Recalculating: When Plans Change
Notes
Transcript
Handout
We want to look at what happens when the future we envisioned, doesn’t come to pass. Many of you are going through this right now with the loss of friends, jobs and places to go. I would venture to say that so far, 2020 has not gone the way you saw it going.
Where can you turn for help in planning? You can’t turn to the news. They want one thing… ratings. Our politicians are split, so they are not helpful. One group says things will be ok… the other says they will not be ok.
I named this “Recalculating” because when you make a wrong turn, your GPS will recalculate the new path for you. We all have to do some recalculating to get back on the path to our Next Phase Upgrade due to the Virus and the economic impact it’s had on everyone.
In James 4, he talks about the future.
13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. 17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
James is telling the story of a man that made three mistakes in the first century and he has plenty of company in the 21st century.
Three Mistakes we make in planning our future
Three Mistakes we make in planning our future
1. We make the mistake of Godless Planning
1. We make the mistake of Godless Planning
Planning is not bad… it’s good. Proverbs is full of information about planning. Planning as if there was not God is not good.
This man in the passage decided that he would go out to another town on a certain day and buy and sell for a profit. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem in this passage is that you see no mention of God or his will for this mans life.
The Bible says
1 Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!
Someone one time said that the Atheists do have a holiday… it’s April Fools Day.
But… Worse that the person who does not believe is the person who says they believe and then lives like there is not God.
Let me tell you as you face planning things for the rest of the year and beyond due to this pandemic.
God has a plan for your life.
God has a plan for your life.
Because of this we always should include God in our planning. He should be first in our planning.
23 The steps of good men are directed by the Lord. He delights in each step they take.
God has a plan for you and for me as we move forward. Look at these verses,
8 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.
It would be a shame to miss out on God’s plan… in his advice...
21 Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.
He promises to direct you.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
Allow God to lead you. When you receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you have access to His plans, His purposes, His guidance and protection for your life.
God has a plan for your business… your education… your career … your family… for every aspect of your life.
15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”
Here is how you can apply verse 15 in your life...
Confession
Confession
Get sin out of your life. When you pray for guidance, and you are still entertaining sin in your life, you will not have that guidance.
18 If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
You have to get rid of sin.
You have to get rid of idols…
Idol = anything that you love more than God
Idol = anything that you love more than God
Boat, family, hobby...
3 “Son of man, these leaders have set up idols in their hearts. They have embraced things that will make them fall into sin. Why should I listen to their requests?
Get rid of these so that God will listen and answer you with the answer you want.
Consecration
Consecration
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.
You are saying, Lord, I want what you want in and for my life. I am yours to command.
Have you done that? I mean have you signed the contract on the bottom and asked the Lord to fill out the details? Too often, we give him a thousand page plan and ask him to endorse it.
Give everything to the Lord...
Concentration
Concentration
Are you focused on and listening to the Lord? He already said that you will hear a voice behind you saying go this way or that…
You may have gotten rid of sin… you may have consecrated yourself and your desires to the Lord, but are you listening to the Lord?
You have to listen.
2. We make the mistake of Dangerous Presumption
2. We make the mistake of Dangerous Presumption
15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”
This man presumed that he had tomorrow, but God said he did not.
The Bible says our lives are like a vapor… Your life is like your breath that falls on a cold day… Your breath is like the vapor on a lake before the sun comes up… God says don’t presume you have time. Life is short.
Listen, we have too many people whose lives have been cut short due to this virus. You cannot presume tomorrow. You may think, “I’m young and healthy”… then you step in front of a car. Live is short and we have to understand that and be ready.
A baby is conceived. You can hear the heartbeat… there is life there. Then he or she grows up… sees and meets someone special and marries them… and begins to raise children… One day the heart beats irregularly and they put in a pacemaker… it’s fine for a while but then it happens again and one day someone goes to wake him and he doesn’t wake up… he’s in heaven.
You may say, well he lived to be older. Listen, sometimes that heartbeat stops in the womb, in the crib, on the playground, in traffic…
Don’t think that you have this year to … you don’t know. Say this is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice in it. Yesterday is gone… tomorrow is not here.
Listen to what Paul said…
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
What do you need to forget?
What do you need to forget?
Sinful patterns… planning with no regards to the Lord....past grief…
One of my favorite QB’s before Drew Breese, was Joe Montana. One time someone asked him how he could play terrible for a quarter or a half and then play unbelievably well in the end. he said, i forget the last play… whether it was an interception or a TD.
Live today! Forget yesterday and don’t worry about tomorrow.
God is in control of what lies ahead for you. Every step you take, God will take care of you. When you enter your workplace, God will take care of you. When make your plans, God will take care of you. We are entering a new normal, or as I called it Sunday, your next phase upgrade.
Don’t plan without God. Include Him as you plan and do not presume about tomorrow. Live like you believe that if the Lord wills, I will do this tomorrow. This is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice in it.
3. We make the mistake of Procrastination
3. We make the mistake of Procrastination
16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. 17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
He says here that when we know the right thing to do and don’t do it, it’s sin. It’s not enough to know God’s will, you have to do God’s will.
It is a greater sin to fail to do what you ought to do, than to do what you ought not to do. Because if you are doing what you ought to do, you cannot be doing what you ought not to do.
Sins of omission are actually worse than sins of commission. ILL - David
You can’t say, ok Lord I know what I am supposed to do and one day I’ll get around to it… That’s sin.
Procrastination is why many people are lost
Procrastination is why many people are lost
What do you have to do to be lost? Kill someone? Commit adultery? Blaspheme God? make fun of Christians? Refuse to be Saved?
All you have to do is say, “I wait until later.” One day it will be too late.
Conclusion
Joe Henry Hankins pastored in Texas. He said that one day a lady in his church gave her life to Jesus. She was the wife of a wealthy businessman in town. She was going to be baptized on Sunday, so he went to see her and her husband on Saturday. They had cordial talk for a while, then Pastor Hankins took out his bible and shared the Gospel. He asked the man if he would give his heart to the Lord, and the business man knew he needed to but told him that he would come forward in church on Sunday. As the pastor was about to leave, Holy Spirit prompted him to ask, why not take care of it - now. You can come tomorrow and let the people know you have given your heart to Jesus. He tried to leave again but Holy Spirit said… something’s not right… go back. The pastor got the man to read 2 CO 6:2
2 For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.
The pastor asked the man who wrote it? He replied God did. So if God is saying you need to be saved today, whose voice is telling you not to get saved? The devil. He banged his fist on the table and said the devil has messed up his life long enough and got down on his knees and accepted Jesus.
He told the pastor that he would see him the next day at church. The next day, as the pastor was on the front steps welcoming people, the mans nephew came up to him and told him that his uncle had a massive heart attack but wanted him to say thank you for making him push through to salvation. He said that the man would be there as soon as he was out of the hospital. During lunch, the pastor got a call from the man’s sister saying the heart attack was worse than they thought and he was not going to make it. The pastor said I am on my way. But she said he wanted the pastor to now that he was thankful he pressed him to salvation. Before he could leave the house, the phone rang again… no need to hurry Pastor, he’s gone, but before he died, he said to thank you for encouraging him to give his heart to Jesus yesterday.
We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but if you are a follower of Jesus, you know the one who holds the future in his hands.
Have you been planning 2020 without God? Now is the time to change that. Now is the time to put God first in your plans, so that you can obey him each day.
Salvation…