The Plans of God

Heavenly Father, we are so grateful that for this hour, we can meet with so many of the Lord's people around the globe. And Father, it reminds us of a day coming when we will be able to gather together around the throne in the presence of our risen Lord. And our Father, we give thanks that we are of one common bond because of the cross.

We're thankful for what the Savior accomplished for us on our behalf in giving his life, shedding his blood. And our Father, we give thanks that we have come into the good and with the forgiveness of sins because of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful for this venue, Father, and for the privilege of being able to share in it.

And our longing is that there might be honor and glory brought to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know, Father, that there are many that are going through very difficult times. And there are many that are feeling very, very isolated because of the rules at present.

And we pray that you would draw near. We ask, Father, that as we consider the word of God and the promises of the word of God, the teaching of the word of God, that it might bring comfort and joy to our hearts. And our Father, we pray as well that we might be challenged for the time that remains for us to live upon this earth, that we might live with the desire and the longing to serve and to please our Lord.

And so be with us, we pray. We ask your blessing upon us, upon all those that are here with us, their families, their situations. We commit all these things to God and give thanks for the Savior in his own blessed and worthy name, amen.

I'm going to share my screen. Good afternoon, or good morning, or good evening, depending on where you live in this world and wherever that might be. We welcome you.

We're very glad that you're able to join us this afternoon. I just want to take a moment and wish everyone, of course, this is a holiday in North America, and I don't know of all the details in other countries in the world, but happy Mother's Day. And there are many, many of us that can be so very, very thankful for a godly mother and for the help that she has been in our lives as we look back over, at least in my case, many, many decades.

And so happy Mother's Day to all these dear sisters. I think that it goes without being said, but I'll say it anyway, that the day and age in which we live just now is very different. People talk about a new normal, and we're not sure what that is or what that will be in the days that lie ahead.

And I think that sometimes what happens is that we get so caught up with the events of the day. We get so caught up with the news and the difficulties and the problems that people are having that sometimes our mind turns away from God. Sometimes we almost get to the point where I suppose that we forget God.

And so that's one of the reasons I'm so thankful for this series, that it will redirect us back to our God and to the hope and the assurance and obviously the reason for the title, this Refuge Series. I think that when we think about the events of our days, that many of us, especially that have unsaved family members, friends, neighbors, our longing is that this might be a time when it's quieter and when there are stark realities that are facing people, that people's minds and thoughts will be turned to God. And so we should, we should consider that and pray very, very much for that with that in mind.

But I think too, that sometimes we need to remember that when events of this kind come into our experience, that God is trying to speak to us, those of us that are the people of God, the Christians. And sometimes we have to admit that the busyness of life causes his voice to go unheard or sort of to be put with the rest of the voices that fill our lives from day to day. As well, we sometimes are afraid.

We wonder what is going to happen if we have lost certain things, if we have lost a job, if we are sick ourselves or we have family members that are ill. Maybe sometimes we might even go so far as to use the language of the disciples. You remember when the Lord was on the boat with his disciples and the wind came up and the waves were rolling and it was dark and there was this uncertainty and fear even in seasoned fishermen.

But when they went to search for the Lord Jesus who was on the boat and he was asleep in the back of the boat, they went to him and they wakened him and they asked him a question. They said, don't you care? And the Lord's response wasn't to answer that question, but the Lord's response was, why are you afraid? Why are you afraid? And sometimes when we think of these truths, we can't help but think of the fact that we ask ourselves the question, where's God in all of this? And that's okay. God doesn't mind us asking questions.

A lot of times, I remember when I was younger, it was almost a sinful kind of a thing, I suppose, to ask the question of God, why? But we find that word oftentimes in our Bibles. And of course, you remember the Lord Jesus on the cross in the darkness. He said those words to a leaden sky, why have you forsaken me? But I would like to consider in my message today, the subject, as it has been announced, the plans of God.

That's what's been before me. There's a verse in particular that we'll come to in just a little while that has gotten me thinking about this for the last number of weeks. And before I speak as far as a message, maybe to God's people, I wanna take a minute and just speak to some maybe who are tuned in today, who are not believers, who have never trusted the Lord Jesus as their savior, whose sins are not forgiven, who are in danger, who are not safe, they're not sheltered by the value and the work and the worth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I would like to say to you very, very clearly and lovingly, God has plans for you. Each of you as an individual, he has plans for you and he longs for the moment when you will simply turn to him by faith and receive his son, the one that gave his life, poured out his blood on the cross so that you could be safe, so that you would be sure of heaven. There's a couple of verses that I'll just read to you.

And some of you may know them, but in 1 Timothy chapter two, we read these words, God, our savior, who will have all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all. And so the truth of that verse tells me that God is saying to you, he wants you, you personally as an individual to be saved.

In Ephesians chapter one, we read these words, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. And so the amazing truth of that is this, that before there was anything, before anything was created, God loved you. He loved you with an everlasting and eternal unconditional love.

And his longing is that you will trust him. Here's a verse that, it wasn't a verse through which I was saved, but a verse that has brought comfort to me over the years since God saved me back in 1958. And it's the words of John chapter six and verse 37.

It says this, him or her that comes to me, I will never, never cast out. I will never, never cast out. So we're going to continue on with a few slides.

What I'd like to do first of all, is just give you a few verses that I have enjoyed in the last number of weeks in connection with comfort and assurance in these days of difficulty. We know it's no surprise that with this virus that is rampant throughout our world, that as the Lord Jesus said those words, men's hearts are failing them for fear. And it's not just fear of the disease, but fear of all the ramifications of the disease, whether it's jobs, whether it's permanent health damage, whatever the case may be, there are those questions.

And the question that maybe arises most of all or involved in all of that is this question, what next? What else is going to come? Well, look at a few promises from the scripture. And every time I think of promises, I think of a little phrase. I've used it often in preaching the gospel and I'd love to consider it.

Titus chapter one verse two, it says this, God who cannot lie promised. Just five simple words that all by themselves should bring us tremendous assurance. God is our refuge.

That's the subject of this series as we know. And that word refuge means a shelter, protection when there's danger, when there's distress. It could be a physical thing, it could be an emotional thing and something or someone that we can turn to as a recourse when we come to a time of difficulty in our experience.

So look at these promises just very briefly. The name of the Lord is a strong power. The righteous runs into it and they're safe.

Psalm number 56, I've been reading through the Psalms lately and different little phrases have stood out to me. And again, I pass them on to you. What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

Psalm 57, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge till the storms of destruction pass by. And I think sometimes that's exactly how we feel. These storms of destruction, the storms of pestilence, the storms of these difficulties that come our way.

I hope that all of us can just sort of rest in the comfort of God's sovereignty. Sometimes I think that if we were honest, we would almost think, well, you know, God has abandoned the throne. He has not, he is in absolute control and there are no surprises with God and there's no randomness with God.

And he wants us to find our comfort in his absolute control and in his sovereignty. He knew all about this before it ever happened. He knew all about the circumstances that would surround us, those of us that belong to him.

Again, the Psalm, this I know that God is for me. And I, it was almost like a mirror image of what we find in the New Testament, the words of the apostle Paul, writing to the Roman Christians and he says, if God is for us, and we have just read God is for us, if God is for us, who can be against us? There is no giant too big that he cannot defeat, no enemy too large or too powerful that he cannot defeat. And this God is the God that Paul raised to Timothy about, God who is the blessed and only sovereign potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in inapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion, amen.

That's the God we're talking about. And not only that, but that is the God who, by the spirit of God that we have received, it's by him, this powerful, eternal sovereign God that we can cry, Abba, Abba, Father. And the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

And if children then heirs, imagine that you and I are heirs of God and fellow heirs or joint heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ. So the promises of God are incredible and he wants us never ever to lose sight of who we're linked with. Everything will pass away that we know.

We know around us that we can see, that we can handle, that we can touch. It's all gonna pass away, but our God will never pass away. So I would like to get to the subject that I've had on my heart, with the plans of God.

Before I do though, or in connection with this wonderful subject, I think we need to consider the truth of a perspective. The perspective that is necessary for us to maybe understand in little greater measure, the fact that as a result of who we're linked with and all that we have to look forward to, sometimes we need to look at things just a little bit differently, from a different viewpoint, if you will, and we need to gain perspective. Now, let me, just as an aside, I want you to think about the truth that when we read in our Bibles and the book of the Revelation, the apostle John there has been given an incredible privilege, I suppose, even though sometimes it caused him to fall upon his face in many different ways, but God said, there's some things I want you to see.

And when he said that, he said this, and I'm gonna read a couple of verses from the book of the Revelation, just pick and choose a couple of them, but in chapter four of the Revelation, John says, after this, I looked and behold, a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I'd heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, come up here and I will show you what must take place after this. And at once I was in the spirit and behold, a throne stood in heaven and so on. Chapter 17, one of the seven angels who had the bulls said this to John, come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute.

They carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness and I saw. Chapter 21, then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bulls again, full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me saying, come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem.

Now, John could not see those until he was taken to the place from which he could get the right perspective. He had to go there in order to see what God wanted him to see. There are times in our experience when just like Peter is writing here in this verse that is on the screen, he says to the people of God, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, here's the perspective that God wanted them to receive in these words that Peter pens, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In other words, Christians is saying, this is why. You had to go here in order for this to happen, this praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, you and I, and we'll touch this in a moment, but you and I are here for a singular reason.

Ultimately, that is to bring honor and glory. He goes on to say here, though you have not seen him, you love him, though you do not see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul. There's another phrase you find in your Bible, and it's this, and we're gonna refer to that in a moment or two as well, but it says, and it came to pass.

That's the perspective that God wants us to understand. It came, yes, it did, and here it is now, this particular situation, but it came to pass. Likely, many of you have traveled different places and have seen things that you try to describe to others, and the only way that you're able to see a view like this one as an example, just one of many, is for you to be right here.

You can't get that perspective unless you are right here with this young lady sitting on this rock. The same is true for us. There is a spot, and there's actually an address to this spot, and it's 1400 Patton Road, Lookout Mountain, Georgia, and the reason I took time to mention that is because that's a specific address, and when you go to that place and that place only, if the conditions atmospherically are right, you can see seven states.

You can see North and South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky. You can see seven states from that point, but you can't see them anywhere else, and so that's why sometimes I'm taking a moment to stress the importance of perspective when it comes to you and I. Brethren and sister, you have been made for eternity. You've been made for eternity, and if it's possible just in our minds to think of it this way, if I can go somewhere in my mind, in my thinking, and just stand as it were on an edge or on a brink and get a view that is this truth, I have been made for eternity.

I'm just a stranger passing through in my life. I wanna read a letter, and this letter is from the Lord, and it's part of a passage that we read about in Jeremiah chapter 29. It's a letter from the Lord to the exiles that are in Babylon, and I'm not gonna read the first few verses, but just to use a couple of phrases from the first few verses of Jeremiah 29, because it describes what this is.

It says in verse one, these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, to the priests, to the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Here's the letter. I'm gonna take time to read it.

Thus says the Lord of hosts. Just imagine that someone has come to them. They are in Babylon.

They have been exiled from their home. They're strangers. They're experiencing all kinds of emotions and physical hardships, perhaps, whatever the case may be, and God sends them a letter.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile. God's saying, I did this. I've sent them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Here's what I want you to hear. Build houses, live in them, plant gardens, eat their produce, take wives and have sons and daughters, take wives for your sons, give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters, multiply there and do not decrease, but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf. For in its welfare, you will find your welfare.

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, and he's decrying some of those that were supposedly giving a prophecy that was from God. It says, I did not send them, declares the Lord, a little middle of the page. For thus says the Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

I don't know how large the percentage is, but likely many of you know this verse, this next verse, verse 11 by heart. Maybe you have it in your homes. This is part of the letter that he wrote to the exiles.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope, to give you a future and a hope. And the Lord wants us to understand that he has a future and a hope for all of us. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you.

You'll seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord. I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I've driven you, declares the Lord.

And I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. Now, especially for verse number 11, as I mentioned, and this is that verse in the NLT, and it says this, just ponder these words. For I know, God says, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, they are plans for good, not for disaster to give you a future and a hope.

So God's plans for my life and for yours. And I wanna consider the plans of God, first of all, for my specific, my singular design and yours as well. Genesis chapter one, if you read Genesis chapter one, and we read these words over and over again, and the Lord said, let there be, and there was.

All of the various things that we read about in that particular chapter, they came as a result of the power, the incredible power of the word of God. And we read at the end of Genesis chapter one that the Lord had, God had made man in his own image, but we get some detail in chapter two. It says in verse seven, then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul.

The man became a living soul. David ponders this, he wonders this as he writes in Psalm 139, just the first part of that section. He says, thank you for making me so wonderfully complex.

Your workmanship is marvelous. How well I know it. How well I know it.

I want you to think for just a few moments of a truth that takes a lot longer than a few minutes to try to understand and comprehend. And that is that you and I are unique. In fact, we are a masterpiece in the mind and in the heart of our eternal God.

Paul in writing to the Ephesian Christians, he said this, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we should walk in them. Again, another translation is this, for we are brother, sister, and oftentimes this is something, I'll say this now, a lot of times there are different ones in different situations and you don't think very much of yourself. Now, I'm not trying to preach that we should be puffed up with any kind of pride or anything of that nature.

That's not my point. What I want us to understand is what does God think of us? What is God's, if you will, God's opinion? How does he describe us? Well, here's one of them. We are, as Paul writes to the Ephesian Christians, we are God's, God's masterpiece.

He has created us a new, a fresh, a new birth, a new beginning, he has created us a new in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. We couldn't do that in our sins, but he has given us a new beginning. There's a new birth.

And as a result, we are now able to do the good things that he planned for us. Now, I think when it comes to a masterpiece, we all understand or we should understand this truth that when it comes to a masterpiece, it's one of a kind. There aren't any others just like it.

And that's what God says we are. And that's why I love this word because it describes in so much detail the truth of what God has done in his plans for my singular design. There isn't anywhere, anyone else in the world like me, and I suppose I could say that's a blessing, but there's no one else in the world like you either.

We are one of a kind and God did that. And he wants you to know that and he wants you to appreciate and to enjoy the truth that you are one of a kind because God has made you that way. But we're gonna look in a moment or two about why it is that he has done that.

I think all of us have, at least we're aware of the truth of what a blueprint is. And sometimes we see stacks of them, we see big rolls of them, but what they are is something on paper or something on a computer screen that defines what is in the heart and in the mind of the architect. And if you look at some of them very closely, you realize there is incredible detail.

And that's absolutely true because in the mind and in the design of that architect, he or she has something that will have all of the details there so that this is a complete work, a complete kind of creation. Now, we also realize in connection with design that sometimes the word of God uses the truth of a potter and of a craftsman. I think only one time in my life have I had the chance to actually use a potter's wheel when I was in intermediate school, a lot of years ago.

But when you look at this wheel, this potter's wheel, on that potter's wheel is this amorphous, quite frankly, an ugly lump of clay. The idea is, however, that as soon as that clay is chosen and put on that wheel, then the hands of the potter go to that lump of clay. And if you've ever watched anyone that does work with clay and with pottery, you realize that pretty much from that point on, his or her hands never leave that piece of clay.

They continue to work with it until it is the finished product in order to go into the kiln or the fire that it would be finished. And so that clay starts to take shape, but it only takes shape under the hand, the pressure, the moistening, if you will. Sometimes using a color that's added into it.

This is all in the mind and the heart of the potter. And sometimes what it takes is a lot of pressure. Isaiah says this, we're the clay and you are the potter.

We are all the work of your hand. You remember in Jeremiah chapter 18, Jeremiah says, I went down to the potter's house and he was working at his wheel and the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel as it seemed good to the potter to do. The word of the Lord came to me speaking about the house of Israel.

And at the end of that section, it says, behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand. Number of years ago, some are familiar with it, I'm sure, but Bill and Gloria Gaither wrote a song and it's called Something Beautiful. And these are some of the words of that verse of that song that they wrote.

And they said, something beautiful, something good, all my confusion he understood. All I had to offer him was my brokenness and strife, but he made something beautiful of my life. And if somehow or another the clay was able to give voice, they might say, it might say something like this, why are you pushing so hard there? Why are you using that sharp object to cut and to gouge? And if that piece of clay had the ability to feel and understand and have the emotions, I think we would understand some of the things that it would say.

It hurts, it cups deeply. Why are you taking that away from me? Whatever the kinds of things that might be said. But just looking at this little picture as an illustration, there's the before and the after.

And when you look at it, you realize there's something so delicate and unique and beautiful about the finished product. But it could not become that until all these other things happened to it. Paul writing to the Philippian Christians, he reminds us of this truth in chapter one.

He says, he who began a good work and you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. Again, another song, I remember hearing some of it many, many years ago. It was a song that the kids often sang, but I'll just read these words as part of it.

In the mirror of his word, reflections that I see makes me wonder why he never gave up on me, but he loves me as I am and helps me when I pray. Remember, he's the potter, I'm the clay. He's still working on me to make me what I need to be.

It took him just a week to make the moon and the stars, the sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient he must be because he's still working on me. And so when you look at pottery that's finished, you realize, well, there are some that are similar.

Every one of them is absolutely unique and there are sort of purposes and variety comes based on the purposes that were in the mind and in the heart of that potter. Same thing with tools. And any of us that has ever used tools as a mechanic, as a builder, as a physician, whatever the case may be, we realize that each one of those tools, different sizes, different shapes, different abilities, it's all with a purpose in mind to finish a work.

A secondary I want you to think for a few moments is the plans of God for my successive days. The plans of God for my successive days. Just to go back, I'm not gonna bring this slide back, but remember in that letter that God wrote to the exiles he said to them these words, when 70 years are completed, it's like 70 years.

Now, some of us are getting a little impatient at six, seven, eight weeks, a couple of months, three months, don't know how much longer it's gonna go, but this was laid out right at the very beginning. And the Lord said, in 70 years, I'll come back for you. I'll take care of the things, I'll fulfill all the things that I've promised you.

And so that's why he said, I want you to make the best of the situation in which you're in. They're in Babylon, even though you're so far away from your home and everything that you have known. David's words here in this Psalm, the last verse of this little section, he says this, of course, David was just, you could just feel and see the wonder in him as he is contemplating these truths.

And he starts that wonderful Psalm was saying, there's nowhere I can run and hide from you. He says, darkness and light are the same to you. But he says here, every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. And so, of course, if we understand the sovereignty of God, just a little bit, we realize that this is the truth of who he is and all that he knows. With God, if you look at God's clock, it says now.

So whether it's the past eternity, as we use that term, or the future eternity, as far as God is concerned, it's now. And he says, every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. Now, if you look at a trail like this, any that have ever done any hiking, you would realize that's probably not a hike that I would like to make.

Think of the words of the Lord Jesus in John chapter 10. So what he says to his followers, my sheep, that's who he describes them as, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. When you look at the life of the Lord Jesus, you realize that the Lord, he didn't choose the easy way, because had that been the case, there would not have been the cross.

But he does say this. He says, the path that I lead as the shepherd is the path that I wish my sheep to follow. I want them to follow my path.

I want them to follow after my voice. No wonder that Moses says this. He said, teach us, Psalm 90, teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom, apply our hearts unto wisdom.

And with God, there are no surprises. He has all of our days mapped out for us in our life. We don't know what each day will hold.

But here's another truth of the Psalms. It says this, that the Lord directs the steps of the godly, and he delights in every detail of their lives. Now this person obviously had a fairly busy schedule, just looking at this one month, if you will.

And every day there's something penciled in for them to do, and so on and so forth. Maybe we have something like that. Maybe what we have is a year at a glance, as they say, that big erasable thing that's on our walls, and we put things into that.

We put something into our schedule day by day that has to do with our days on this earth. God has plans for us, and whether it's today's plan, May 10th, 2020, whatever the case may be, God has plans for us as he had for individuals in the scripture. Consider this man, Joseph.

We were hearing about him in a little bit of ministry earlier today in the assembly meeting this morning. Joseph, sometimes I try to just imagine what it must have been like, and if the Lord was talking to him, obviously these are not verses from the scripture, but sometimes I like to use my imagination, and the Lord would say, Joseph, you're 17 years old, and for the next 13 years, you're going to be in places where you never thought you would be. You're not gonna see your father for more than 20 years, even though you are your father's favorite son.

And the Lord might say something like this. He said, Joseph, do I ever have plans for you? But first of all, Joseph, you're gonna be in a pit. You're gonna be betrayed.

You're going to be in the prison, falsely accused, but then Joseph, you're going to be on the throne. Now, the verse that I have actually been thinking about that sort of led me to all the things that I'm talking about today is this verse from the last chapter of Genesis, and his brothers had come back after he had gotten a chance to be with his father again, and then his father died, and they were afraid. They thought, okay, dad's gone.

Now Joseph's gonna take it out on us, but they come back, they meet with Joseph, and he was not that revengeful, vengeful person. He said this to them. He said, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God, but God meant it for good.

To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. The Lord was with Joseph so many, many times in that book, and Joseph honored God as the various circumstances, the days of his lives passed one after the other after the other, and he pleased and he honored God. Another famous individual from the scriptures, if you will, is Moses.

He was God's chosen leader, and it's almost as if God was saying this to Moses. He says, Moses, he says, I'm gonna use you, but I can't use you until you're well-prepped, and it's gonna take 40 years. You're gonna be in the palace, and then after that, it's gonna be 40 years tending sheep.

You're gonna be chasing those wayward animals around the wilderness, around the place that's far off for 40 years. You're gonna learn some things out there, and then, Moses, for 40 years, you're going to be leading a group of people that are as or worse wayward than those sheep that you have been taking care of. I've come to enjoy the book of Deuteronomy, and in that book, Moses is sort of recounting to the people all the things that he's learned and discovered and appreciated about who he is and who God is.

He says this in chapter three of Deuteronomy. He says, oh, Lord God. Now, this is, he's about 120 years old now.

This is right near the end of his life. Oh, Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. Amazing.

All these steps, all these days, these moments laid out by God for God's plans for this man and everyone with whom he came in contact. Saul of Tarsus described as the first terrorist. I suppose that's one way to look at it.

Saul of Tarsus, who became the great apostle Paul, and the day that he was saved, God shared with Ananias this truth, that as far as Paul was concerned, he would suffer many things for my name's sake. Now, I don't think I'm going to enumerate them all for the sake of time, but if you get a chance, read 2 Corinthians chapter 11. All the things that he would suffer, he lists them all.

He talks about the times that he was beaten, that he was stoned, that he was left adrift and so on and so forth. The many things that he would suffer for the name's sake of his God. Was that God's plan? Yeah, that was God's plan for him.

As hard as it was for him day by day and all that he went through, and you can see the, you can almost feel the emotions of Paul as he writes to some of the different ones as he is living his life, his existence is continuing in the prison cell. There's this truth though, Paul said, but the Lord was with me. The Hebrew writer says this, the Lord Jesus, the words of our Lord, I will never leave you.

I will never forsake you. It's not conditional on our circumstances. Now, the last little section, as we get through the days, the steps of our life, the last little section that I want to think about for a few moments is the plans of God for my specific, my special duties.

The duties that God has committed to my hand to fulfill and to use. Here's our verse from Ephesians two and verse 10 again, for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Sometimes when we speak to those that aren't saved, we talk about the gospel, we talk about the Bible, we talk about what many describe as religious things. Oftentimes the first things that someone will say is something like this. Well, I'm a good person and I do God good things.

Well, of course we know that the scriptures make very, very plain this truth from Romans chapter three, verse 12. There's none that does good. No, not so much as even one.

But now we can do the things that, the good things that he planned for us long ago. When we're, as a believer, we're not going to heaven because of the good things we've done. We're doing the good things now because we are going to heaven.

Heaven's our home. That's where we're going. That is where we are headed.

And you know, there are a couple of individuals and you think about them again, almost like an interview. You think of a man like Andrew, he was one of the 12. Andrew, you're one of the apostles, Andrew.

And so, you know, what are your plans? What duties do you have? You're going to be a great preacher, a great minister of the word of God. And you know, what are you going to be, Andrew? Well, I'm just going to bring people to Jesus. That's what I'm going to do.

And I think I'll start with my brother. Start with brother Peter. And so we read in John's gospel that he brings Peter to the Lord.

I don't think we read about Andrew preaching ever. We read about Andrew bringing a little boy that had lunch to the Lord. And Andrew stood there and he listened to the Lord Jesus.

And he watched as the Lord Jesus took a little boy's lunch, a little bit of fish, a little bit of bread. And he fed likely 20,000 people that day to the point where they couldn't eat another bite. And there was even leftovers.

He brought them to Jesus. And along with Philip, there he is. And he brings Greeks.

Sirs, we would see Jesus. They brought them to Jesus. That was his work.

That was his duty. Was he in the limelight? No. His brother was, the one that he brought to Jesus.

He was the preacher at Pentecost, the day that 3,000 souls were saved. But it was Andrew that brought Peter. And so there are specific duties that God has for you and me to do.

And what God has given you to do, I can't do. It's yours. What God has given me to do, you can't do.

It's mine. Esther. Esther, of all the women in the kingdom, of all the beautiful women in the kingdom, you were chosen.

You're the queen. Aren't you proud of that? Maybe she would say something like this. I'm a Jewess.

I'm a Jewess. I belong to God. That's what's most important to me.

And I just got a note from my cousin, Mordecai, who said this. Because of that attempt by Haman to destroy, to annihilate the Jews from out of that kingdom, this was the message that she got. It may be that you are in the kingdom, that you are here for just such an hour as this.

And if you read the book of Esther and you finish it, you see what God did and how Esther was involved. And she championed her people and God rescued her people and destroyed the enemy. Wouldn't read about Esther anymore.

How old was she when she died? I have no idea. Did she do anything else? I have no idea. I just know this, that for an hour, using that term loosely, for that hour in her experience and in the experience of the Jewish people, God used her.

It was her singular, specific duty to fulfill. So maybe you ask this question. Lord, what do you want me to do? If you're honest, if you're open to that, if you're available, he can give you the abilities.

He's looking for our availabilities. He says this to us, occupy till I come. We don't know when he's coming again.

Maybe it's going to be today. Wouldn't that be great? Just to say goodbye to this old sick world, literally sick world and to be cut away with God's people, to be forever with the Lord as Paul comforted the Thessalonian Christians. But in the meantime, we need to stay busy to honor, to glorify him.

Remember what was asked in Exodus chapter four of this man, Moses. Moses, what's that in your hand? And all he had was a stick. He said, it's a rod.

And God used that man and that stick to do tremendous things that we read about in our Old Testament under the legacy and the leadership of this faithful man. I don't know what that is for you. I seek that for my life every day.

And I trust that we would all do the same. Just very quickly in closing, just an illustration. I love it.

And so I've used it numerous times, but the man, the virtuoso, the violin virtuoso, and all the arrangements made for him to play in front of a tremendous filled auditorium with what was described as the world's most valuable violin. So the lights went down. The spotlight was on this man as he took his violin and began to play.

And there was a hush that came over the entire audience and people sat and they listened in awe. But then he took that violin and he did this to it. And that same group of people, there was this gasp that came from the audience as they watched him destroy that violin.

Then he went over to another case and out of that case brought the Stradivarius. And again, he picked up his bow and he began to play. There were some that were very, very well-trained in that audience.

And they could tell the nuance of the difference in the tone, in the sound, as they listened to him play the second time. But most of the people couldn't tell the difference because the difference wasn't in the instrument. The difference was in the hand of the master, the hand of the virtuoso.

And that's what God would have us to remember. He can take whoever, whatever we are, and he can make the beautiful music, if you will, if we will allow him. And so it is that God wants us to remember this truth.

I just want you to stay occupied in my business till I come. He says, surely I come quickly. Won't it all be worthwhile, brother and sister? I don't know if you ever think about it, but I think about it sometimes, to go and stand in his presence for the very first time, to look into the face of the man that died for me and to hear words like this, well done, good and faithful servant.

I think then we'll realize just how worth it it was to live and serve our Lord. Let's take a moment and pray. Father, we're so grateful for the word of God.

We're thankful for its encouragement, for its direction. And our father, our longing and our prayer is that the word of God would be used even this day in each and every one of our hearts. Sometimes we look for comfort and encouragement in many places and we forget the promises from a God who cannot lie, the promises that are there for us and for the truth that Jesus is coming again.

We look forward to that day. And so father, bless the word, the word of God that has been spoken. Bless each that has listened, comfort each heart, minister to the needs.

And father, we give thanks again for this opportunity to gather together around the word of God in this way. And we acknowledge your goodness and kindness. We're thankful for the cross.

We're thankful for the forgiveness of sins. And we ask your blessing upon it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.