Best Laid Plans - Week 2

We're so blessed to have he and his family with

us over the last several months, and I'm so excited

to hear from him today. I believe he's got a

word for you we met before service. I believe that

that he's got something that somebody needs today. Amen, And remember,

we're never called to preach to everybody. We just came

to preach to somebody. So I want you to give

him a warm Cornerstone Tabernic will welcome. It's one of

my favorite people in the world. Davis Keener comes to

preach the word to you. Love you.

Well, that was too kind of an introduction, and I'm

just so humbled and honored and blessed to get to

share this pulpit with Pastor Steve and Pastor Clay and

Pastor Shane and Pastor Gary. What an honor it is

for me. You know, that's not something that I take lightly.

And so my history with Cornerstone goes back farther than

just the amount of time we've been attending regularly these

past six months.

I'm a product of Emmanuel College, just.

Like Pastor Clay and Pastor Steve and h.

Clay.

Dile is one of my closest brothers that the Lord

has placed.

In my life.

And honestly, I was thinking about this when I was

preparing my sermon. But I would not be married to

the person I'm married to if it wasn't for Clay.

I'm just gonna tell you so, if you need help

finding your mate in life, uh, talk to Clay Dile.

I don't want to put that on I don't want

to put that on them just I'm just Tea's but

uh no, because of him, I have the beautiful wife

I do, Amber and our two boys, John Davis and Theodore,

who have been so enjoying kids church here at Cornerstone,

and John Davis will be coming to VBS tomorrow night

and throughout the week, So get your kids here because

it's important. Those are the moments VBS are the moments

that instilled the truths of the Gospel into our children.

Amen.

Well, Pastor Steve, he didn't realize he was sharing a word.

Uh that was for me, But it was the word

that the Lord gave me to share with you guys today.

And last week we started a series called best Laid Plans,

and so I want to continue in that.

I want to continue in.

Sharing what the Lord has for us in our best

laid plans. Last week, Pastor Steve got us going and

started talking to us about HABACCC two and he talked

about how the word of the Lord came to a

back and he said to write down the vision. And

Pastor Steve told us likewise, to write down our visions,

write down our plans, write down the things that the

Lord tells us what we need to do.

Amen, we need to write down those.

Things that God gives us in our life that keep

us and put us on the track, that keep us

in line with the plan that God has for us.

That when circumstances come and situations come that that cause

stress and in our life, we have something to look

back and read and we can say that's where I

need to go, this is where God wants me to go,

the direction God.

Wants me to go.

And he said, we need when we write our plan,

we need to make it plain simple.

We need to be flexible, we need to be patient.

We need to remember those things in life when it's

not always linear as we want it to be, it's

not always right, it doesn't happen exactly what we.

Want it to be. We have to be patient and

wait on.

God's promises to be a field just like we sang

this morning. And so this morning, as we continue in

best laid plans, I was thinking about as a dad,

I can't help but share a story about my boys

that and it just happened the other day. We went

Friday to the water, to the little splash pat over

here in oak Wood, and my four year old he

you know, he knows, he's like, I'm good, just get

the sunscreen on me, and he's gone. He's wherever he

wherever he wants to go, he goes. Now our one

year old, he'll be two in August. He got out there,

and uh, as soon as we got there. It was

on Friday afternoon, so I was getting some work calls,

and I was sitting at the table where we were

set up, and I wasn't out there with him, but

Amber was walking around with him.

And Theodore.

Uh, Pastor Shane was telling me this before service. I

don't know if he wants me to share this, but

he said his pronouns are now big dog. So uh, well,

if if Theodore's pronouns were big dog, that would be

a true statement.

Clay can attest to that he is. Uh he thinks

he's the boss.

He thinks he's supposed to control everything and take over everything.

And uh so he's he's at the splash pad with

Amber and they're walking around, and Theodore is just like,

not into it.

You know, you're you're there at the splash pad and

all these kids.

Are running around, screaming and having fun and and they're

they're in the water, they're immersed in the water, and

they're they're having the time of their lives. And Theodore

is just like, hmm, I ain't getting that. I'm not

going there. And as soon as I got off the phone,

as soon as I finished those work calls, I ran

over and I picked him up, and I threw him

through the water and got him wet, got his hair wet,

and got him into the water, and after that he

was good. We were there for like two hours and

he just was immersed in the water.

Just like me. It took my influence, It took my.

Direction and leading and guiding in his life to get

him into the place where he was comfortable to walk

in the water, to walk in the splash pad and play.

You know, when I think about the people in our lives.

I think about what Pastor Steve said about how God

said nothing is impossible. Nothing's impossible. Sometimes we need the

reminder from people like Pastor Steve. We need the reminder

from people in our group. We need the people with

who come around us in times of trouble, who can say, listen,

I've been where you've been.

I know what it's like.

I may not be exactly where you're at, but God's

got a plan for your life and he can get

you out.

We need those people who.

Can remind us, just as when we write down our plan,

who can come around and know our plan and vision

and can come around us.

You know that that same night.

As you might have been watching the World Cup, yep,

you might stay up last night nobody and nobody stayed

up at midnight and watched Turkey in Australia.

May I missed out on a good one. I didn't.

I didn't stay up for that either, But uh, I

watched the the the Americans the other night on Friday.

And uh, you know my boys, like I said, they're

four and one, so uh I can get them to

watch some sports. They love football. We're really a football

and golf house.

Uh.

And so I can get him to watch some golf.

I can get them to watch h football, depending on

their mood.

And so soccer they're like what is this? They're like no.

Immediately they're like, no, we're not watching this. Let's watch

Mario for the hundredth time. And I was like, uh, okay.

But as soon as I started cheering and I started

getting up into it, and I was yelling and I

was shouting, and I was going and cheered on the

USA Theodore the one year old, he's going.

USA USA again.

Though it took my influence, that took my my imprint

and my encouragement to say, listen, it's okay to get

into this. It's okay to watch something and and to

be into something you're not maybe used to, you're not

used to seeing, you're not used to partaking in.

And like I said, we're not.

Soccer people typically, we don't typically watch soccer at all.

But the World Cup is special, right, I mean, you

want to get them into it. And so, like I said,

in life, we want to make sure and this is

a mission. A core mission of this church is to

not do life alone. A core mission of Cornerstone is

to do life together so we need people in our

lives that can encourage us and take us to new places.

So as I was.

Thinking this morning about where the Lord wanted me to go,

and if you'll turn me to Colossians two ten, I

told Pastor Steve before we got going, before we came

out here, he was praying for me, and I'm just

so thankful for his influence on my life. But I

was telling him, I said, it's been like six months

since I've preached.

In the pulpit.

So I said, we'll either be out of here in

twenty minutes or we'll be here till the Spanish service starts, so.

We'll see which one it is. Amen.

Colossians two ten says this, and you are complete in

him who is the head of all principality and power.

Let's pray, Lord Jesus, I thank you so much for

this day.

God. I'm so thankful that you are the head.

You are over everything, over every situation. Nothing is impossible

with you.

God.

We are so thankful for you, for your word, for

your people, for this time that we get to come

together and worship you together. God, Open our ears to

hear you, open our hearts to receive you.

In Jesus Mighty name. Everybody said, well, here.

We are in Colostions, and I was thinking about where

I could go and what verse I could use. Pastor

Clay and I and my mom and my dad and

my grandma.

We've been reading through the Bible together over.

This past year, and we just finished Second Chronicles this week.

And as I was reading in Second Chronicles, I was like, man,

I was like time and time again.

You see people, kings and kingdoms.

Who they are influenced by people and by their own

pride that don't take them in the direction they need

to go. You see, time and time again kingdoms crumble

because certain influences on their life. I mean, think about

how quick the turn was from David, a man after

God's on heart, to Solomon, who is the wisest man,

but yet through influences of his wives and concubines, turned

the kingdom against God.

How quickly that.

Can take place when we let the wrong influences into

our life. And here in Colossians, it's not too dissimilar

to those kings in the Old Testament. You know, an

important part in our life is when we're writing down

our plans.

A critical step.

Is knowing who we can and can't share our plans

and dreams with. We have to know who we're going

to share our plans and dreams with. And so here

in Colossians, Paul is writing to this church of Colossie.

It's a church he's never even been to. It's a

church he did not start on his own. It's a

church that was started by a follower of Paul. His

name was a Paphrus, and a Paphris was a man

who came to Paul while he.

Was in prison.

What we consider Colossians and not me, but I'm not

a scholar, but scholars consider Colossians a prison epistle, something

that was written while Paul was in Roman prison and

an acts. It says that he was under house arrest.

It wasn't like certain arrests where he was in chains

and he couldn't get out. The Bible actually says in

Acts that all who came to him for counsel were

able to meet with him. And so a Patras is

one of these men coming to him, and he shares

this good news about Colossie, what's going on, and how

God is moving, and how there's a church and a

community that's springing up in this new region. But he's

also sharing and saying, there's also some issues that have arisen,

some cultural pressures that have arisen in this community that

are causing some some tensions, some division, They're causing some disparity,

and so people aren't really sure how to handle that.

So Paul, I need you to write and encourage them

of the way to go. Paul, I need you to

lend your word, lend your authority, because when you speak,

people will believe it. That's exactly what Paphos is trying

to get out of Paul. And so when he writes,

he's writing to encourage and to extort them, but also

to point them in the direction that God is all

they need, that.

Jesus is all they need.

You see, what had happened in a Colossie was these

other leaders and I'm not even gonna say they were

ill intentioned or they were evil, but they brought in

their cultural preferences at this time in Colossite.

You've got to see, it was in Asia Minor.

So they were grew up in a Roman and Greek mythology.

They grew up in pagan is them and so they

were saying, you know, what Jesus.

Jesus is not really the only way.

There's these He's an angel being of these other angelic beings,

and you can kind of follow Jesus, but he's.

Not really the only way.

There's the other other people involved here that you can

believe in and trust in and and put your faith in.

They're they're causing confusion for these new Christian believers and

sewing division. And likewise, there was people from Jewish traditions

who came in there and they said, uh, you know what, Actually,

you need to follow the Torah. You need to eat

certain things, you need to wear clothes a certain way,

you need to look a certain way. So they're saying, okay, well,

from one side, you're getting you don't.

Really need Jesus. Jesus isn't everything.

And on another side you're saying, well, you're not doing enough,

you need to do more. So it's causing division and confusion,

and so Paul is addressing to encourage them and remember

that you are complete in him. You are complete in Jesus,

who is the head of all principality and power. He's

the head of all principality and power. So Paul is

literally saying in this one verse that you're completing Him.

You don't have to worry about all the torah, you

don't have to worry about eating the right things, looking

the right way, because you're complete in Him. When you

find your completeness in Christ, that's where you find fulfillment

in your life. That's when you can get on the

path that you need to be on in your life

to walk the road, to walk through the circumstances that

might try to take you off the path when you

find your completeness in Christ. But he also says who

is the head of all principality and power? So he's saying, listen,

Jesus is the head. There's no other There's no one

below him. There's no one that comes close to Jesus.

There's no one that tries to overtake him. There's no

one that tries to oversee him.

Jesus is Christ. He's enough. He's writing to encourage these Christians. Listen.

These voices are trying to come in. They're trying to

take you off course, they're trying to move you off

the path that you're on. But remember that I know this,

that you are complete in Him. Who is the head

of all principality and power, and so I love how

Paul is addressing these people, and I think back to

me encouraging my boys.

Just the other day.

You know, it's so easy to influence kids. I mean,

parents can attest to this. It's so easily influence kids

and get them to think a certain way, or believe

a certain way, or talk a certain way.

They're listening to everything we say.

I have to be conscious of the way I respond

to their misbehavior. I have to be conscious of the

way I respond to their good behavior. Theodore he started

this new thing where he likes to fight getting in

his car seat. Anybody got a car seat fighter or

had a car seat fighter growing up. He used to

be fine, he'd get right in, he'd go, he'd go

to sleep. Now it's like it's a wrestle. You're wrestling

him into the car seat. But if I respond to

him in a way that's so negative, it'll affect his

life down the road. It'll hurt his confidence in himself,

it'll affect who he is. Even though I'm like, just

get in the car seat, get in there now. I

lose my patience, I lose my temper.

But I have to make sure.

That I'm gentle and I'm corrective in the right ways

to make sure he knows that.

I love it.

And I'm not putting him in this car seat because

I don't want him to be around me.

I'm getting in the car seat so I can take

him to church.

I'm getting him in this car seat so I can

take him to school, so I can take him to

the doctor. And so I think about with kids, you

have to be so conscious of the way that you

influence them. Because if I were to sit at the

splash pad like we were the other day, and I

just sat there the other day, who knows how long

it would have taken Theodore to get into the water.

It might have taken him longer than if I hadn't

just run over there and put him in the water.

You know, if I had said, no, we're not watching Mario,

y'all just sit down, and I yelled at him, they

wouldn't have enjoyed football. But because I encouraged them and

I was like, listen, I'm in it too, we're gonna

watch it together, we're gonna cheer them on together, they

picked up on what I was influencing them to do.

And so it is with us Christians, with the Church,

we can be so easily influenced a certain way, We

can so be easily influenced in how we we go

down certain paths and certain roads together.

You know, I think about this.

Fact, and I think about the Colossians that not every

single person we come in contact with wants to see

us reach God's vision. So we have to be conscious

of where we are in our life. That's why it's

important we write down our vision, we write down our plan.

We know what God wants for our.

Lives, but that doesn't mean that the person next to

me knows exactly where I'm going. Pastor Clay and I

were talking about this the other day. He works with us,

and I'm so thankful for his help and outside of ministry,

But we were talking the other day about how when

you're driving down the road, just because I know what

I'm gonna do and I'm gonna get in this lane,

that doesn't mean the person next me knows I'm gonna

get in that lane. Doesn't mean if I'm gonna slam

on breaks, the person behind me knows I'm gonna slam

on breaks. You know, you see a wreck every day

you see something going on every day on the roads,

because we don't. We're not mind readers.

We can only see the car in front of us sometimes.

And so it's.

Important that in life we realize that not every single

person we come in contact.

Wants us to see, wants us to see us reach

God's vision for our lives.

And so that doesn't mean they're evil, That doesn't mean

necessarily they're ill. Meaning, just like the Christians here in Colossie,

sometimes it means that.

We have to know.

Exactly, we have to know exactly who God has made

us to be. You know, not all voices take us

off course, not all voices are evil. Sometimes the hardest

voice is to ignore the ones who love us but

lack the vision.

God has given us.

And so I was thinking, and I was praying and

reading through Colostions and reading through what else Paul has

written to other churches, because I think about Paul did

this time and time again. Colossians isn't a one time event.

We have all the epistles that Paul wrote and.

He shared with his.

Brethren and sisters, and churches that he started, and even

the churches he didn't.

Start, and he was sharing encouragements.

He was sharing corrections, and I was thinking about what

makes someone in your life if you need to practically

know who someone you can look to is well, for one,

I think someone who prays for you more than they

give you opinion. Someone who prays for you more than

they give you their opinion.

You know.

I think about someone who prays for you as someone

who points you back to the fact that you're complete

in Christ. And I think about what Pastor Steve said.

He was literally all over my sermon and that's just

how the Holy Spirit works that I love it, and

so but he was encouraging us and letting somebody know

there's somebody in here today that needs to know that

nothing is impossible with God, something that points us back

and says, you know what, I may not have been

in this place before. I may not know exactly where

I'm going, but God, I'm going to trust You. Doesn't

give me the steps, it doesn't give me the exact

roadmap to get back on the track. But it's somebody

encouraging us and giving us the direction we need to

go that that brings us back into the clear completeness

of Christ.

Something else. I feel like.

A person we can go to and and ask for

encouragement and help in time of need. Is someone who

asks questions that help you clarify your vision rather than

questions that highlight your.

Own fears or their own fear. Excuse me, you.

Know so often I find myself this is something I

have to work on in my own life. But when

somebody comes to me and ask for help, I don't

want to give my own two cents and say, you

know what, that doesn't sound right.

Now. Maybe if it sounds crazy and.

They're like, hey, I just put all my life savings

in SpaceX IPO, I might be like, okay, well that

might be crazy, But in reality, I want to be

somebody that asked questions to help clarify the vision rather

than questions that highlight their my own fears. I don't

want to put my fears into somebody else's vision, you know.

I talked to Pastor Steve about what I was going

to be preaching on, and he had said, if he

had been preaching today, so I'm sorry, if you're missing

out on something, maybe he'll preach this again.

But he had mentioned he was.

Going to preach on Joseph and I think about the

life of Joseph, and now he had dreams from God.

It's not like he sat there and asked for dreams

from God. But God gave him dreams. And when he

shared the dreams with his family, they were met with discouragement,

with scornfulness, with betrayal. Eventually, but God's promises finally came true.

God's promises finally came to pass. They didn't ask questions.

They just were like, you know what, well, wait a minute,

hold on, I'm not.

Going to be the head. You're the head, Joseph. That

doesn't sound right.

They didn't ask questions to clarify what he was dreaming.

They asked questions that only clarified their fears, that showed

where they were at in their life.

And then, finally, I think.

A person that we can go to is someone who

has a track record of submitting their own life to

the Lord.

You know, I think about Paul especially.

I think about Paul and how Apaphrus and the Bible

doesn't even say all the people that came and spoke

to him. We don't know all those who came and

seek counsel with Paul. While he was waiting to speak

to Nero, he was en roll in prison, but he

was waiting to speak to Nero. But if remember along

that way, he was shipwrecked, he was snake bit. He'd

been in prison long before there. He had been beaten,

he'd been cast out of towns. Sometimes we need people

in our lives that come alongside us, that say, you

know what, I've not been exactly where you are, but

I've been shipwrecked, I've been snake bit.

I've been in.

Hard situations just like you, and I can want to

pray for you. I want to lead you back because

I've submitted my life to Jesus Christ, because I found

my completeness in him, and he can lead me to

where I need to go.

The band you can come on up this morning.

You know, I was thinking, as I was praying and

getting everything ready with my sermon, I have a story

to share this morning.

To kind of wrap this up. That wraps up what

I feel.

We need to watch out for my sermon. If I

had a sermon title be made full with the question mark.

If you read the Revised Standard version of Colossians two ten,

it says that we are made full in Christ, so

not made complete, but made full. So in Christ we

find the fullness of all we lack.

We find the fullness of what we feel like.

We don't have in certain moments, in certain times in

our life. And I think about my brother, pastor Steve's

shared last week about how graduates we just had graduates

a couple of weeks ago, but graduates, ninety percent of

graduates they want to be rich. Well, I mean nonetheless,

they have dreams of what God wants them to do

in their life. They have an idea of what God

wants them to do in their life. And my brother

is a graduate. He just graduated with his masters from

Georgia Tech. It go Jackets Clint, and so super proud

of him. He got his masters and mechanical engineering. He's, yeah,

I'm proud of them. And he's the type of kid

who he gets mad when he doesn't have a test

to take or a book to read.

So I did not get that gene. But I do.

I enjoy reading. I just don't enjoy the test part.

And you know he's already got He already had a

job lined up before he graduated. He knew exactly he

had a part picked out, and so he just needed

to get like some furniture and the Internet is that

all you need when you grow up, like you're a

first adulting purchases or Internet and furniture somewhat furniture, and so,

you know, he, uh, he's excited as he should be.

I mean, he's twenty three years old starting out his

adult life. And he went and saw a family friend

and he told the family friend, you know, hey, I

got a job. I'm gonna be working in door Cross

and I'm excited. And the family friend kind of asked

the question that really wasn't his business, and he said, well,

how much you're gonna be making? Yeah, as some people do.

People are you know, I'm not saying I'm not nosy. Okay,

I'm not gonna I'm not gonna point the finger. But

my brother, being the honest guy, he was shared exactly

you know, about how much he was going to be making,

and this family friend just dogged him out, was just negative,

just was like, what how could you accept that?

With your degree? What do you thinking? Like what you

should be making? So much more? He was trying to

discourage and so doubt and so.

Division in his own self and what he had chosen

to do on where God had led him to go

his first opportunity out of college. You know, it's not

like he you know, I don't think he wants to

be rich. I'm not going to say he doesn't want

to be rich, my brother, but he's not like, you

know what, I have to be making this much when

I get out of college. He's like, I want the

experience so that I can go on and continue in

my life and maybe go back and teach and go

back and do this. So he's not viewing success through

the lens of how much money he's making. He's not

viewing success through the lens of I've got.

To be this rich by this age.

But this family friend just showed so much descent and division.

And it may not have been ill tempered because this

family friend cares a lot about money, But I hate

to see that in the life and the dreams of people,

especially when they're starting out on their journeys. You know,

we need people to come alongside us and say, wow,

you know what, that's awesome, what a start. That's not

where you're gonna end up. That's not the last place

God's gonna leave you. Wherever we're at in our roadmap

and our walk with Jesus and our plan and our

vision that God's laid out with us. Maybe we're we

feel shipwrecked. Maybe we feel like we're not exactly where

God wants.

Us to be.

Maybe we feel lost and we go back to our

plan and we can't even find out where we're supposed

to be. This morning, I want to pray that God

sends you people to your life that leads you back

to where God wants you to be. They may not

take you all the way, but they've been where you were.

They've been in situations like you've been in. They've been

in doctor's offices, they've been and bankruptcy meetings, they've been.

In jail.

But God can lead you back with a gentle encouragement

of his people. You know, Pastor Steve says this, and

he said this before, but the devil can't be everywhere, right,

He's not all powerful, he's not Jesus, he's not God,

he's not the Holy Spirit. But God, like the devil,

can't be everywhere. Let me say this, just like the

devil can't be everywhere, he can use people and send

people your way that sow that dissent and that doubt

into your mind, into your heart. But just like that,

God is more powerful and he can send his host

of followers, of his Christians, of those people who say

I want to help somebody get there, you know, just

as much as I want to pray that I have

people in my life that point me in the right direction,

I have Pastor Steve's and Pastor Clays in my life.

I want to be somebody for that in someone else's life,

to encourage and to build up, and to take people

that need help in their life and their walk with

Jesus their plan of life. This morning, if you'll stand

with me, I want to pray.

I want to pray for two different types of people

this morning.

One is maybe you've been, maybe you've never been or

had people in your life that you feel encourage you

in the right way.

Maybe you're new.

To the faith, or maybe you're not saved at all.

Maybe you need somebody in your life that can point

you in the right direction. There's people here I was

thinking about this morning, this prayer team that stands up

here every week. Pastor Steve always says this, but he says,

they've been praying for you throughout the week. They don't

know exactly what you've been facing but they're ready to

pray for you. And so this morning I want to

I want to pray for people who need that redirection

in their life. So alterteam, would you'll come down if

there's anybody here that needs prayer this morning that says,

you know what, I need to pray and I need

someone to pray for me because I don't know exactly

what to pray on, how I need to get to

where I need to go.

I want to pray for those people now.

The second people I want to pray for is maybe

someone who needs prayer to audit the people in their lives,

to audit the voices they're hearing, just like the people

at Colossie who were getting the mixed voices they were getting.

The people on from the judaizers, the people who were.

Saying, you know what, you need to follow this certain law,

you need to follow the Torah, you need to wear this,

you need to look like this, and the people on

the left who were saying, you know what, Jesus, he's

just one angel being.

He's not really everything.

Paul came in there and said, you are complete in him.

Sometimes we need to audit those people in our lives

who may not.

Mean ill.

They may not mean evil towards us, but we need

God to say, you know what, those are people that

maybe I don't need to listen to them. That's a

tough thing to hear because it might be family, it

might be the people who love us the most who

need We need to make sure that maybe we don't

listen to them like we used to.

That don't.

And I'm not saying everybody needs to be all encouraging.

You don't just get an encouraging.

Word, and I don't in my life.

I don't need to be encouraged every moment every day

and be lifted up and say, man, you're You're the best,

You're awesome, because sometimes I need correction. But we need

to know where the balance is. It can't be all

negative and it can't be just all positive because we're

not all perfect. So with every head bout and every

eye closed, Lord.

Jesus, this morning, I'm so thankful for who you are,

Lord Jesus. We are complete in you, and you are

the head of all principality and power. No one is

like you, no one is greater than you. Jesus. You are.

Are everything. We find fulfillment in you. But God along

the way. I pray that you will send people into

our lives like Paul, like a Paphras, who say, let

me guide you back, let me hold your hand, let

me pray for you through the midst of whatever you're

going through.

God, I'm so thankful for who you are. Nothing is

impossible with you.

So this morning, as the band leads us, if you

need prayer, this morning, the altars are open.

You know.

I think about something Pastor Clay says, and I love this.

He talks about when he's praying for somebody, he wants

to know exactly what he's praying for, being specific in

your prayers. So this morning, whatever it may be, whatever

you may be facing, bring it.

And be specific. Be specific.

So ban

Lead us