Our Gracious God has plans for you
Jeremiah 29:11-29:13
It’s the first Sunday of June 2015, and this month we will be focussing on the Supernatural Stream of God’s Grace.
Our God is a God of Grace and this morning I want us to consider: God’s Planning, God’s Purpose, God’s Provision and God’s Presence in our lives.
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As an introduction let me tell you a story about a salesman I know called Peter.
Peter loves driving around the country on business, but it’s not the driving that he likes the most.
There are other things that he likes to do before he even gets in the car and starts the engine.
Even though he has a top of the range Sat Nav he loves looking at maps.
He gathers information about his destinations, and he researches and plans every trip.
He works out his mileage and probable petrol consumption and costs, he uses TripAdvisor to work out which hotel he will spend the night in, and where he will stop for lunch or comfort breaks on his journey.
Peter loves to have a detailed scheduling, and he even creates a list of everything that is packed into his suitcase.
Now, you may think that is a little weird, especially if you’ve never done any of those things before you have driven somewhere.
Maybe your thinking that some of them are actually a necessary thing to do.
Every trip you take, every excursion you make,
every walk out the door needs some type of planning, doesn’t it?
A trip to the local shop, a trip to the supermarket, or even a trip to a restaurant has some amount of planning involved.
If not, you’ll either not take enough money, or you’ll spend too much.
I’m sure there are probably some of you thinking that planning really isn’t that important.
Maybe your attitude is that no matter how much you plan, things could still change or go wrong, so what is the point of having a plan.
Yes, stuff could happen, but, that does not mean you should just Let things happen that you could avoid.
For example:
If you never plan to check the engine oil in your car, the engine will burn up and stop.
Or if you never check the pressure of your tyres you could lose control on wet roads.
Let me ask you a few questions - You don’t need to call out the answers - just think them through:
In all of the plans you have made so far this year, how many of them included God?
Have you planned to spend more quality time with Him?
Have you planned to spend more time reading the Bible or fellowshipping with other believers?
Have you planned to spend any time serving God in practical ways?
You see, if you just let your life run its course and never make any plans,
then maybe there will come a time when you look back on your life and say “I haven’t really accomplished anything for myself or for God.”
In our daily lives it’s easy to just be busy,
we can always find something to do,
we can occupy every waking moment with stuff,
but never really accomplishing anything.
When I worked in London, I used to work with a guy called Mike.
We often had people running up to us trying to get us to do something for them really quick, when they should have planned to do something a long time before.
Mike used to tell them “You’re failure to plan does not constitute an emergency on our part.”
Some people just leave things too late and never plan ahead.
Imagine if Noah had waited for it to actually start raining before beginning construction of the ark.
None of us would be here today - everyone would have been wiped out by the flood!
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Someone once said, “Failure to plan, is actually planning to fail.” It doesn’t have to be that way.
Do you know that our Gracious Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for you?
Listen to Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
Powerful words. Let’s consider God’s Planning.
The amazing thing about these verses in the book of Jeremiah is that God gave this prophetic word when everything was going wrong in the lives of His people.
In effect God tells them His people, “Don’t worry. I know everything’s going to turn out right.”
One thing I have learnt over the years is often God’s plan is different to what I thought it would be.
The same thing is true of the Jewish people in Jeremiah 29.
The year is 597 BC.
God is judging the nation of Judah.
The Babylonians have attacked Jerusalem.
They’ve taken 3000 prisoners back to Babylon. Including the king, the court officials, and the craftsmen. And the Jews are saying:
“This isn’t supposed to happen to us!”
“We are the chosen people!”
“We are the apple of God’s eye! What is going on?”
Maybe that strikes a chord with you this morning, maybe in your own life - right now - you are asking a similar question.
You don’t understand God’s plan for you and you want to know what is going on.
Friends, the truth is that God IS accomplishing His plans in your life today - even if His plans aren’t what you were expecting.
If we could see the big picture of our lives,
we would see the Grace of God at work everyday.
God is working behind the scenes, in every circumstance and in every situation that troubles our hearts and worries our minds, God is with us.
God knows every detail. God knows every moment.
God’s plan may not be what we thought it was going to be.
God’s plan may not be what we hoped it would be.
But God’s plan is always, always, always the best plan
Even if we don’t understand it at the time.
Even if we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Even if we would never have chosen this path for ourselves.
God is still with us and God is still for us.
We can trust His planning for our lives.
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Seven years ago, on the 7th of June 2009, I was made redundant from my job in London.
The company I worked for decided to cut 10% of their workforce worldwide.
The bean counters had been counting the beans and decided that the companies profits were going to be too low for the year.
On a turnover of £1 billion pounds. Their profit, not loss, their profit that year was only going to be £100 million pounds.
Sounds like a reasonable amount of profit but the bean counters decided that me and 549 other people would lose our jobs.
That’s the modern business world for you.
Let me be candid: When I found out I was going to lose my job, I did not pray “Thank you God, that I have lost my job. I needed this to happen so that you could fulfil your glorious plan for my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
In fact I’m not sure many Christians would pray a prayer like that.
My prayer was “God, why are you allowing this to happen?”
Today, with the benefit of hind sight, I can testify to the truth that in all things, God works together for the good of those who love Him.
I know the truth that when God in His grace,
shuts a door, he opens another - the right door.
For me, the door God opened was a door into ministry and just six months later I joined the Estuary Elim ministry team.
Six months later I was granted an Elim licence to minister.
And on Saturday 13th June this year, by God’s grace at a ceremony in Birmingham I will become a fully ordained and fully credentialed minister!
God had a plan, a perfect plan for my life.
Looking back, I know that God has been and continues to work through every event in my life.
He knew the path He had planned for me, but in order for me to get on the right path, I had to get off the path I was on.
As a family God taught us to be dependent on His Grace for everything we need.
I know God’s plan is not always the easiest plan, its not always the easiest path,
But it is the BEST plan, it is the best path.
I think if we knew everything that was going to happen to us ahead of time, we would go crazy.
We’d be doing everything in our power to change things to make them go the way we would want them to go.
And that’s probably why God doesn’t reveal everything to us.
This verse reminds us that even though we don’t know all the plans for our lives,
GOD knows the plans He has for us.
God sees our tomorrows before they become our ‘todays.’
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In Psalm 139:16 King David says “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”
God knows the plans He has for you.
Jeremiah says that “They are plans for good and not for disaster” or as the NIV translates it: “plans to prosper you and not to harm you”
Plans to Prosper you? Let me be clear about this -
when the Bible talks about God prospering us,
It’s not talking about everyone in church becoming millionaires - As appealing as that may sound.
The Bible is talking about enjoying the everyday blessings of God.
A place to live. Food to eat. Families to love.
And people to pray for.
All of these things are a sign that we are experiencing God’s plans to prosper us and not to harm us.
Then Jeremiah says that God has ‘plans to give you a future and a hope’
For the Jewish people, that meant going BACK to the promised land.
But for us, it means going UP to the Promised Land.
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have a hope and a future that goes far beyond this life.
You have a hope and a future where you will be living in eternity with God himself.
You have the hope that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
You have the hope that God will someday be finished with the work He’s doing in your life, and that you will be with Christ forever and ever!
You have a sure and certain hope that God’s promises for your life will come true.
In fact, the whole message of Jeremiah is that the word of the Lord always comes true.
God has a master plan for our lives, and we need to give God full control of our lives for the plan to operate.
God has Plans For You
Maybe that is just too simple a statement for you.
You want details, You want to know why this happened and that happened.
Maybe life isn’t going the way you want it to, so you want answers.
The problem with us is that we live our lives from front to back,
but God who is Alpha and Omega, sees our life from the end to the beginning.
God isn’t waiting for things to happen,
He is already ahead making a way where there seems to be no way.
God has already read the last chapter of the story your life, He already knows what is on the last page.
He knows the 50, 60, 80 or even the 100 years of life, to the very last second, and He know’s His plan for you is perfect.
Don’t leave God out of your plan for your life,
let God be the one in control of the agenda.
Spending time with God and letting God lead us onto the right path, into His perfect plan,
is often the part we leave out.
Let me to give you an illustration of how one person viewed something as simple as church attendance:
A member of an American church wrote this letter to their Pastor.
Dear Pastor
You often talk about attendance at Sunday Services as being very important for a Christian.
God knows my heart and passion for Him, but I think a person has a right to miss a few services now and then.
I believe every church member can take a Sunday off for the following reasons:
The Sunday before & the Sunday after the Christmas Holidays
The Sunday after New Year Eve to recover.
Two Sundays around the Easter holidays.
July 4th - it is a national holiday after all.
To Celebrate Labor Day we always go away for 2 sundays.
On Memorial Sunday we always visit friends.
When School closes for the summer the kids need a sunday off.
Just before School restarts its good to have a final lie in.
Three Sundays will be spent having Family reunions.
Sometimes I like to Sleep in so assume 11 Sundays when I won’t get out of bed in time.
The Sunday closest to my Wedding Anniversary.
Sickness 5 Sundays, allowing one Sunday per family member.
One Sunday for my annual Fishing trip.
Planned holidays 6 Sundays
2 Sundays in case of Bad weather eg ice, snow, rain, or clouds.
Watching Football 4 Sundays
2 Sundays for when unexpected visitors show up.
Clock time changes in Summer & Winter 2 Sundays
Special Programs on TV that I don’t want to record and watch later 3 Sundays
Pastor, when we add all of those up it leaves two Sundays per year for us to regularly attend church.
So, you can count on us to be in church on the 4th Sunday in February and the 3rd Sunday in August unless God has other plans for us.
Sincerely -- A Faithful Church Member.
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Proverbs 3:5-6 says Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
It’s very important that we understand that we cannot leave God out of our plans.
We can’t just wander and wonder through our lives, we need to seek God and the plans He has for us.
We need to be in step with the leading of the Holy Spirit.
In many ways this year is the same as any other.
It has 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days 8,760 hours
525,600 minutes 31,536,000 seconds
How do you plan to spend all that time?
If you sleep just seven hours a night then you will spend the eqivalent of 3 ½ months sleeping,
16 days will be spent eating,
50 – 80 days will be spent working [75 for average 8-hours a day, with normal holidays.]
5-10 days will be spent traveling to work, walking to the bathroom, to the kitchen, to the shop, etc.
Depending on how often you wash, between 9-15 days will be spent in the bathroom.
If you go to church twice on a Sunday then you will spend the equivalent of 9 days a year in church,
And if you only come to one service a week that’s just 4½ days out of 365.
With all that moving, working, eating, sleeping, doing, the average person still has at least 100 days that are unaccounted for and that can be used by God and for God.
We can make our plans and try to carry them out in our own strength.
We can make careful plans and ask God to bless them.
Or, we can begin with God, ask Him about HIS plans, and offer ourselves to Him to carry out His purposes.
God’s Purpose
An active relationship with God is what makes life complete, it is what gives meaning to life, it is what gives us our purpose in life.
Without that relationship with God and the assurance and hope that we will one day spend the rest of eternity in heaven with Him, there is a void, a vacuum in life, a whole in our hearts.
Many people, know that void. H.G. Wells, author historian and philosopher, said at the age of 61:
“I have no peace. All life is at the end of the tether.”
The poet Byron said, “My days are in yellow leaf, the flowers and fruits of life are gone, the worm and the canker, and the grief are mine alone.”
Thoreau said, “Most men live lives of quiet desperation.”
Ralph Barton, the cartoonist, left this note pinned to his pillow before taking his own life: “I have had few difficulties, many friends, great successes; I have gone from wife to wife, from house to house, visited great countries of the world, but I am fed up with inventing devices to fill up twenty-four hours of the day.”
You see, without God there is no purpose in life, we are simply inventing ways and devices to fill up twenty-four hours of the day.
And, don’t confuse God’s purpose for your life with investing all your time in being busy.
Yes, many people confuse the business of God with a busy agenda, both in their lives and in the church.
God’s Provision and God’s Presence
God has already made the plans.
His planning has already taken place.
His planning has already been done.
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
If you want to find out what God’s plans are for your day, your week, your month, your year, or your life.
Go to God, ask Him for the plans that He has for your life, and the provisions, or the help that goes along with performing those plans.
The key to finding God’s plans for our lives, His purpose for our lives, and receiving His provisions for our lives is for us to wholeheartedly seek Him.
Have you sought God with all your heart?
Part of God’s plan is for each of us to know God in a personal, intimate way.
Not just ritual, not just a religious experience, but a real relationship, a day by day walk with God.
We can know His presence–no matter what struggle we face, no matter what battle we encounter, we know that God is with us.
He has promised He will never leave you or forsake you.
The more time you spend with God the more you will know God.
You can’t really know God from a distance.
We don’t need a God that watches from a distance,
We need a God that is as close as the mention of His name.
We need someone who knows the desire of your heart
One who hears the silent cry in the middle of the night.
Someone who speaks peace and stills the storms.
God’s ultimate plan for your life, for my life, is eternal life.
2 Corinthians 4:18 tells us The things that are seen are temporary, but the things unseen are eternal.
One day God will take us to our eternal home.
Do I know God’s will for your life in every detail? no Will you understand every step of the way? no
But I do know this, it isn’t as important to understand the plan, as it is to know the planner.
In Him we live and move and have our being.
Let me close with this:
Experiencing God’s Plan is a continual process not a one off event.
We need to be willing to allow the Stream of God’s Grace to flow in our everyday lives.
God can bring constant transformation,
He can renew, He can restore, He can refresh,
He can lead, He can guide, He can work miracles,
He is the God of the possible and the impossible.
God wants us to be the people He has called us to be.
God wants us to be the people He has saved us to be.
So don’t sit around waiting for stuff to happen,
plan to walk every day with God and day by day you will discover His plans.
Take an inventory of your life – think of the junk that is in there.
To help you, anything that is not of God is junk,
don’t try to justify junk to yourself.
Consider all the sin, bad habits, addictions, coarse words, ungodly behaviour, the desire to be all that you can be and leave little room for God –
take all of that into account and ask Father God:
What is wrong in your sight?
What is against your will?
What is outside your purpose & plan for my life?
This takes humbleness on your part
then, listen and obey!
It is just that simple – however, the first portion of this starts with you – until YOU do something, God will do nothing.
2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
“If” If means YOU have to act first
NOT the other way around.
This morning, we have considered God’s Planning, God’s Purpose, God’s Provision and God’s Presence
If this message has spoken into your life,
let it change your life.
Accept that the God of Grace has great and perfect plans for you.
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
May God bless you with His best.
Amen
