What's The Plan

NRSV - For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 12 Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. 13 When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart

The title of today’s message is “What’s The Plan”

We’re already in the second month of the new year, this month which has been set aside as Black History Month to honor those who have come before us, to remind us of who we are, what we can be, and what we can do. To remind us of the potential and the power we have when we put our minds to something; when we come together, when we make a plan.

Jeremiah is writing this letter to the remaining Exiles in Babylon, their disobedience had caused them to be taken captives by the Babylonians, but Jeremiah was reminding them on the one hand and reassuring them on the other, reminding them that this captivity would last 70-years, reassuring them that God had not forgotten them and that this too shall pass.

There were false prophets telling the people the captivity would be over soon, but Jeremiah, being a true prophet of God told them the truth. How do you know if someone is truly a prophet of God? What they say in the name of the Lord, will come to pass.

Sidebar, the prophetic is not always about you’re going to get a big house or a car or a husband or a wife or money, when you can’t afford to heat and cool the house or put premium gas in the car or haven’t prepared yourself for a husband or a wife or don’t know how to properly manage money.

The prophet may come to tell you there’s something you’re doing you need to stop doing, or something you’re not doing you need to do or somewhere you need to go, an assignment you need to accept, or just to encourage you. God’s prophet can come with all types of messages, and it’s not usually going to be about material things.

In this case, Jeremiah was saying to the people, wait a minute, I know what those other people are telling you, but let me tell you what God is saying. Your captivity is going to last a bit longer, your situation may not be resolved real soon, but hang in there.

Hang in there and while you’re there, go ahead and build, go ahead and plant, this is not to say give up, but it is to say while you’re in this place of captivity, while you’re in this storm, make the best of it, make the most of it. Don’t just sit by the door with your bags packed waiting for your release, don’t just cower in the corner waiting for the storm to pass.

Plant and harvest crops, eat, build your homes and live in them because even though you’re in exile, even though you’re in a storm, there’s comfort you can find, there’s a lesson to be learned, there’s something good that can come from this bad situation. Go ahead and get married and have children, don’t stop living because of where you are.

Not only that pray for the place,

Pray for the city where you’re being held captive.

Pray for those people on your job,

pray for those people at your school,

pray for those people at your church,

pray for those people in your home

Those people who are causing you grief and distress or just stressing you out. Pray for them, pray for your environment, because while you can’t control people, you can certainly pray for God to control your environment, and to give you peace in the midst of the storm. You can’t change others only how you react to them.

If it irritates you just to hear that persons voice, pray and then be intentional about speaking to them, you may find out they need help, you may find out they talk so much, because they can’t talk at home, you may find out they are so mean, because they don’t know any other way to be, that they’ve never experienced love, you may find out they’re hurting and they don’t know how to process the hurt. Sometimes you have to look past a person’s behavior to see what’s really going on with them, to see who they really are.

Jeremiah is telling the Israelites, look, God told me to tell you don’t listen to those false prophets who are telling you this will all be over soon. This is going to last 70-years, then and only then will you be released from this captivity.

Now I can’t tell you how long your storm is going to last, but

what I can tell you is be encouraged, this too shall pass.

what I can tell you is God sees you and knows all about your situation

what I can tell you is this situation did not come to kill you

what I can tell you is you’re not alone

what I can tell you is you’re stronger than you know

what I can tell you is continue to pray, God is listening

what I can tell you is listen, God is talking

But don’t think this storm is going to pass quickly, it has a set time to it, so don’t send your money into the televangelist who’s telling you, “God said if you just sow your seed of $50 he will deliver you from the trial you’re going through right now.” Keep your money, God doesn’t need it. He’s going to fulfil His promise to you in due time, in His time and know this, His timing is perfect and His plan is perfect.

What’s the plan? How many made a plan for this year? Whether you called it a New Year’s resolution, whether you just said I’m going to do XYZ better this year than I did last year, whatever XYZ is. Plans, plans are good, they let you know where you’re going, how you’re going to get there and when you’ve arrived. But here’s something we rarely think about as we make our plan, the attitude we’re going to have as we carry out the plan.

I can make a plan to walk out of this pulpit to that back door. My plan can be I’m going to step down, walk down that far right aisle over there, cut back through the middle, cross to the other side of the church, come back toward the front, go across to the middle and then down the center aisle to the back. Now that’s what I’m going to do, the path I’m going to take, and where I’m going to end up. But I can take that route smiling at everyone and high fiving all the way or I can take that journey punching and pushing people out of my way all along the way. Which is a more enjoyable trip for me and those in my path. And oh by the way if I take that journey pushing and punching people along the way, I just may not make it to the end of my journey.

Plans are important. Those in the Civil Rights movement sat down and made plans for what they wanted to accomplish and how they were going to do it. Those that did the sit ins at the lunch counters…it sounds like such a simple thing, but they practiced because sitting at the lunch counter was not just sitting at the lunch counter, there was going to be opposition. People were going to say things to them, scream at them, hit them, spit on them, throw things in their faces and because they were doing a peaceful sit in they had to be able to endure and the only way to know they could endure was—to practice. Practice, practice, practice.

What’s the plan? When you plan, know that you don’t have to plan alone, God puts people in your life to help you. You don’t have to know everything, we have Google, we have YouTube, we have books, we have teachers, you don’t know everything now and you won’t know everything in the future. That’s why you have a church family, that’s why you have brothers and sisters in Christ, to help you go through, to help you get to the other side. Many hands make light work.

Make your plan, but leave room for changes, and remember, “Surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord”. There’s no doubt that God has a plan for your life and his plan is perfect. We go through our lives sometimes bumbling and fumbling,

trying to figure things out,

trying to work things out,

trying to talk things out,

trying to buy our way out,

but nothing seems to work. It may be that you have to stay there and finish your time in exile, you may have to continue through the storm so that you can be complete. Some times we don’t learn the lesson if we don’t go all the way through the storm.

We don’t want our children to struggle and so we help them, some times too much, so they don’t get the lesson because they never had to endure the struggle. The struggle to break out of the cocoon is what makes the butterfly’s wings strong and beautiful. Without the struggle their wings are frail, weak and will not support them in flight.

When we don’t look back, sometimes we forget the struggle and so we fail, we fail to vote, we fail to show up, we fail to move forward because we forget, because we fail to plan. When we fail to look to God and His plan for our lives, because He has plans for our welfare and not for harm we can get into trouble, we can lose our way. You have to trust that His plan is for our good, his plan is what’s best for us.

Sometimes, when we’re in the midst of the struggle we can’t see that God wants to give us a new plan, that His plan is better, we forget that He doesn’t want to harm us, not only that, He wants to give you a future and not just any old future, but a future with hope. Anybody need hope? Anybody in a struggle? I came here to tell you this morning, God’s got the plan and all you have to do is ask Him to show it to you, then follow His plan for your life.

Verse 12 says, “Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.” I don’t know how that sounds to you, but that sounds like a guarantee to me. When you recognize God has a plan for your life and it’s a good one, call on him, go to him and pray to God, He said He will hear you.

Now let us have a little talk with Jesus Let us tell Him all about our troubles He will hear our faintest cry and He will answer by and by Now when you feel a little prayer wheel turning You'll know a little fire is burning You will find a little talk with Jesus makes it right

When you call on him God does hear you,

despite what it may look like,

despite how it may seem,

despite what people continue to do,

despite what they continue to say,

despite how you continue to feel,

God hears you. Call Him, He’s waiting just to hear you call his name.

How many of you remember when your kids were babies and they were trying to learn to do something? You were there watching, pretending not to as they were trying to figure out how to do that thing. You watched as they worked through it, learning, struggling and it was going to go one of two ways, they were either going to get it and be so pleased with themselves as you praised them for their achievement or, they were going to call you for help and you answered.

It’s no different for God our Father, He’s watching as you try to work through that thing, as you struggle and He’s standing at the ready waiting on you to just call, waiting on you to just come to Him, waiting on you to just pray.

And when you call on Him, don’t call just half heartedly, call Him like you know He has the answer, like you know He not only can help, but like you know He wants to help you. There are many people who can help you, but the questions are will they and do they want to. He knows, he’s there, he sees and he cares, everything will be alright.

When you search for him, you will find him, but there’s a condition, you have to seek him with all your heart, with your whole heart. You have to know and believe that He’s there. How many times have you started a prayer with God, if you’re listening, or God if you’re real, or even God if you love me?

There’s no doubt that God loves you, what is you need from him? What is it you want Him to do? What is it you desire in your heart? Now, have you ever asked Him, God what is your plan for me? What is it you want me to do? What is the desire of your heart? We ask God for things, but when is the last time you asked God what He wants?

Well I can start you off, He wants you. All of you. He gave you His only Son, who gave His life for you, now he wants all of you. What He can do with your life it’s just simply amazing. He can take your ordinary and make it extraordinary if you just give him a chance.

What’s the plan? Yours can’t be better than his. It just can’t. You may see down the street, but he sees down the street and around the corner, he doesn’t just see your tomorrow, he sees your next week, your next month, your next year, he sees all the way to the day he calls you home and he sees beyond that too.

What’s the plan? He’s forgiven for your past, he’s blessing your present and He has your future. Do you trust him?

What’s the plan? When every one else turns their back on you, God is right there, picking you up, dusting you off and setting you right back on the path that leads to your future.

What’s the plan? When you’re down to your last dime, God is there and He’s got a blessing with your name on it.

What’s the plan? When you don’t know what else to pray, when can’t find the words to say, just say the name Jesus?

What’s the plan? We’d like to think we have it all together, but we’re on the edge and we’re about to go over, but God’s got us and He won’t let go.

What’s the plan? God has a plan for our welfare, to give us a future with hope. When your hope is in Jesus, it’s a sure thing. Activate your faith, when things fail you, when people let you down, call on God, go to Him and pray and He will hear you.

But you have to give him your heart and that starts with a prayer of repentance, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

If you’ve never accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, today is a good day

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.