we are often unaware of it – guiding / directing / positioning our lives for his great purposes.
iv. Man often stumbles towards his destiny, God decisively directs us ...... you can never out manoeuvre God.
# 2. The right place & the right time.
A. One of our great struggles in life is feeling that we aren’t in the right place @ the right time.
a. How many of you have every thought that if I could just be somewhere else everything would be OK?
i. The subtle suggestion is that that where I am right now is taking me nowhere / achieving nothing & wasting my life.
ii. It carries the hint of missing divine purpose in your life.
b. But what we see throughout Scripture is that God met w/ people in various places at appointed times.
i. We find God meeting w/ Moses on the mountain ..... the disciples on Mt Transfiguration.
ii. We find God meeting w/ both David & Elijah in a cave ..... God’s appointed place & time for these two great men.
iii. In the middle of a raging storm on the sea God has a divine rendezvous w/ his disciples walking on the water to meet them!
iv. Moses saw the burning bush of ablaze by the fire of God in an arid desert wilderness – it was God’s set place & time to meet w/ him.
v. God comes to the tent of Abraham & Sarah the barren old couple who have no children.
vi. Gideon was hiding in a wine press from his enemies trying to get some food for his family when God met w/ him.
vii. Finally – the heavenly Father met w/ Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane shortly b/4 His illegal arrest.
** As has often been quoted but bears saying again & grasping – “God’s will has an address!”
B. How do you put yourself into the right place @ the right time?
a. God gives us the power to place our lives in the pathway of divine destiny.
i. Something is stirring in the heart of Zacchaeus b/4 Jesus even comes to Jericho ..... what & when this began we don’t know.
ii. But what we do know is that something stirred in his heart – He just had to see Jesus.
iii. But there was much that separated Zacchaeus from divine purpose, T.B.S. that .....
Vs 2-3. 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.
iv. Here was a man who was kept from divine appointment ....... physical realities conspired against him to keep out of the will of God.
v. Some of you know the pain of physical realities that conspire against you to keep you out of the will of God.
vi. Zacchaeus isn’t going to be kept from a divine purpose - The crowd is large & his only hope is to run ahead & climb a tree.
** Someone has said that “If you place an obstacle in front of a good man he’ll find a way around it.”
vii. So How do we position ourselves in the right place @ the right time?
b. We put our/s in the right & the right time by having a right heart!
Isaiah 57:15 (NKJV) 15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
i. It’s a humble & contrite heart that places us in the right position for a divine appointment w/ God.
# 3. Divine appointments lead to divine purposes.
A. When God makes a divine appointment w/ us – it’s b/c He has a divine purpose in mind.
a. Think about all the people that Jesus could have made an appointment w/ in Jericho.
i. But he chose arguably one of its most notorious crooks.
Vs 2. 2Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.
ii. There’s a reason why the Word of God points out that he was a tax collector & rich ........ Zacchaeus was a thief! ...... Zacchaeus was despised by his community!
iii. Zacchaeus himself points out his own culpability when he says .......
Vs 8. “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.”
b. The life of Zacchaeus is a showcase for God’s redeeming love & purpose towards men.
i. If God could save / redeem / restore / sanctify Zacchaeus he could do it for anyone!
ii. News of Zacchaeus’ Salvation would’ve gone off like a grace bomb in Jericho after Jesus left.
iii. As you can see God has His appointments for even the worst of men..... men just like Paul.
Ephesians 3:8 (NKJV) 8To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
B. Your life has been divinely appointed by God for a divine purpose.
a. There are no extras in the purposes of God.
*** Quite often in movies a scene will be shown where a person walks behind in the background of the main scene. They call them extras ..... their purpose is to create a backdrop for the main scene. But in the kingdom of God what He is doing in our lives is the main scene.
i. God has created & saved every one of us w/ divine & eternal purpose in mind.
Vs 9-10. 9And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house,... 10for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
*** Telemachus was a monk who lived in the 4th century. He felt God saying to him, “Go to Rome.” He was in a cloistered monastery. He put his possessions in a sack and set out for Rome. When he arrived in the city, people were thronging in the streets. He asked why all the excitement and was told that this was the day that the gladiators would be fighting and killing each other in the coliseum, the day of the games, the circus.
He thought to himself, “Four centuries after Christ and they are still killing each other, for enjoyment?” He ran to the coliseum and heard the gladiators saying, “Hail to Caesar, we die for Caesar” and he thought, “this isn’t right.” He jumped over the railing and went out into the middle of the field, got between two gladiators, held up his hands and said “In the name of Christ, forbear.”
The crowd protested and began to shout, “Run him through, Run him through.” A gladiator came over and hit him in the stomach with the back of his sword. It sent him sprawling in the sand. He got up and ran back and again said, “In the name of Christ, forbear.” The crowd continued to chant, “Run him through.” One gladiator came over and plunged his sword through the little monk’s stomach and he fell into the sand, which began to turn crimson with his blood. One last time he gasped out, “In the name of Christ forbear.” A hush came over the 80,000 people in the coliseum. Soon a man stood and left, then another and more, and within minutes all 80,000 had emptied out of the arena. It was the last known gladiatorial contest in the history of Rome.
ii. God has not only saved you not only to rescue you but to appoint you to a glorious purpose ..... live up to that divine purpose.
Colossians 1:10 (NKJV) 10that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
