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!
2. So bad circumstances don’t mean God doesn’t love you; it may actually show He DOES love you!
III. HIS PLANS: HOPE & A FUTURE!
A. BEGINS WITH CHRIST’S IMAGE IN YOU
1. “I have a dream,” God says. God’s dream is for YOU. He made you for a purpose. He has a plan for you. And when you discover the plan for which God has made you, and begin to live God’s dream for you—look out! You’ll BE what you were made to be; You’ll DO what you were made to do; You’ll be happier than you’ve ever been. And you will change the world. God is in the people-building business.
2. God’s plan is NOT primarily an OUTWARD plan, but an INWARD plan. God wants to make you like His Son Jesus: to be honest, sincere, not selfish, but one who learns about God, prays to God, listens to Him, does His will, and helps others to find Him.
3. God’s timing is not our timing.
B. ILLUSTRATION: Squash or Oak?
1. There was once a farmer who went to town to purchase seeds for his farm. As he was returning home one of the squash seeds he had purchased fell from his pocket onto the ground.
2. It happened that within a few feet was another seed of a different type. The place where the two seeds lay was rather fertile, and miraculously they both took root.
3. After about a week the squash seed showed signs of growth. The second seed showed none. After two weeks the squash began to sprout leaves. The second seed showed none.
4. After seven weeks the squash began to show fruit. The second seed still showed no progress. Four more weeks came and went.
5. The squash plant reached the end of its life bearing much fruit in that time, but the other seed finally began to slowly grow.
6. Many years later the squash was gone and forgotten, but the other tiny seed, an acorn, had grown into a mighty oak tree. Many people want their faith to be like the squash; they want to fully developed in a month, but God wants the strength of something that will last all eternity!
7. Which would YOU rather be, a squash or an oak?
C. YOU MIGHT FEEL VERY ORDINARY.
1. “What could God do with me?” But God sees beyond what you are today. If you’re willing to say “yes,” God can do extraordinary things with ordinary people. God has dream for you; to give you “a hope and a future.” We see only the beginning; God sees the ending.
2. YOU’RE the GREAT ARTIST’S MASTERPIECE. WE are like a painting the Master Artist is working on. He roughs in the background, puts in some light colors and some dark colors. Then He begins to put more detail in. At last, He adds the finishing touches and Masterpiece is what God intends us to be!
3. Some of us think that God can’t do anything with our life. “I’m too young.” “I’m too old.” “I’m not trained or gifted.” “I’m not a leader, a visionary, or a world-changer.” Or maybe we think we’re a failure.
4. But you’re looking at what you are NOW, a half-finished painting, or the partially chiseled piece of marble. God sees the finished product, what you shall be.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: THE SEEING-EYE DOG – LOOKING HIGHER
1. Seeing as God sees is similar to the purpose given to seeing-eye dogs. During the time they are trained, a seeing-eye dog is taught to lift its vision to the level of his master’s eyes. If it didn’t look upward, it couldn’t restrain its human master from walking into things up higher, like tree branches.
2. So the dogs are trained to raise their vision up to what their master’s level – up higher.
3. This is a good objective for us. We should aim to see things as God sees them. His higher vision has a better perspective over the difficulties of life than our earth-bound vision.
4. John said, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” 1 Jn. 3:2.
B. THE CALL
1. It’s God’s dream for you to be BORN AGAIN, TO WORK FOR HIS KINGDOM until He calls you home.
2. Will you SAY YES TO GOD’S DREAMS for you? Will you make a DEEPER COMMITMENT than you’ve ever made before, to seek the Lord?
3. Let’s pray, “Lord I surrender my life to your call. Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Take my life and make me your Masterpiece. Put Your hand on my life, in Jesus’ Name!”
