The Plan

This morning. So it's good. I got a message this morning and the title of the message is The Plan.

The Plan. Who's ever had a plan or who's got a plan that just hasn't gone to plan?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, completely, completely. And I wonder if you've ever heard

of the photographer for a large magazine who was assigned to get photos of a massive bushfire.

And he was told to hurry to a nearby airport where a plane would be waiting.

So he did that. He grabbed all his equipment and rushed to this nearby airport.

And when he arrived at the airport, he saw an aeroplane at the end of the runway

warming up and he's rushed to that aeroplane.

He's jumped in with his equipment and he's yelled, let's go, let's go.

And the pilot swung the plane into the wind as they do and he took off and they were soon in the air.

And once they were in the air, the photographer said to the pilot,

now I want you to fly to the north side of the fire and I want you to make three

or four low passes and pass the fire. And the pilot said, why?

And the photographer said, because I'm a photographer and I take photos of fires

and that's what I'm doing today.

And the pilot said, you're a photographer, you take photos. I thought you were the flight instructor.

Whoops. Plans sometimes don't go as they should, do they?

Sometimes plans don't go according to plan.

And an old saying, I don't know if you've heard this saying,

but an old saying says, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

That's how God. And plans are funny things, aren't they?

Most of the time when you make them, we aren't actually the ones who are in

control of whether they will come into being or not. Have you ever noticed that? Yeah.

Sure, we can do our best and try and make our plans happen, but so much of our

world and our lives are actually dictated by things outside of our control. Have you noticed that?

Like, for instance, my plans to write my sermons each week.

You know, what I do is after I finish church on a Sunday, I start to seek God

for the following Sunday.

What am I going to preach? But not next Sunday, because Dorothy is preaching,

and I'm so excited about that.

But yeah, so when I finish at church on a Sunday, I start to seek God.

I've got plans, but I start to seek God as to what I'm going to preach the following Sunday.

And He downloads to me all week. The Holy Spirit fills me up.

And then I get to Sunday, Saturday morning, early Saturday morning, isn't it, Ange?

Normally around 5.30 or so. And I get up and I start putting it all down and

I start preparing my message.

Well, this week, this week, Angela and Georgia decided that they would have

a girl's night away on Friday night and go shopping down in Canberra.

So that's what they did, which was great.

And then Georgia announced to me, you'd be right to look after Ruby,

her dog as well. I'm going, yeah, sure, no problems at all, and the cat.

Can I tell you, when Angela's not at home, when Angela's not in bed,

night times with our cat is terrible, is terrible.

But anyway, so my plan to write my sermon on a Saturday morning,

yesterday morning, starting at about 5, 5.30, didn't go to plan.

Both dogs woke up at the same time. Both dogs had to go outside.

Both dogs had to be fed. The cat then woke up and meowed and meowed and meowed.

And here I am trying to get in the zone to write this sermon.

But anyway, so plans sometimes, I got there. You'll hear I got there.

And, you know, plans can sometimes change.

We encounter things in life that sometimes aren't supposed to happen.

Have you noticed that? Yeah.

Things that weren't part of your plan. Just when you think you've got life figured

out, something's thrown into the equation to throw your plans into chaos.

And whether it's a consequence of something you have done or we've done or simply

consequences that are out of our control, suddenly plans can change.

And sometimes our plans can totally disappear.

But there's a promise. There's a promise in relation to plans.

It's a single promise, and it's an awesome promise.

In God's word, there's a single promise that can meet every surprise or sudden

change of plans head on, head on, and given enough time, it will resolve every problem.

Isn't it good that we've got a promise that can do that?

And it's an ironclad promise as well. It's an unfailing, all-encompassing,

God-given guarantee that every single circumstance in our life will sooner or

later turn out well for God's people.

Now, how many think that a plan like that is worth exploring?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely it is. It's a plan that's worth exploring because I'm

here to tell you, buried in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah,

a book which is probably hardly ever read,

is this reassuring verse.

And it's Jeremiah 29 and verse 11. Who knows that passage?

It's definitely a favorite, isn't it? It says, 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 a hope and a future.

The amplified version takes it one little step further, which I love because

it says this, I know the plans and thoughts, plans and thoughts that I have for you, says the Lord,

plans for peace and wellbeing and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope.

The amplified version takes it one step further.

God has a plan for us, which is awesome. But in addition, God has thoughts about us.

God thinks about us. How good is that, that God thinks about us?

Wow. This is one of those verses, Jeremiah 29, 11,

that makes it quite regularly onto encouragement cards that we might write and

give to people, or even gets the highly honored name of my favorite verse, doesn't it?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely it does. Like a precious jewel, this verse,

is a promise that has a multifaceted, reflecting the many colors of God's grace and his sovereignty.

It's a gem, this verse. It's a gem.

Now, God has plans for us. How good is that?

Notice that the emphasis in the beginning of this verse is, for I know the plans I have for you.

I know the plans that I have for you. Our plans and God's plans are sometimes

very two different things, aren't they?

Have you noticed that? The Bible's full of stories of people who experienced

a change of plans in their life.

After the glorious exodus from Egypt, the Israelites were supposed to walk into

the promised land, weren't they?

The home longed for. But after 39 years of wandering in the wilderness.

It was clear that things probably weren't going quite to their plan, wasn't it?

Or Mary and Joseph. Mary and Joseph were supposed to get married and start a

family and lead normal lives, weren't they?

But after an angel showed up with a mission from above, their plans changed

somewhat, didn't they? So plans change.

Lazarus. Think of Lazarus. He was supposed to be healed.

After all, he was a good friend of Jesus Christ.

He was a good friend. He was a close personal friend, but after his sickness

took a turn for the worse, suddenly his family realized, well,

those plans have changed too, haven't they?

Like them, we all have things that didn't work out the way that they were supposed to work out.

Often the reason life doesn't go to according to a plan is that quite often

God has other plans. and the Bible actually says that his plans supersede our plans.

In the New Testament, James knows all too well about this.

James knows that, and he writes to the Christians scattered across the Roman

Empire, and he says this in James 4, 13 to 16, he says, listen,

those of you who are boasting,

today or tomorrow, we'll go to another city and spend some time and go into

business and make heaps of profit, but you don't have a clue what tomorrow will bring.

For your fleeting life is but a warm breath of air that is visible in the cold

only for a moment, and then it vanishes.

Instead, you should say, our tomorrows are in the Lord's hands,

and if he's willing, we will live life to its fullest and do this or do that.

But here you are boasting in your ignorance for to be presumptuous about what

you'll do tomorrow is evil.

Plans can be good though plans can be

good but when our whole life is shaped

around our plans suddenly we can become so focused on our plans and accomplishing

them that we often lose sight of god too often our lives are dedicated to serving

our own agendas but as christians as Christians,

we're called to accomplish God's goals. Okay.

When we live our lives trying to achieve expectations that we have determined,

we put our plans over God's and our plans actually become idols to us.

Sometimes when we pray, sometimes when we pray, we expect God to say,

well, Tim, I actually never thought of it that way.

I never thought of it like that. We actually think we're going to come up with

a plan that impresses God.

We're not. We're not going to. We actually think that we can come up with a

good idea that God will go, wow, I didn't think about that one.

And the thing about our plans is this, our plans can always change,

and they do, but God's never do.

God's plans never change.

The Bible says, here we go, this is what I was talking about before.

The Bible says in Proverbs 19 and verse 21, you can make many plans,

but the Lord's purpose will prevail.

Okay, we've just got to be aware of that. The

best thing we can do when looking into the future Or when life doesn't go according

to plan Is to let God be God Let God be God Align your life with His plan Instead

of trying to fit God into our plans We need to fit into His plans.

Surrendering our plans to God Aren't necessarily easy either It means learning

to let go And accept that I'm not the one in charge I'm not in control.

And sure, we can all make plans about our future, but unless we seek God's will

first and align our plans with his plans, more than likely our plans won't go according to plan.

Too many plans in that sentence.

So this promise is about God's plan and not ours.

So when God says, for I know the plans I have for you, not our plans, God's plans.

We've got to be aware of that. Furthermore, this promise is actually about God's people as well, okay?

Equally important as who forms the plan is who the plan is for.

Notice the promise again, God says in Jeremiah 29, 11, For I know the plans

I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God says, I have plans for you.

The question is, who is the you in this passage?

Who is the you? The answer is God's people.

God's people. God has plans for his people.

In context, let's have a look at the context of this scripture,

because it's very interesting in Jeremiah 29.

In context, these powerful words are part of a letter from the prophet Jeremiah

to the Jews who had been exiled to Babylon, okay?

You think, oh, those poor people, they were exiled to Babylon.

Have a listen to this in context, okay?

Their beloved city, Jerusalem, had been destroyed and the people had been carted away from their land.

Things could not have got much worse for them.

Unfortunately, though, these were the consequences for their own sinful and selfish choices.

It was their fault. It was their fault.

God's people, the kingdom of Judah, had disowned him. They disowned him. Have a listen to this.

They'd sacrificed their own children in the fire to another God,

which seems like the most abhorrent sin I could ever think of.

So I totally agree with God's plan to clear the promised land of these despicable

people who called themselves by his name but lived like pagans.

They were immoral. They were unjust.

They disobeyed God's words. They killed his prophets.

They thought they could get away with their sinful lifestyles without consequences.

Finally, after putting up with this atrocious behavior for many years,

God's ready to bring the hammer down.

He allows the city to be conquered and its citizens to be captive.

You think, well, what is this verse all about that we're reading then?

If they were so sinful, what's this promise all about? What's this plan all about?

The thing is, though, God still had a plan for them.

God still had a plan for them. Why? Because they were his people.

Okay? And guess what?

The same is true for all of us.

All of us, no matter where we've been, no matter what we've done,

no matter what decisions we've made, no matter how many times we've turned our

back on our God, his plan is for us.

His plan is still for us.

Maybe you're in a mess of your own making. Who's been there?

Maybe you've made a series of stupid and selfish choices, and now you're stuck

living with the consequences of your stupid choices.

Or maybe it wasn't your own doing at all. Maybe your whole world fell apart

through no fault of your own.

But in either case, in either case, in the context of this passage, it teaches us anything.

It teaches us anything. It's this, when things seem to be at their very worst.

They could never, ever be. That's the exact moment when God says,

I have a plan for you. I have a plan for you.

And it's not just God's people on a whole that God has a plan for either.

It's each person individually.

Looking at the individuals now, God has a plan for you.

In Psalm 139, David recounts the fact that God created him on purpose God had

a plan for him It says in Psalm 139,

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 What does that mean?

It means, first of all, you're not an accident You are not an accident.

You're not a fluke of nature or a byproduct of an astronomical random chance

in this universe, the Big Bang. You're not a byproduct of that.

Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind

of God, and he had plans for you.

God never does anything accidentally.

And he never makes mistakes. He has a reason for everything he creates.

Every plant and every animal was planned by God.

And every person was designed with a purpose in mind, with a plan in mind.

You were made by God and for God. And until you understand that,

your life probably won't make much sense. Okay?

It also means regardless of what you've got written on your calendar,

God has an appointment book with

your name in it or on it, a schedule he intends for you to keep. Okay.

God put you on the earth, on this earth to accomplish certain things as part of his plan for you.

Even when the world seems to be falling apart all around you,

or you make a mess of everything, God has a unique plan for your life.

And the best part is, it's a really good plan. It's a really good plan.

There are certain key words within the promise that highlight God's endgame,

the purpose behind the plan.

Let's have a read again in Jeremiah 29, 11, for it says, I know the plans I

have for you, declares the Lord.

Plans to prosper you and not harm you Plans to give you a hope And plans to

give you a future You know what God's doing?

He's plotting for our good He's plotting for our good.

He's ordaining the best for our future. That's what God's doing with his plans for us.

Every event of our day is designed to draw us closer to God and our destiny.

Remember that these words were spoken to a displaced, defeated,

depressed group of exiles.

They had hung their harps, it says in the word of God, on the willow trees,

and they'd lost their song.

But with the Lord, things are never hopeless.

Things are never hopeless. God has a plan for the Israelites to return to Jerusalem.

He has that plan. Rebuild their homes.

Renew their covenant with God. In the meantime, they just need to hang in there

and cling to God's promise in their life and God's purpose and plan for their life.

Now, my kids, Josh and Georgia and Sam, they learnt a little something about

that sort of thing, clinging on to the promise when we were on holidays, okay?

Angela and I love road trips. We love just getting in the car and driving.

And hours, if not days of driving with our kids in the back,

asking that age-old question, are we there yet?

Are we there yet? Angela and I would joke with them and I'd do things like coming

up to a roundabout and just driving around and around until they started to cheer up a little bit.

Angela would do things like grabbing a bottle of water and just literally squirting

it on them and just getting them to cheer up a little bit.

What's that? Get up. Strewned in.

We would try and tell them, we would try and tell them, it's all worth it,

okay, these hours and days of driving, it's a harrowing drive,

yes, but the moment we reach the destination, places like Cradle Mountain in Tasmania,

or Nelson Bay, or even places like Yippoon in Queensland,

yeah, that was way too far.

Even Tim was saying, are we there yet? Are we there yet?

But when we arrived at our destination, like when we sighted Cradle Mountain,

we'd see the kids' faces light up. Our faces would light up.

Angela and I would ask the kids, now, was that worth the trip?

And more than often they would say, it was so worth it for the final destination

to see what we were wanting to go and see.

Do you get what I'm getting at here? The destination is worth the trip.

It really is. Someday you'll say the same thing.

Someday you will say the same thing that the trip is worth it.

And in the meantime, we have to remember that the journey is worth the destination

or the destination is worth the journey.

The New Testament reiterates the promise saying, and we know that God causes

everything. I think this is Romans 8, 28.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those

who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

You're in the hands of a loving God who has a plan for you.

Your life is a life crafted.

It's a crafted narrative written by a good God. by a good God,

working toward your supreme good.

God is not making up the plans as he goes along either.

You know how we do that? Yeah, yeah. He's not making up the plans as he goes,

nor did he wind up the clock and walk away, okay?

God's purpose and God's plan and his promise is to work out the events of human

history and your life in particular for good, for good,

to give you a hope and a future and an eternity with Jesus.

So Josh, come on up for me.

So let's face it. Okay. Let's face it. Bad things happen.

Bad things happen with unpredictable frequency and varying levels of intensity.

Don't they? Bad things happen. Yep.

Some are mere inconveniences, while other things are life-shattering disasters.

Okay. But no matter what happens, we can always cling to the promises of Jeremiah

29, 11, and trust in God's plans and God's purpose for who?

For us. For us.

Now, I don't know if you've ever read the next couple of verses after Jeremiah 29, 11. Okay?

Have a listen to this. Have a listen to this.

I can't put it up there because Josh has gone away. Actually,

can you duck over there for me, Georgia?

It's Jeremiah 29, verses 12 and 13.

Jeremiah 29:12

It says these, two very short but succinct and wonderful verses.

It says, in those days, when you pray, I will listen.

If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

Did you get that? So Jeremiah 29, 11 is a favorite verse.

We should tack onto it, verses 12 and 13 as well, shouldn't we?

Let me read it again. In those days when you pray, I will listen, says God.

If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

Ultimately, God's plan for our lives is that we would seek him.

Okay, that's our plan. That's his plan for us. And so I realised that God does have a plan for my life.

And that alone gives me great hope. And it should give us all great hope.

But when the plan seems difficult, I'm reminded that His plan for me always

revolves around my relationship with Him.

It's all about our relationship with God.

Whatever's going on in my life, His ultimate plan is that I would seek Him with all my heart.

And that's my advice for you this morning.

Come on, let's stand. We're going to pray. And then I've got an invitation for you.

Had a few invitations lately, but here's another one, okay? So Lord,

we thank You for Your plan for our life.

Lord, we declare the words of Jeremiah 29, 11 over our lives again.

For I know the plans I have for you. I have for you, my people, says the Lord God.

Plans to prosper you.

Plans to prosper you and not harm you.

Plans to give you a future and a hope. We declare those promises over our lives this morning, Lord.

We declare them and we stand by them. We proclaim them, Lord God.

We proclaim your plan for our life, Lord, and we surrender to your plan for our life.

Lord, we've all got plans that we wanna fulfill, but Lord, your plans take precedence

over that. And Lord, we declare that in Jesus' name this morning.

We thank you, Lord, that you love us so much and that you've loved us right

from the beginning of time.

And you've had those plans for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us,

plans to give us a good future and a hope.

Lord, we receive those promises this morning. We declare those promises this morning.

We cry out those promises this morning. And we cry them out until we start to

believe them and we start to understand them and we start to receive them, Lord.

Lord, help us not to stand in the way of your plan for our life this morning.

In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Now, like I said, I have an invitation for you this morning, okay?

When life doesn't go according to His plan or to plan, and even when it does,

seek God with all your heart and trust His plan for your life. That's my invitation.

If I can help you with that, then I would love for you to come and speak to

me and I will pray with you and I will encourage you.

You can talk to me after church if you want to. You can give me a call and talk

to me anytime or you can come forward as we finish this service and let me pray for you.

The promises, the plans that God has for us are good.

They are good and they are to prosper us. And I want to do all I can to lead

you into that promise and that plan of God.

Hallelujah. Amen. We're going to finish the service now.

We're going to have some morning tea together. We're going to share in each

other's incredible company.

And we're going to talk about God's plans for our life. Good plans for our life. Amen.

So let's go and have morning tea. But if you want a prayer, you come and see

me right now. Angela will hang around.

Brad and Caroline might even hang around if they don't want prayer themselves.

And let us pray for you and support you and love you. Amen? Amen.

Bless you guys. Have a great week. Amen.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.