—Sunday Sermon—
“Balanced Planning”
-God “DOES” Guidance
-BLESSINGS
God “GIVES” Guidance,
[Last week’s message]
but God also
“DOES” Guidance.
[Today’s focus]
What I mean by God “DOES” Guidance is that at the end of the day,
God does not allow anyone to do anything that they PLAN to do.
He will ALLOW or DISALLOW any plans that he wants or does not want.
God has a will too.
That is called Sovereignty.
And his will always works out for the Christian in the end.
Though God has given us a free will, it is not an absolute free will to do anything that we want or plan (even if we ask God to bless our plans).
God will have something to say about what he “DOES” (ALLOWS or does not ALLOW) in the world.
His purpose will always be fulfilled even as he manages the free-will decisions that he allows us to make.
“The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord… The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps…Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
-Proverbs 16:1,9; 19:21
[This means that we make our plans, but God has the last word on them.]
Though not fully understood, this is the key to all of the questions that we have about God’s will and why things did not work out the way that we had planned.
So, God GIVES Guidance in our planning
But he also
GUIDES the results.
[“DOES” Guidance]
We usually focus on the NEGATIVE aspect of this [which we will do next week].
But today let’s look at the POSITIVE aspect of our plans not working out exactly as we had hoped or expected.
So many times God provides MORE than we ever planned for in the first place.
GOD’S RESPONSES TO OUR
PRAYERS & PLANS
1. Yes
2. Yes-Plus [I’m blessing you MORE]
3. No [Top prevent harm]
4. No-Plus [I’ve got something better]
5. Wait-Plus [Waiting is a blessing that gets us even more
ready for God’s last word of blessing on our plan]
MOST TIMES OUR PLANS DO NOT TURN OUT AS PLANNED
They will either turn our better or worse, but very few times are they just as we thought or planned.
GOD ALWAYS HAS A BETTER PLAN
How many plans have you made that you can see (usually after a period of time) that God has blessed you beyond what you had planned or expected?
It may be very hard to process the truth that God always has a better plan than what we could think up, calculate or even imagine.
“Now to him [God] who is able to do immeasurably more
than all we ask or
imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us…”
-Ephesians 3:20
Regardless of what you think or how you feel,
YOU MEASURE UP.
You measure up to God and to people who really do matter in your life.
If you don’t measure up to certain people, then either you do not matter to them or they should not matter as much to you.
When we think about it,
we are people that measure.
We start our “being measured” by a doctor in inches”.
Then we are measured against the measurement in inches of our parent’s when they were first measured when they were born.
If we have siblings, we are measured in comparison to their original length in inches.
Then we are measured by doctors and nurses as to our coloring and general health with an
Apgar Score.
This scoring system provides a standardized assessment for infants after delivery.
The score comprises five components: 1) color, 2) heart rate, 3) reflexes, 4) muscle tone, and 5) respiration, each of which is given a score of 0, 1, or 2.
From that point on the measuring never seems to stop.
Do you know that one of the number fears for many people is “NOT MEASURING UP”?
But do you know what?
You measure up to God.
You measure up to God because he is not measuring you.
As a Christian with Jesus indwelling in you, God the Father measures Him, and Jesus measures up.
Jesus: “… gave himself for us to redeem
[save us by purchasing us]
us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
-Titus 2:14
We are purified in God’s sight.
An old VBS song chorus says;
I am covered over by the righteous blood of Jesus and he lives in me…
When God looks at me, He sees not what I used to be, but he sees Jesus.
I measure up because Jesus measures up and he stands in my place
(at the cross and at the Judgement).
“Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering [Pleasing and acceptable sacrifice to God ]
and sacrifice to God.
-Ephesians 5:2
God accepts the sacrifice of Jesus for us.
He paid for our sins in our place on the cross.
“…we have been sanctified
[Made holy in God’s sight]
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
[This means that the sacrifice of Jesus is the only sacrifice acceptable to God for sins.
It was a one-time thing on Good Friday and is good for all who simply “believe”.]
-Hebrews 10:10
Enjoy Life.
Commit yourself to God.
Commit your planning and your eventual plans to him.
Be flexible.
Trust Him with HIS will in your life.
ONE OF THE NUMBER ONE FEARS IS
“NOT MEASURING UP”
Everyone has EXPECTATIONS.
Plans have a lot to do with EXPECTATIONS.
The great news is that
“Now to him who is able to do
immeasurably more
than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us
-Ephesians 3:20
GETTING CLOSER TO GOD
The more we commit to God,
the more our plans will be in line with his.
The closer that we are to other people, the more we know their heart.
The more we know what they think.
The more we understand how they act and react.
The more we know what they love and
what they hate.
In short, the more we know “them”.
The same is true with God.
This truth applies to God as well.
There is no better person to get to know better
on a daily basis than Jesus.
[The exact representation of God].
“The Son [Jesus] is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,
sustaining all things by his powerful word.
After he had provided purification for sins,
[Forgiveness provided on the cross]
he sat down [His work of forgiveness was finished]
at the right hand [Place of honor]
of the Majesty in heaven.”
-Hebrews 1:3
To want what God wants should be our greatest desire and our greatest goal.
Always remembering that when we we blow it, God always provides forgiveness.
“… he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from ALL unrighteousness.”
[When we have sinned]
-1 John 1:9
BETTER THAN I DESERVE
God’s “Job Approval Rating” goes sky-high when things are going great in our life, that is assuming that we are giving HIM the credit, thanksgiving, etc. as we should!
Everyone loves blessings.
Often we find in life that God comes through with even better results than what we have planned.
Many times he gives blessings that were not even a part of our original plan, things we could not even have imagined.
“Now to him [God] who is able to do immeasurablymore
[Can’t even fully calculate in our widest dreams]
than all we ask or imagine,
[or planned for]
according to his power that is at work within us,
-Ephesians 3:20
Here it is EASY to see, feel and experience God’s goodness.
Here is where we also see God’s GRACE.
G od’s R iches At C hrist’s E xpense
Here we see blessings that have come from God that are undeserved, Jesus’ blessings, that he paid for, that he passed on to us.
God’s blessings under the category of greace remind me of Dave Ramsey’s famous answer to the question,“How are you doing?”
He answers by saying;
“Better than I deserve.”
Next week we will talk about when our answer to that question is;
“Worse than I deserve.”
[When life and our plans are not working out]
God’s GRACE falls under this category as well.
“We know that in all things [Even things that are not working out, they may even be your worst nightmare] God works [is working] for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
-Romans 8:28
GOD’S PLAN OF GRACE
JUSTICE – We get what we deserve.
MERCY – We are spared from a certain amount of
the justice that we deserve.
GRACE – We actually get the opposite of the
justice that we deserve.
[When we deserve HELL, God graces us, blesses us, gifts us with its exact opposite - HEAVEN]
Do you see that regardless of what happens in our life, we are, “Better than we deserve” if what we deserve is HELL?
There is no situation in your life, no matter what it is, that is worse than HELL [total separation from all of God’s blessings].
Therefore, we are never without God’s grace.
GOD’S “UNIMAGINED” BLESSINGS
How many testimonials do you have of things going greater than you planned or imagined?
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
-Psalm 37:4
Where has God given you “MORE THAN” the desire of your heart?
Prayer:
Lord, help me to enjoy life,
commit myself to you, commit my planning, be flexible and trust you and your will in every area of my life.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen!
Pastor Dave
Word of Life Church
17525 W. Bell Rd.
Surprise, AZ 85374