Not Just Stories - Part 1
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God Writes the Greatest Plot Twists
God Writes the Greatest Plot Twists
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Author Kathy Crabtree calls John 1:10 “The Greatest Plot Twist Ever”
LiteraryTerms.net defines a plot twist this way:
“In literature, film, television, and even video games, a plot twist is an unsuspected occurrence or turn of events in the story that completely changes the direction or outcome of the plot from the direction it was likely to go. It’s a hugely popular and frequently used narrative technique in fiction. Plot twists are designed to disrupt things in a story that the audience thinks they already know or have figured out. The author achieves this “twisting” of the plot by providing a huge shock or surprise, one that is either completely unexpected, or was perhaps foreshadowed through earlier details or events.” - https://literaryterms.net/plot-twist/
The Bible is full of plot twists.
Right off the bat, the scripture introduces the first plot twist:
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
The scene is set:
There was no form of the earth. There was just an empty, dark void.
Plot Twist 1: God Creates Light Ex Nihilo (Out of Nothing)
Plot Twist 1: God Creates Light Ex Nihilo (Out of Nothing)
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Very often in our lives, it seems that everything has fallen apart. There is no order. It feels like there is nothing but a dark void.
We even use those words, “I am in a dark place right now.”
Have you ever heard someone say that?
Have you ever been that someone.
But invisible to us, the Spirit of God is hovering. Waiting for the Word to come forth.
And when we grab hold of that Word - that promise - When God keeps saying YES to his word and we finally add the AMEN or SO BE IT - then PLOT TWIST - Ex Nihilo - Out of Nothing God speaks Light into our darkness!
6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
God has already secured the promises. They have been paid for through the sacrifice of Christ and spoken into existence by God - who cannot lie.
19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
The YES to the promise has already been secured!
The Spirit is Waiting for your “Amen.”
The Spirit is Waiting for your “Amen.”
20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
20 For every one of God’s promises is “Yes” in him. Therefore, through him we also say “Amen” to the glory of God.
The Hebrew word אמן amen (pronounced “ah-men” or, in Ashkenazi pronunciation, “uh-main”) is found in many places in the Bible.
The Talmud (Jewish Rabbinical Writings) explains that:
There are three intentions within the word amen (depending on context):
1) An oath,
2) acceptance of the statement or terms,
3) confirmation of (or faithfulness in) the statement (e.g. belief, prayer, and faith that the statement will be fulfilled).
--from What does “Amen” mean? - And where does the term come from? - Chabad.org
God, through the Prophet Isaiah, renewed the promise of the coming Savior that He first made in Gen 3:15.
2 The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.
6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
John declared that He - the Word made flesh - brought light into darkness.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Into a dark world the light was about to shine.
As He had stated in the first prophecy, the Savior would be the seed of the woman, not a woman and man.
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
First, The promise had been given at the beginning in Genesis 3:15. There would be the seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent. Then the promise came directly to Mary through the angel.
Second, the Spirit of God was hovering - waiting to act on the Word of God
Third, Mary had heard the Word through the angelic messenger.
Then, she adds the Hebrew, “Amen.”
Mary added the Amen to the Angel’s Greeting:
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Oath - “I am (I commit to be) the servant of the Lord!”
Acceptance of the terms - “Be it unto me.”
Confirmation that the statement will be fulfilled - “According to your word.”
Mary gives us a recipe for receiving the promises of God - for allowing the light of God into the darkest places in our life.
1. Check your commitment to the God who made the promise.
1. Check your commitment to the God who made the promise.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
2. Accept the terms of the promise.
2. Accept the terms of the promise.
14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
3. Confirm (declare) that the promise will be fulfilled in your life.
1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
Meditates = ponders by talking to himself
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982).
Plot Twist 2: God Turns the Table on the Enemy
Plot Twist 2: God Turns the Table on the Enemy
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
God turned the table on the enemy. The enemy deceived the woman. So he thought he had mankind doomed.
But God said in verse 15, you may have deceived the woman but I will use the seed of the woman (not of the man) to crush your head!
The enemy heard what God said.
So he watched as Adam and Eve gave birth to two sons: Cain and Abel. Abel had favor with God, so he thought perhaps he was that promised seed. So he stirred up jealousy in the heart of Cain and he committed the first murder. He killed Abel and satan thought he had stopped God’s plan.
But Plot twist. Seth.
Seth is the third son of Adam. This name is a root word meaning "to set something in place"
Back to our theme verse:
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
The enemy wants to steal from you what God has promised and what He has already given.
He wants to convince you that you are further from God than you have ever been.
He wants you to believe that you will never get back to where you were.
In the Testimonies we will see over the next several weeks, there will be many God-written plot twists.
What I want to tell you today is that God wants to bring a Seth into your life. He wants to set something in place that will change your trajectory.
You may feel like you’ve blown it. You may feel like you have too many failures to be used of God. But God will turn the table on the enemy.
Saul persecuted believers and had them put to death. The enemy had him right where he wanted him. The Church was afraid of him and many were in hiding because of him. But God shined His Light on him and made him a great apostle who wrote more than half the New Testament.
After Peter denied Jesus, he thought he was totally gone. He was embarrassed and ashamed. He separated himself from the other disciples.
60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are saying!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”
62 So Peter went out and wept bitterly.
Understand that Peter was the one who had identified Jesus as the Messiah - the Son of God.
He is the one to whom Jesus had spoken that this understanding was the bedrock, unshakeable foundation of the church.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
So Satan thought he had won again. He got Peter to deny Christ and then run away in condemnation.
But God had a Seth moment coming for Peter:
1 Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him.
6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.
7 But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”
Peter was not cast away. Hope was not lost. God still wanted to use him. The word got to him that the angel at the tomb called only one name - Peter.
In John 20, Peter gets the word from Mary and then runs to the tomb and follows John in and sees the empty linens and the napkin folded by itself.
In John 21, Jesus restores Peters calling. He was setting something in place that would be manifest on the day of Pentecost when Peter would preach to the multitude and 3000 people are saved and his place as a leader in the Church would be set.
What I want to tell you is that God is not finished with you.
It is not too late to start now - or restart now.
God has not changed His mind about you.
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Irrevocable = not repented of, unregretted
