20190601 | The Plan | Pastor John Lomacang (tvsdac)

our scripture reading it's found in the Book of Jeremiah I'm going to read it from the NIV because for today's sermon I like the way it projects it best the plan the Lord says through the Prophet Jeremiah 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 plans plans plans God's got plans loving father in heaven I ask that you guide my mind now as I am your instrument I pray that you use my mind and my lips and my heart to encourage us that we need not live a life of anxiety and wandering and wandering and fear and in trepidation but simply that if we commit our lives to you you will guide us and navigate us to the fulfillment of your divine plan for each one of us in Jesus name I pray amen have you ever wondered how things work out the way they do and when you look at the dots backward you could see it clearly but going forward it seems to be something that is hard to understand hard to figure out because you don't know where it's headed you really know what God is up to you God doesn't tell you but he works out in his divine laboratory the secret desires that he's always known and he's always had for our lives have you ever wondered how you ended up were your life is and when you begin to see the blessings all around you you have to come to the conclusion that it was not by coincidence but by a divine plan that your life unfolded the way it did you know today this week is the celebration of the first anniversary of ron and donna burg Ron and Donna why don't you stand very quickly I didn't intend to put this in my sermon notes but this illustrates the plan very wonderfully Ron and Donna can be given my hearty amen Ron and Donna would not be married today if my wife and I did not go to Israel in 2017 so many things happen in Ron's life he would not have gone either if he had not had a car accident earlier so many things happen in his life and so many things happen in our lives for us to converge in our trip in the Bible lands in the Middle East when we got there for whatever reason out of all the people that had gone to this holy land tour the Lord calibrated our eyes and our hearts towards Ron do a lot of people there various ages but for whatever reason we now know when we look back at the dots that God had a plan for Ron and God had a plan for Donna prior to that plan coming into fruition Donna revealed earlier to us this week that JD Quinn had sat her down and said you ought to consider getting married again because she had closed her heart the even thinking about marriage again and God was working out his plan in clever divine ways so when Donna's heart was open God said now I can put my plan into place that I've always had for Donna and Ron's life Ron's wife was deceased Donna's husband was deceased and pretty much they had kind of that's it but God had another plan you ever wonder how you end up where you are how do whales they talk about the blue whales how from seeds into season they could navigate in the ocean upwards of 5,000 miles from one ocean to the next during various seasons of the year they go to their food chains and I always wonder is there a stop sign in the ocean that says stop turn left go 2,000 miles turn right but God placed within these massive sea creatures a global positioning system that he knew at different times of the year where it would be best for them to be for their lives to be sustained have you ever wondered when the season is changing here in southern Illinois and in the United States and the weather is getting colder and you look up and you see flocks of birds and you ask yourself the question which one of those birds may the suggestion that all the other birds decided to follow and the answer is really no one but God built into their minds certain times of his divine clock they said it's time to go and nobody asked the question where we're going to go but these little small creatures that seem so frail and fragile some of the geese they line up in a formation and we see them targeting that we see them pressing toward the mark for the prize of their upward call of God because God built within them a global positioning system knowing their time their distance the time of the year every obstacle they would face and the cycles continue from season to season salmon choose when to swim upstream no they don't God chooses when the salmon swims upstream and the Bears remember that because that's how they get the best salmon when the salmon decide to swim upstream everything in nature everything in our world when a plane takes off from st. Louis it doesn't coincidentally find its way to Los Angeles it's followed by a global positioning system and we traverse the oceans for 14 hours when we look out we see no mile mark kurz but the plane knows where it's headed because the global positioning system as some people might say the nav star for pilots is effectively working to guide that single vessel at different altitudes thousands of planes occupying the same space not running into each other praise God for that but they know where they're going before they take off and I had to ask myself the question on the plane this week when my wife and I were coming back from Florida we were there for her brother's daughter's graduation and we thought about that our lives are a part of a divine plan God knew before we were born and I want to say that before we were born God knew where we would be in 2019 now that's not predestination that's a plan predestination means you have no choice but the plan always gives you a choice let's talk about the global positioning system for a brief moment since every one of us lives by one I have a GPS on my phone right here for those of you that are into watches there's a GPS on your watch we know that we live in a society nowadays that it's too late for you to figure out because Big Brother knows where we are everybody there coordinates where we are moving where we have been it's all being tracked now think about it if man knows where they are headed when they take off in their airplanes if a whale knows where he's headed or a bird knows where he is headed and the salmon know where they're headed if ships can navigate the grand oceans before us and know where it's headed do you by any means think that your life is a haphazard life of comic Kazi guessing and you coincidentally end up where you are and the blessings somehow fall in your lap I would hate to say with with all the passion I have we are not an accident we are part of a divine plan but so many of us want to understand where our lives are headed before it even comes to play I did some research you know I always have to have some homework for those of you who are you like stories and status statistics and you like information to find out how we got to where we are today consider for a brief moment the evolution of the GPS because nowadays it's difficult to imagine where our lives would be without a GPS we'd go back to that gigantic rand mcnally map like many of us have in the past and say to our wives who have no clue about those symbols come on oh man wives have no clue about what what what color is a symbol it's a little green triangle next to a silver cross right by a pink line and the husband knows exactly what that means but the wife is clueless when my wife and I began our journey years ago from Orlando Florida to Northern California I photocopied 13 pages of the rand mcnally atlas or the map come on remember those days GPS wasn't even a phrase wasn't even an acronym and every time I'd say and I highlighted with yellow and every time we finished that page we throw it in the backseat next page and we had 13 pages in our entire journey from Orlando to Northern California when we were going to California now you know if we'd never we had never been there but you know how we knew it was there because it was on the map we knew it was there and all we did was followed what the map told us to follow we didn't argue with the map because somehow we knew the map was smarter than we were we didn't argue with where the map told us what road to connect to we had no idea had never been on highway 10 before had never been on highway 75 going north had never been on highway 5 from Southern California to Northern California knew it was there because the map said it was there you see I kind of want to spank you a little bit this morning to say some of you are worrying about nothing for no reason we're worrying about something that God already knows about that we don't have to worry about if we simply follow the map and not argue with it but I looked at some information to find out how we got to where we are today if you've been around long enough you'll appreciate this because I was raised in a generation where there was no GPS and until I learned how to use a map it was called I think it's around here somewhere when we lived in Northern California we'd say to people where do you live and they said now you go about a mile and a half look at your odometer and you get to a brown tree with an orange marker on it and look at the bottom if it has an orange mark and a white line you make it right there and just go about just count it about a quarter of a mile by these a mile and you'll see a barn not a red one but a blue one that's how we used to live you young people ought to have pity on us that's how we used to live am i right oh people say Amen I mean that's how that's the generation we came out of we just kind of got there and then we'd we and then when we got lost we didn't have a cellphone to pick up we kind of said now where's the nearest phone booth and there was nothing to tell us how far the phone booth was and a man JD then no phone booth signs the nearest phone mile 1/2 mile 1/4 mile and they no-foam we just said we weren't like we were like we did not know we just did not know but you know what God knew and some of us got to the point where it was just a frustrating thing to leave home but nowadays we have no idea how much we rely on GPS 'as we put that phone on put on the dashboard and turn left turn right and we appreciate that but the GPS was not always available in 1973 the United States launched the GPS project because they were tired of the limitations of the previous navigational systems and primarily at this particular point it was a navigation of systems for planes because during the war they wanted better navigational systems the concept for its invention involved information from older technology including what they call classified engineering secrets from studies as far back as 1960 so they were developing methods and means when they had World War one in World War two there were no GPS there was no kind of they didn't know they had the most antiquated radar and they didn't see things with identify did a blip and unless they knew that they had planes coming from that direction that's why the Japanese snuck up on Pearl Harbor that way if they had the technology nowadays uh-uh they would have seen them long time ago the US State Department initially developed a system that had 24 satellites it was initially developed for the military and then it became fully operational by the year 1995 that was not that long ago but for some of you teenagers that seemed like a lifetime the Cold War scientist by the name of Roger Easton he was the brain behind the concept you should look that up on the Internet very very amazing stories but he was not the only one another man by the name of Ivan getting he was credited with the concept quote of using advanced systems of satellites to track fast-moving objects and the reason for that was they wanted to track missiles if a missile was launched they wanted to know where was coming from so we could have some countermeasures in place that's one of the main reasons why they worked hard GPS any fast-moving objects in the skies and then they thought to themselves well if we could track objects in the skies why can't we track objects on the ground they began developing that later airforce Colonel Bradford Parkinson was at the forefront of the nav star system that's what many airplanes use even still to this very day they have the nav star in place but they are guided by many many satellites for those of us who are into technology like I'm a drone I like to fly drones it might amaze you but when I take off when my drone takes off for those of you who know what a drone is it's tracked by 21 satellites it's locked into a global positioning system so when I when that drone takes off the ground it could sit right there because 21 satellites locked into its position and is holding it right there at that coordinate longitudinal latitudinal altitude it locks right and it could sit there and not even move and there's so advanced nowadays I could say to my drone out take off from my house fly to fly to the school fly to the Academy fly to the church and fly back and it will remember that route so two days later if I want to match that route at a different time of day to get different color video I'll say do the same flight you did four days ago and I said go and it will follow the same exact trajectory longitude early latitude early and altitude without me telling it to do it that's how accurate GPS nowadays is but back then it was just an idea these three Caucasian men Eastern getting in parkinson worked their best and and Bradford Parkinson's the Air Force colonel is known as the father of the GPS but there was one more piece to the puzzle that was yet missing that a lady by the name of dr. Gladys West an African American lady she's recognized as one of the key figures behind the invention of the GPS there was something that they were all missing they needed to understand the mathematics that goes into it and GLaDOS dr. GLaDOS West was recently in 2018 inducted into the Air Force space and Museum Pioneer Hall of Fame because she was the one that crunched the numbers to make the GPS make sense three men one lady today the GPS system is now operated by 32 satellites we act like it it was always there but it was not always there pride of the GPS we relied on maps trial and error or we just got lost but today we'll discover before the invention of the GPS the one sure way that husbands knew they were going in the wrong direction was their wife said it honey you heard that phrase honey honey ask for directions and the husband reply was I'm not lost today today today I want to tell you we serve a God that knows our beginnings knows our journey and has the most magnificent destination plan for every one of us can you say amen to that but let me bring the caution in we're gonna begin to unfold in the Bible how this beautiful plan and and it brought my wife and I such calmness when we sat and talked about this on the plane and we got off the plane and we looked at each other and we said you know we rewind the videotape and I realize she had to be the woman of my life because there's no reason I would have gone to Orlando Florida where I met my aunt who was the key to me finding my mother who abandoned me when I was three months old if I hadn't married her Angele I would never have any reason to go to Orlando Florida where I got involved in a Talent Search where my name was mentioned on the radio where my aunt who I never knew heard it who was the sister of my mother who abandoned me when I was three months old coincidence no a plan but let's rewind let's go even further back she would never have been in America if her father hadn't died because he said as long as I'm alive we'll never go to America so he died when she was three years old thus breaking the restraint to come to America and where do they go to the very church where I was as a little boy all those years I never even knew she was there until at the tender age of about 15 I noticed this young lady and the rest is history coincidence no you see God's plans no no haste and no delay and sometimes I believe that God sits up in space and I'm gonna illustrate this in a non I don't want to be sacrilegious at all but I cannot help but to think that somewhere in heaven as God is sitting on his throne that this got to be some days where he says they got it they got it they got it come on help me out they finally got it how long did it take him 10 years ago I try to do the same thing but you chose your plan instead of mine I I believe that's why the Bible says there is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repenteth then over 90 and 9 that don't need any repentance because God has been working for a long time on that one sinner and they finally get to the place where they give in and they think that somehow it was because of the fly that came in the mail a week ago God is amazing isn't he Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse 19 let's look at how God takes this planet unfolds it so beautifully he knows he calculates our distance our time our roads our turns and the conditions that lay before us and like the whale and the bird and the ships and the planes that all know where they are going it would do us well today young folk let me talk to the young highly intellectual young people it will do you well to lay down your burdens and put your life in the hand of the God who knows your end from your beginning look what he says to us God is so amazing Deuteronomy 30 and verse 19 look at that look at that he prompts us he knows our distance our time our roads he knew he knew that I would be abandoned but that was his plan I could not be raised with the parents that I had my dad was a jazz musician what might what would my life have been if I was raised by a jazz musician that slept during the day and live for the night what would I have been if I was raised by a mother who was an alcoholic and smoked two to three packs of cigarettes a day and lived in the Virgin Islands where everybody were were living their own life life they still are today what would my life have been God looked down and said no not for him but in order for that to happen he had to pluck me out of my own circumstances and what began as an apparent tragedy was the introduction into a divine plan look at Deuteronomy 30 verse 19 the Lord prompts us to choose his Road notice what he says I called heaven and earth as witness today against you that I have set before you together life and death what else blessings and cursings therefore what choose life that both you and your descendants may what live when we make the choice for life and that's a tough one for many of us because for so many of us we have these ideals in our minds about what we want our lives to be and we don't submit our plans to God in many of those cases we have an outline in our minds as to what we want our lives to be but I want you to pay attention today as we begin to see that where you are headed is only going to be a disappointment if you decide to invoke your plan above God's plan how many roads are there before us how many roads there - life and death blessings and what else cursings wake up our young folks don't let them sleep in church today they got to hear this message anybody sleeping nudge him wake him up right now because that's the devil's plan for you to sleep through the message you're going to wake up and run all over the world as soon as the sermon is done but the devil's plan is for you to sleep and miss it so since I'm up here wake up God gives us the freedom to choose does he not but he says choose life he doesn't just say pick one he says together choose what choose life and how many experiences failures disappointments could have been avoided if we had only listened to the prompting of God that's why today we've got to learn that we don't have to live a life of anxiety that there is no plan better than God's plan and today we have to begin to get back into the journey of trusting our lives to a God that knows everything about us and you know what I want to calibrate your mind even tighter because God knew about your life listen to this God knew about your life and what his plans were before you were even born Psalm 139 verse 16 look at that someone 39 verse 16 open your Bibles turn there someone 39 verse 16 before we were even born God had a plan that's why you know that this whole ideology of the fact that and there's so much political meanderings in the in the Congress now over the issue of abortion I tell you I don't support abortion on any level but I do also at the same time believe that each person has to make a decision for themselves but I want to tell you this when my mom was pregnant she was not married and I thank God today that my mom did not choose abortion you know why can I ask you why do I need to ask you why oh man I'm pregnant and I'm not married and I'm only 19 what am I gonna do with this child my mother thought that there was something wrong with her stomach she thought she had some kind of growth it was me so she went to a doctor for exploratory surgery this is long before the all that other stuff you know the whatever they call that stuff the ultrasound so he went in a neat little she told me the story he took him he did a neat little incision and open him close the back and said ma'am there's nothing wrong with your stomach you're pregnant close it up and that little young girl 19 years old this young lady in New York City had to decide what do I do with this thing this in my stomach this little baby what do I do with him and I was in there saying mom please do not get rid of me I have a sermon set for June 1 2019 we laugh about it but that's the reality the plan what may have had how a baby was conceived may have been outside of God's plan but that it was conceived is not a coincidence look at this powerful passage Psalm 139 verse 16 the reality is God before we were born God had plans this is powerful he says through the Prophet David through the Apostle or the patriarch David he said your eyes this is what David is saying your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed and in your book they all were written the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them before a single one of them happened God had it written in his book III pause sometimes young folk or anybody I pause sometimes and I could see God gone okay page hold on Gabriel page page twenty-seven thousand four hundred and sixty-six in John's plan where is he oh he's still on page twenty seven thousand four hundred sixty-five he's not on that next page but he's moving there it's kind of hesitant but he'll get there and I look at my life sometimes as God saying okay we need some extra angels today cuz John is about to do something that is not in my plan so would you go down there and make his car break down just stop it so man would somebody go down there tonight John is gonna go to a party in Long Island and he's going to get drunk and he's gonna almost get run over could you make sure he doesn't get hit so now I can tell you the story that that Friday night when I was in New York City on a university campus partying and my two friend my other friend both of us members in the seventh-day Adventist Church live in a double life when I was walking across the Long Island Expressway all I heard was the car horn hey and it just brushed my coattail God said that was close that would have ended my plan for his life when I was held up at gunpoint not on one occasion but on two occasions when I was in a gang fight in New York over something as simple as a bankbook a pair of sunglasses in my money when I was when I when I took my German Shepherd dog and the heavy end of the butt of a pool stick to go out and find these guys that just ripped me off God never let me find them because he said your heart right now will mess up my plan when my bicycle was stolen and I had friends that were in the Mafia and I told him about it and they set a trap to find the guys and they did find him that stole our bikes and we went back a second time since we know they're where they were living they didn't show up the second time why because it would have messed up the plan I could tell you I escaped sword and bullet and gun and jail time because God had a plan that he would not allow any of my foolish decisions and he said I had them written in my book before any of them came to being you see every aspect of God's will for your life is already planned 3abn who's not Danny's dream it was God's dream for Danny it was not Danny's dream for God Danny didn't say God we need 3abn God said to Danny we need 3bn why don't you do it and I'll be with you come on say men somebody look at this dream no by no means can you ever come to the conclusion that this monstrosity of a ministry is a coincidence or the birth child of a man that's highly clever but I would say it is the birth child of a God who makes no mistakes and chooses a man that will trust him enough to make it a reality being a pastor was never my plan while I'm while I'm playing pool on the pool table do you think I'm thinking about a pastor when I'm disc jockey on the 44th floor in the World Trade Center do you think I'm thinking about a pastor when the thought came to my mind it frightened me to death in the heritage singers they put on the back of the album Pastore spiritual leader what my plant me But Here I am 32 years later it was not a coincidence nothing happens outside of God's plan Jeremiah 1 verse 5 look at God's plan I'm trying to give you the opportunity to evaporate your your worries and your fears it's not a coincidence and you know what let me add this to as we go to Jeremiah 1 of verse 5 you don't have to worry about what's gonna happen because you couldn't do anything about it anyway am i right doughnut it's the car if it's a house if it's your plan of your bank account your education your future don't worry about it anyway look what God said to Jeremiah Jeremiah 1 verse 5 before I formed you b4 what's that word before I formed you in the womb I knew you before you were born I sanctified you I ordained you a prophet to the nation's amen somebody when did that happen when what's the word before before nobody is here because we got here by coincidence nothing that happens happens coincidentally when you are trying to figure out your life you may end up someplace coincidentally when you orchestrate it by yourself but when your life is in God's hands none of the blessings are a result of your planning it's always a result of God's divine guidance think about Joseph for an example let's use him as an illustration Joseph the young man who had a coat of many colors Shelly he loved his coat of many colors he did have a problem he bragged about it too much and his brothers hated him and they could not wait to get rid of blabbermouth so they took blabbermouth out to the wilderness threw him in a pit sold him his brothers ended up giving him to a band of Raiders traveling through if I remember well the Midianites and they he ended up in Egypt and God allowed it I want to say this God allowed it you see what God allows sometimes in our lives what God allows we might even say us to ourselves God why would you allow that to happen this story will tell you why so by his brothers but remember this sometimes God allows a lesser evil to prevent a greater evil did you hear that so the little things that we face that may be great to us in the eyes of God it's not as great because when you rewind the video tape the Lord could say to Joseph you know if it wasn't for me you'd be dead already so I allowed you to go through all that you did and you see that in just a moment Joseph was hated by his brothers they threw him into a pit they've sold him into slavery he was in prison after being falsely accused by part of his wives he was left in jail on the butcher and the Baker forgot him but then he was exonerated by God exalted to governor in Egypt in Genesis 15 verse 20 tells us about that man's journey look what the Bible says when God is in your when you are in God's plan look at what the Bible says Genesis 50 and verse 20 but as for you you meant evil against me but God come on but God meant it for what for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive what they did not know is that many years after the betrayal of Joseph years down the road God saw a famine coming that his family wasn't prepared for so God said I got to get your brother in Egypt to be in charge of something so that when the time comes and you have no provision of yourself your brother is already there making provision for the family when they get there and sometimes we've sometimes we've got to go through hardship so that our family does not but when you're in God's plan you don't have to worry about it here's the reason why Psalm 37 verse 23 how do tragedies work out for us the way they do Psalm 37 verse 23 look at what the Bible says look what the Bible says thank you Lord for your plan he says the steps of a what kind of man a good man are ordered by the Lord why and he that's God delights in his way when you are following when you are following God's guidance when you are following God's guidance over the obstacles of life and through the valleys of life through the rain of life through the tragedies of life when you're following God's plan God is looking at you and he says I delight in his way you know why because the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord the what friends steps one at a time one at a time not two not the drive not the flight and that's why you have to discover that that no matter how bad it looks now you've got to come to the conclusion that's why Psalm 23 to me is the encapsulation of God's plan the 23rd Psalms is the summary of God's plan if you can say the Lord is my shepherd then what's the next phrase I shall not want and everything about the 23rd Psalms will outline will outline the journey that you're going to take and I'm going to tell you there is going to be a valley of shadows you can't avoid it there gonna be a valley of what shadows in the shadows you don't see anything but God sees everything in the shadows they're intended to develop your trust in God in the shadows you don't see anything it could be treacherous you could feel that your life is on the line but in the shadows is not intended for you to see anything but God sees everything in the shadows can you say Amen and then the end of that journey is an aha shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever but the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord so no matter what happens look at romans 8:28 do you need to turn there do you need to turn there how many things work together and we know that how many things let's say together and we know that how many things all things work together for good to those who would love God so before we go to the rest of it I got to ask you the question do you love God if you love God is going to work out but if you don't love God it's not gonna work out it's gonna be a bumpy dumpy humpy lumpy journey you're gonna have cuts and bruises that could have been avoided because you don't love God but if you love God whether it's gonna rain or snow or poor weather through sickness or health or disaster or lack or or days of lean it's all gonna work out because you are called according to his purpose that is why studying God's Word is so vitally important this is the GPS this is what the GPS it's in God's Word David said it he said it so well psalm 119 verse 25 what psalm 119 verse 105 thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path coming if you need lights for your path don't do it I'm gonna suggest something but don't do it not everything that I suggest you should do tonight when this wood tonight when it's dark do not drive without your headlights on have you ever done that before okay you don't have to admit it Mike but but I made a mistake and did that once because my car has automatic high beams and it switches like if a car is coming towards it it goes a low beam and when the car passes to go back to high beam that's technology but sometimes it doesn't go back as fast as I wanted to so the other day I switch it into manual high beam and because I want to see the curve on these back roads out here because they're deer and everything else you could hit so I switched it to high beam manually and then on the way back to put it back into automatic high-beam I got it out of sequence and I went into the middle where the lights go off totally and I thought man this is scary glad I wasn't on a turn because I probably have gone airborne you see what we don't understand and this is the key this is one of the keys in this entire story if you live by the light and the lamp your path will never grow dim you know what the problem is so many of us don't want the GPS we don't like the map we don't spend time in the map we don't read the map so we get out on the road of life thinking that by our intellect will navigate ourselves to a successful journey when the Lord is saying to us my word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path don't leave home without it and we don't even touch it during the week we don't spend time in it and we think that somehow our journey is going to be safe that's why the wise man said we cannot trust our judgment proverbs 12 and verse 15 he said the way of a fool is right in his own eyes the way of a fool is right in his own eyes but he who heeds counsel as wise you see a fool would say this is the way I'm gonna go good enough for me and Lord says fool you think that's right you think that's right but the wise man didn't stop talking because since proverbs 16 verse 25 he said when we allow our intellect to replace God's wisdom and God's guidance something happens we begin to take a journey in the wrong direction because we don't consult God and then the wise man says to us proverbs 16 verse 25 can we read that together can we read that together what it varies a what way that seems what right but its end is what the way of death how many of us could avoid the way of death if we don't allow our intellect and our ignorance of God's Word to replace the wisdom and the sovereignty of God's Word if we put the GPS in place we'll see how beautifully it works out when you go to Isaiah 30 and verse 21 look at this and when you have God's Word in your head there are so many days there are so many instances there are so many opportunities that when you study a word I don't know if you ever had this experience but think about it when you study God's word do you ever get into circumstances will you hear God talking to you anybody Cana you think about something and you hear God say no but it doesn't say no a scripture comes to your mind that all of a sudden begins to be the thing you need at that very moment are you following when that scripture to you mine it'll only come to your mind if it was put there before he'll bring a back to your remembrance he promised through the Holy Spirit I'll bring back to your remembrance those things you have learned and that's why Isaiah 30 and verse 21 it's amazing God prompts us through his word and when we are prompted then we can follow his plan look at this Isaiah 30 and verse 21 these are all a part of the plan if you have the word you can hear God speak to you notice what he says your ears shall hear a word where behind you what is it gonna say together this is the way walk in it when you turn to the right in or whenever you turn to the what let so God is saying okay well where are we going Lord ah he said okay con two steps okay now right alright five more steps now left left left okay little more left left okay and he's behind me talking me through it but you know when we leave him out we don't know which way to go we don't have no rights no less we okay God I don't know I got this I got this I got this I got this Lord I got this Lord I got this Lord I got it oh wait whoa that was close we had a deacon once in our church do you remember that Glenn turned all the lights off went back here so uh they forgot a lot on in the back turn the lights off at the time we had some steps well you can walk up the rostrum and walk off the rostrum no lights he thought the steps are right there he walked off into ended up in a nursing home why am I using that illustration we end up where we didn't have to end we struggle where we didn't have to struggle we end up in dark places where we never had to end up if we simply allow God's voice to guide us through the journeys of life that's why proverbs 3 verse 5 and 6 is there look at what it says to us we'll always end up where God knows it's best if we teach ourselves to listen and trust God another very familiar passage that when put into this context when put into this journey it makes a little more sense today notice what it says trust in the Lord with how much all your heart and lean what not on your own understanding in how much of your ways all your ways acknowledge him and what now look at the plan and he shall do what direct your paths it's a journey it's not a destination alone it's a journey but look what the text also says you see a divided heart will not learn what it means to trust in God because it says trust and Lord with how much of your heart how much of your heart all your heart when you trust your judgments above God's your directions are unreliable and when you prefer your way above God's Way he cannot direct you because he says in all your ways acknowledge him in all your ways the things you choose to do the things you choose not to do and everything you choose to do if God is not in it he cannot direct your path because you have not acknowledged him in making that decision that's why when I wrote the book years ago abandoned but not alone one of my favorite passages was psalms 27 in verse 10 look at it with me because i realized when i wrote that book abandoned but not alone i realized that being abandoned was actually a part of god's plan he had to get rid of the person with the wrong plan to institute the right plan he had to get rid of the thing that would go bad to put in place the thing that will go good and notice what he guaranteed me this is what he guaranteed me this is in the beginning of my book some 27 verse 10 praise God for that when my father and my mother what does it say forsake me then the Lord will take care of me I want to say it without disrespecting any parents but if your parents decide to lead you in the wrong path and there's a break between your father and you or your mother and you because they have chosen a path that is not in God's will God said I'll take care of you my mom was living a different life my dad was living a different life and neither one of those lives were any benefit to me and God said I'll take care of you and I want to tell you that where I am today and you nice to talk about this all about where we are today we could not melody we couldn't figure this out on the best day of the week we could not have orchestrated our lives to touch as many places around the world to touch as many countries and to be in so many different places to be in more than a million air miles in our lives already to touch so many different places around the world and recognize that we couldn't afford that we couldn't pay for that but God did all that because we submitted our ways to the Lord it's amazing what God can do so you don't have to worry about it look at some of the reasons why God allows difficulty to happen let's go to Exodus chapter 2 verse 2 to 10 this is a case study by the way you got to consider briefly the life of a little man by the name of Moses a little boy by the name of Moses look at what happened in order for his life to become a blessing to those that God used him to lead look at his mother for a moment and by the way if I find a Bible story character that fits my life best its Moses he's the youngest of three he has a brother and a sister that's older than him I'm in the same category I'm the youngest of three my sister and my brother are older Aaron is the oldest Miriam the middle mo the youngest that's the same exact pattern in my life my brother's the oldest my sisters in the middle I'm the youngest look at the story first - so the woman conceived in borås son and when she saw that he was a beautiful child thank you mom no a men's are necessary she hid him how many months three months I was three months old when my mom decided to get rid of me three months old but when she could no longer hide him she took an ark of bulrushes for him dobbed it with asphalt and pitch put the child in it and laid it in the reeds by the riverbank and his sister stood afar off when I was abandoned my sister was with me my sister was with me to know what would be done to him my sister was with me she was three years older than I am she protected me all the time then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river and her maidens walked along the river side and when she saw the Ark among the reeds she sent her maid to get it and when she opened it she saw the child and behold the baby wept my sister talked about how my cry was so faint so she had compassion on him and said this one this is one of the Hebrews children the lady that raised me mama Haynes from Trinidad and the West Indies she told my mom the day that she left me at the house she said this is my son and she said that's the reason why I decided to leave you here because she looked at you as her son and she could do for you what I could never do then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you and Pharaoh's daughter said to her go so the maiden went and called her the child's mother what a blessing then Pharaoh's daughter said to her take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages getting paid to raise your own children so the woman took the child and nursed him and the child grew and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son so she called his name Moses saying because I drew him out of the water but let me tell you something when Moses got older the Bible says in Hebrews he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter you see he he's seven himself OMA from a connection that led him in the wrong direction and he connected himself to a people that God had called he said I would rather suffer the pleasures of the affliction for a season I would rather suffer with the people of God then enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season he connected himself Moses was abandoned so that Israel would be delivered God allowed the mother of Moses to prepare him for the future plan that God had for his life that's why I must take this time now to give a note to the parents proverbs 22 and verse 6 look at it with me I don't have much left but I must squeeze this orange proverbs 22 verse 6 to the parents this is your role in the fulfillment of God's plan for your children look at this and think of it very seriously the Bible says train up a child in the way what he should go and when he is old what he will not depart from it it didn't say train up a child in the way he wants to go train him up in the way he what should go and I could tell you I I was raised in the era of corporal punishment for those of you that know what that means I was raised in the way I should go in the way I should go and now that I'm oh praise God I'm not departing from it you see it is critical that we not become consumed by trying to detail our lives but only know that God knows how the future will unfold Amen reza isaiah 46 verse 9 and 10 let's put another text into the plan here another text into the plan god's plan how sovereign it is how beautiful it is notice what the lord says through the prophet isaiah isaiah 46 verse 9 and 10 he said remember the former things of old for I am God and there is no other I am God and there is none like me look at this declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure meaning my plan is going to work and I'll do whatever I want to do amen rosemary my plan is going to work and I'll do whatever I want to do and I stand here to you today to tell you that all the trials that I went through all the trials I brought on myself all the attempts the devil made to destroy me all the ways that I tried to help him come on you righteous folks amen all the things we did to make the devil have an advantage over us and God and His mercy pulled us out anyway we are here today because God says my counsels my counsel shall stand and I'll do all my pleasure that's why in John chapter 10 help me Holy Ghost he says when the Lord takes a sheep and puts it into the hand of the Shepherd Christ Jesus he says no body could snatch that sheep out of my hand the plan but you got to choose to be put into that plan but here's the caution James 4 verse 13 to 16 here's the caution go there go there I don't hear the bible's go there here is the blueprint this is where we sometimes get off-track this is where we sometimes this is a caution because sometimes we think we got all the time in the world James the Apostle writes this come now you who say look at this look at the concentration today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city spend a year there buy and sell and make a profit you're laying out your own life to get it whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow for what is your life that's why he says in Matthew 6 take no thought about tomorrow saying what shall I eat what shall I drink what shall i wear before I finish the text let me insert something here we worry about what we can't do anything about we worry about tomorrow about the next week about the next month about the next year and he says don't even take thought about tomorrow because you don't have any guarantee that tomorrow will ever come what is your life look at the text it is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then do what vanishes away instead you ought to say verse 15 if the Lord's will we shall live and do this or that but now your boast is in your arrogance all such boasting is evil you know what he says he says when you think you got all your plans figured out you're foolish when you think that you got it all figured out now you could live it it's arrogance and when you begin to boast by saying I got a perfect plan for my life now I'm gonna put that plan into activity he says foolishness you have no idea you saw the rich fool he built barns he sawed up good for many years and the Lord says tonight your soul is required of you don't plan for the next month the next week the next year you can make plans but let me make sure let me make something clear now I'll modify this in a moment make sure that those plans have been submitted to God make sure those plans have been submitted to God because plans that are not submitted to God are based on human intellect and a vision that is no farther than the wall in front of us say Lord if it is your will if it is your will every night when I go to bed every night when I go to bed I pray father please forgive me my thoughts actions words or deeds of today and if it is your will allow me to see tomorrow the wise man said in Proverbs 13 verse 15 the way of the transgressor is hard it's hard you know why it's hard because we put our sovereignty and our will above God's plan so as I close I'm gonna give you three points Jill three points that will give you wisdom on how to follow the plan since we cannot control the future can we control the future can we guarantee ourselves another day okay so what should we do I'm gonna say it you already know it but allow me to have you turn to it Matthew 6 in verse 33 okay are you wise people already know it I could say this is the first thing we do are we ready but seek when first what the kingdom of God and secondly his righteousness and how many things all these things shall be added to you how many things how many things one more time how many things what can you do if God will add all these things what could you add nothing right ABI how much nothing right corby how much korban that say it nothing anuria how much nothing I'm talking my young folk cuz he's the smart people in here stay in school still see we already been there but I want to make it clear you young folk that a warrant about your future you can't add anything but God will that everything and counsels on health page 522 counsels on health page 522 I love what the servant of the Lord says here she says be careful that you are not found working out your own plans to the disregard of God's plans be careful that you are not found working out your own plans to the disregard of God's plans because you can add anything to your life but the Apostle Paul's in Philippians 4:19 and my god shall supply all our needs according to his what riches and glory by Christ Jesus let's get back to that because you ran past it how much will God add how much how much do you add nothing because you brought nothing in you ain't carrying anything out with you looking a baby's hand my mother-in-law would always say that look at the hand of a child when they come into the world there's nothing in there and Paul says to Timothy through Timothy you brought nothing in you're not taking anything out now while you're here and God will supply how many things Noorie how many things my oh don't worry B you said it but I say don't worry be assured psalm 37:25 I'm winding up with these beautiful testimonies psalms 37:25 okay okay I'm at the place ah see I could read this text come on you and I re read this together because we're the only ones that want to show our gray here are you ready here we go I have been young now I am old yet I've not seen that what righteous what forsaken nor what nor his descendants begging bread can we get an amen somewhere when you put your life in God's hands he has a plan and you'll never have to be knocking on doors saying I'm starving I'm hungry somebody help me he says from the day you were born to the day you die you su-eun or your descendants will ever be begging for bread because all things all things work together for good to those who love God and to call according to His purposes counsels to parents and teachers page 397 how can those who are destitute of divine enlightenment have a correct idea about God's plans in his ways how can those who don't have any divinity in their brains at all have a correct idea about God's plans and God's ways Isaiah says it this way 55 and verse 9 for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways what higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts God's thoughts are higher than the highest ideal is God's desire and plans for our lives amen Samadhi but I end on this very lengthy quote testimonies for the church volume 7 page 44 beautiful counsel each morning consecrate yourselves and your children to God for that day how often each morning make no calculation listen Kipp make no calculation for months or for years these are not yours did you hear that should we make calculation for months or years yes or no because these are not yours listen one brief day is given to you as if it were your last on earth work during it's hours for the master lay your plans before God to be carried out or given up as his providence shall indicate accept his plans instead of your own even though their acceptance requires the abandonment of cherished projects you might say but I want to do that he'll say give it up it's my plan is best thus the life will be mold and more and more after the divine example and here's the blessing and the peace of God that passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus you want your heart and your mind to be at peace live your life one day at a time how often one day at a time what about tomorrow don't worry about it somebody once said live as though Jesus died today Jesus died yesterday rose today and he's coming back tomorrow one day one day at a time that's it and I closed my Bible on this thought if you want to hear God laugh tell him your plans he'll say that's just too meager that's just too small that's just not the way that I thought about your life you see we could not have planned our life honey the way that it turned out we could not have planned our lives in the end of my book that I wrote which I'm going to put it back on on the shelves coming up pretty soon I'm gonna get it back into print because it's been a blessing to so many lives I want you to listen to this quotation you know when I finished me to my book when I finished writing my book and I forgot what year was now I said to my wife when we lived in California I said to her I'm done I'm finished writing but I don't know how to end it and I'm gonna pray about it the next morning I woke up and I wrote these words and when I submitted the finished manuscript to the Pacific press they edited everything except the end that's how I knew that what God gave me to end this book was a glimpse of his plan for our lives I'm gonna try to read it after being abandoned not knowing where my mother was who my father is when the lady that raised me died I lost my anchor to the church went into the world lived for the city gang violence gunpoint living on the trains gambling in the pool halls on Friday night partying and clubs of ill repute living my own dream walking in my own parade hiding behind my own charade not having a clue that's somewhere and the kingdom God was saying I see how bad it is for you but I got a plan and it's gonna work out and he brought into my life at age 16 honey could you join me I didn't plan to do this he brought it to my life at age 16 this young lady who had a connection with God that I didn't even know she gave me her phone number one evening after Vespers and said you can only come to my house for family worship because I'm too young to date and my brothers won't let you come over if they know that you're my boyfriend so we're not boyfriend and girlfriend we're just friends Friday nights I sat under the tutelage of her mom and her brothers and her sister worship after worship I was too afraid to read the Bible God so loved the world I was terrified to read the Bible but she kept inviting me until one Friday evening she said have you read the great controversy I said I think I heard about it in the very first chapter that I read I don't think it was a coincidence the first chapter she picked for me to read was the time of trouble if that will get somebody's attention it sure did it got my attention and that night when I was God God's plan is perfect because earlier that day as I was working at Bank of America I got a call from somebody who left our church and moved to Miami Florida and they said we want you to be a disc jockey in Florida let's share the same tissue honey you got to be married to do that he said I want you to be a disc jockey in Miami and this is Friday at work at Bank of America and Wall Street I said give me to Monday to decide that Friday night not a coincidence but a plan she said have you heard about the great controversy let's read it thank you Mike audio-visual we read it and I fell to my knees that Friday evening I said Lord forgive me for all the time I've wasted that Friday I went to work with a boom box and a pool stick that Monday I went to with a Bible and the great controversy there was born in me a holy boldness to walk up the people in Manhattan you went Bible studies you went behind studies I just had I just had one day's training it's called conversion I had one day's train he didn't know the doctrines very well my Bible just had Genesis Genesis to Revelation no concordance nothing else in it and I had Bible studies at the base of the World Trade Center the next week because God came into my life but then there's the music I don't want to give the music up I was a disc jockey I was good at it but there was Angie again found me on the 44th for the World Trade Center on Friday night she said to me what are you doing here you know it's the Sabbath you shouldn't be here I said how did you find me she said don't worry about it you need to be in church I'll be there get out of here leave me alone I was in church that Sabbath morning I was way in the back sleeping but I was there so I apologize for irritating those of you that party that sleep she kept on she kept on when I didn't show up at church my dad will let her in get up go shower I'll iron your clothes I'm taking you to church tight I just got home you're going to church I was in church an evangelist came through town at 19 years old we got baptized together and the brother said why you guys getting baptized you plan to get married because I was a farthest thing from my mind but we dated off and on for nine years and after nine years her brother said to me are you going to date my sister forever or are you gonna marry her which one is it I said I marry her he said when I said next month that was 36 years ago 36 years ago I know this is the woman for my life I could not be or have gone or done what I had been and where I've gone and what I've done God did not send this woman into my life so when I declared to my wife I'm finished my book I said God tell me how to end it and here's what he gave me young folk you don't have to worry about your future you don't have to worry about it just put your life in God's hands cuz I could never have done what God has done but he had a plan listen my life is a miracle not because I've learned to adjust but because I am a part of a divine plan I am moving upward and onward not because I've learned to scale the utmost Heights but because I know who I am I'm a child of the king I choose not to fear life but to live it I look back not to lament but to remember I hold on not because I'm incapable but because I am wise I look at barriers as movable problems as solvable heart aches as healable and disappointments as temporary it is not confidence in myself that gives me hope it is Christ in me that is my hope the experiences I've had were not designed to break me but to make me I am at peace because I Know Who I am and this is how it ended if in the midst of your circumstances you can see God you are on your way to wholeness if in the midst of your storms you can hear his voice you are on your way to peace to be abandoned is out of your control but to think that you are alone is your choice I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you to give us a future and a hope and so what is our declaration together forever eternity in view I don't ask today I'm gonna make an appeal today because it's far too much anxiety in our lives about the future when the future is not ours it's God's and far too many fears that we fight against how are our children going to turn out put them in God's hands and let him work them out what about our home our businesses our marriages put it in God's I know the plans I have for you so today I'm going to ask is there somebody here today that wants to do a number of things one you want to stop worrying about tomorrow cuz it's not yours secondly you want to say father I want to be a part of that divine plan I can't wait to see how you work out my life and thirdly I'm going to trust you in the journey until I enter that eternal Kingdom if that's a desire than any of you have today why don't you stand wherever you are today his plans for you young lady young man I'm not you're worried it's not your dollar if God plan it he'll pay for it am i right if God called you to it he'll carry you through it if God lays the road before you he'll travel with you on that road if you give your Mountain he'll scale it for you and all you need is the faith of a tiny mustard seed don't eat a whole lot of it if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to the mountains be moved and our sovereign God will take that mountain of worry and trials and difficulty and anxiety and throw it in the depths of the sea and say for you my child I'll move any mountain so young folk you just graduated you're still in school you weren't about your careers your marriage what you're going to be some of us are getting older what's going to happen if I retire is my life going to be worth anything are people gonna still Know Who I am that's not your concern that's God's concern so I want to pray for you today I had to bow out our eyes are closed precious father in heaven we are a part of a divine plan the spouse that we have by our side is not a coincidence but a gift from Almighty God lord help us today to treasure that person that you brought into our lives and and into whose life you brought us help us to love and cherish honor to be faithful to endure the trials and difficulties and challenges of life to hold on as one whose driver is God himself I pray for our people that are standing here today Lord we live entirely too much with fear why is it that we have no faith how are we so fear fearful Lord today may our faith that is so small be replaced with the faith of Jesus I pray that we would not worry about what school we're gonna go to what college we're going to attend whether or not our house is gonna sell whether or not that new car will ever be affordable for us what our children are gonna live right or act right not even about the future of 3abn we don't worry about any of it we pray that every day we could put our all into serving you so that when it's all done and when it's all said when it's all over we'll simply hear the introduction into our life of eternity come you blessed of my father come and inherit the kingdom I prepared for you it was a part of my plan from the foundation of the world for your life today Lord we lay down our fears our anxieties we don't worry about all the missiles the enemy is aimed at us because if God before us no body can be against us we even go to battle in your name so take us from this place with great confidence in our heart take us from this place without the fear of the future and take us from this place knowing that your plan is best in Jesus holy and precious name I pray amen

Channel: Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Length: 84min 50sec (5090 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 18 2019