God's Promises About My Future

Over the last few weeks, we have looked at God’s promises… We looked at his promises about giving. Then we looked at God's promises of heaven, and then we looked at God's promises of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit last week. Today, I want us to look at God's promises about your future.

Now, you ought to be interested in this for three reasons. First, the rest of your life is in your future. None of your life is left in the past or even today. All your life is in the future. The two things I could say about that are number one, you don't know what it's going to be, and two, you can't control it.

So, I should definitely be interested in what God has to say about my future because I don't know, none of us know what's going to happen tomorrow, much less next year. We certainly can't control it. One of the ways we try to control the future is worry, but worry is worthless. It doesn't work.

Before we look at the six promises about your future, I want to give you four facts about your future. I know this is review. You already know this, but it gives us a foundation for what we're going to look at today.

Facts about my future...

1. God know everything that will happen.

God is never surprised. God never goes, "Wow! I didn't see that coming. Ooh wee! You're going to blow me over with a feather on that one. Wow! Really? Are you kidding me?" God never says those kind of things. God knows everything you're ever going to say in life. God knows every thought you're ever going to think in life. God knows everything you're going to do in life already now. There is nothing that you do that He doesn't already know. He already knows the end of your life.

Why? Well, it's a little hard to get, but follow me on it. God is not limited by time. God is timeless. You see, your concept and my concept of time happens to be because we're on a planet that turns around every 24 hours and goes around the sun every 365 days.

God is timeless. God can be in the past, and in the present, and in the future all at once because God isn't linear. It's all the same to Him. He's in the past, and the present, and the future at the same time.

Thanksgiving Day Parade: Being able to see the whole thing.

On the other hand, if I were to take you up in a plane or a helicopter or a blimp and we got up real high with a different perspective, you would be able to see the beginning and the end of the parade all at the same time. You wouldn't have a problem. You could see the beginning of the parade and the end at the same time. It's a matter of perspective.

Hebrews 4:13 NLT

13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.

Psalm 139:16 NLT

16 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.

2. God’s plan for my future is good.

God has thought far more about your life than you ever have. He's thought about every detail, every thought, every part of it, and He has a plan for your life and His plan is good for you, His plan to prosper you, plan to give you hope, a future. You say, "Well, can I miss God's plan?"

Well, of course, you can. In fact, most people do. They miss God's plan because they choose their own plan. You have to choose God's plan for your life. It's not automatic. You see, one of the greatest gifts, but it's also a hindrance to us, is the freedom to choose. God didn't want to create a bunch of puppets. He could have made us where we don't have any choice.

Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

3. I must choose to trust and obey God.

To fulfill my created purpose, here's the third thing, I must choose to trust and obey God. God knows everything that's going to happen to my life, and He has a good plan for my life, but I have to choose that plan. I have to choose to trust God. I have to choose to obey God. Every single day of my life, God's giving me a free choice.

Every day, every moment, I'm going, "I'm going to go with God's plan or I'm going to go with my plan. I'm going to choose what God tells me to do or I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to do what the Bible says or I'm going to do what I think is the right thing to do or is the most convenient thing." Every day, we're making this choice.

Deuteronomy 30:19 NLT

19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

4. God will be with me every step of the way.

If you knew what God is really like, and you knew what He's really promised, you wouldn't be afraid. You wouldn't be anxious about the future. You wouldn't be worried or nervous about what's going to happen tomorrow because if you really knew who God is, and what He's promised to do in your life, you wouldn't be afraid.

Hebrews 13:5–6 NIV

5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

Guarantees from God for my future...

1. God promise to guide me when I’m confused.

One thing that you can predict about your future is that you're going to have a lot of decisions to make. You're going to have a lot of choices, and some of those choices are difficult, some of them are even confusing. "Do I take this job? Do I move to this city? Should I buy this house? Should I marry this girl?"

There are some big life-changing decisions, and a lot of times, we can be confused about them. We get confused because they're scary decisions, and they're scary decisions because we're afraid, "Well, what if I make the wrong choice?" We just get stuck in our confusion.

We think, "Well, who can I talk to? Is there anybody that can help me think this through?" I guess on one end you could think, "Well, I can talk to my friends," but, well, the problem there is they probably think just like you do. That's why they're your friends. They're probably as confused as you are.

You can look at the media, talk to them, but good luck there. Their opinions change with the wind. There's only one authority, one authority who is always right and completely reliable, and that is your creator. If you want to know the purpose of something, you have to ask the inventor. God knows the purpose that he created you for.

Proverbs 3:5–6 NLT

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

2. God promises to help me when I’m tempted.

Attraction is not a sin, action is. Write this down. Attraction is not a sin, action is. You are not responsible for your attractions. You are responsible for your actions. If we're walking down a buffet, I might see a certain kind of potato salad that's very attractive to me. I'm salivating and everything. Where did that come from? It's just inside me. You're wobbling, "I hate potato salad," and you just walk to the next one.

1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT

13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

I can't control what gets my attention. I can control what keeps my attention. Hear the difference? I can't control what gets my attention. If I'm at a beach and a beautiful woman walks by, it's probably going to get my attention. I'm just not going to do anything about it. I'm going to turn my mind and think about something else. I'm not going to fantasize. I'm not going to linger, "Wow! That girl is beautiful. God, you did a good one on her. Good God, man! Wow! Good going, God! She looks nice." Okay?

That's not lust. Lust is when you start to say, "I want that instead of who I have."

2 Thessalonians 3:3 NLT

3 But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.

So, it's not a sin to be tempted. It's a sin to give in.

3. God promises to support me in trouble.

Now, what's the difference between temptation and trouble? Oh, big difference. Temptation is inside me, trouble is outside me. Temptation is internal, trouble is external. Temptation has to do with my character, trouble has to do with my circumstances. In life, for the rest of your life, because we live in a broken planet, you're going to have temptations and trouble, internal temptations, external trouble.

Isaiah 43:2–3 NLT

2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

On earth, God's will is seldom done. Sometimes you hear a big disaster or you hear a big terrorist attack and people say, "Must have been God's will." That wasn't God's will. God is not the author of evil. If I go out and I get drunk and I get an accident and kill myself, that wasn't God's will. That was my will be done.

Philippians 4:13 NLT

13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

4. God promises to repay those who hurt me.

God promises to repay those who hurt me. Oh, baby! Oh, baby! Let's just camp here for a moment, okay? God promises to repay those who hurt me. He doesn't want you repaying them. He doesn't want you seeing retaliation. He says, "Let me handle this."

Have you noticed that the world seems to be getting meaner, more hateful, more rude, more uncivil, more unfair? Do you ever listen to the news or watch a news and you go, "Man, that's just not fair"?

I can't tell you how many times I've been asked by somebody, "Where was God when your son died?" I say, "He was at the same place He was when His son died, grieving, grieving over man's inhumanity to humanity."

God looks down and sees so much of what's happening in the world today, and it hurts, and it grieves. The Bible says, "God grieves over and over and over." God has seen every hurt in your life, every mean word, every mean action, every injustice, abuse, prejudice, bias or anything like that.

Romans 12:19 NLT

19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.

5. God promises to reward my service and generosity.

Hebrews 6:10 NLT

10 For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do.

God promises to reward my service and generosity. God promises to reward my service and generosity. Now, part of God's plan and purpose for your life is He wants you to become like Jesus Christ. Jesus is the model of perfect humanity. God wants us to grow up like Christ. He wants us to think like Christ, to feel like Christ, to love like Christ, to serve like Christ, to be giving like Christ.

Well, if God wants me to become like Jesus, what is Jesus like? Well, in a word, in one word, it's this word, unselfish. The whole goal of life is learning how to become more and more unselfish because to be unselfish is love. God wants you to be like Him. God is love. So, when you're born, you are born as a baby, totally selfish. As a baby, you're not thinking about anybody else. It's me, me, me, I, I, I, I want it, I want it now. Nothing is more selfish than a brand-new baby. Okay? We coo, and we ooh. Thank God they're cute, but they're little selfish boogers. Okay? All right?

Luke 16:9 NLT

9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

6. God promises me salvation.

God promises for my future to keep me saved until heaven. He's going to keep me saved until I get to heaven. I don't have to keep myself saved, thank God, because if it were up to me to keep myself saved, I'm in deep, deep weeds. There's no way I can save myself. God says, "It's not up to you." Once you put your hand in the hand of the man who still the waters, you may want to let go, but He's not going to let go. Once you are saved, it is His job to keep you saved no matter what happens in your future.

John 10:28 NLT

28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me,

2 Timothy 2:13 NLT

13 If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.

Philippians 1:6 NLT

6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.