GOD HAS A PLAN                                                                             6-17-07

Jeremiah 29:4-14 (11)

The Bible is more than a history book. Yes, it does give us the history of the Jewish people; it does give us a historical record of Jesus’ years on earth and of the early Christians. But the Bible is more than just history. The Bible is God’s Word to us. It’s the primary means through which He still speaks to us today.

Day after day as we read this book, God speaks to us from it. And two weeks ago last Thursday God spoke to me in a special way from some verses in the writings of the Jewish prophet Jeremiah. Turn in your Bible to Jeremiah 29.

I was driving home late in the afternoon. We were going to have a meeting that night of the Elders and Deacons to talk and pray about the changes that are taking place in our pastoral staff right now. And that afternoon Pastor Ken had told me about yet another change.

Read resignation letter.

That letter brought to mind a question I had been asked a couple of weeks earlier after both Pastor Norm and Pastor Jason had resigned. Someone said to me: “Pastor, has the boat sprung a leak? Are we in danger of sinking?”

As I drove home thinking about all of this, God brought to my mind these verses from Jeremiah 29, especially verse 11.  But let’s begin reading at verse 4 (read through v.14).

Verse 11 is a verse I memorized many years ago. To be honest with you, I had not thought about that verse for a long time, and certainly not in relationship to this current season in the life of our church. But as the verse came to my mind, God seemed to say to me: “This is not about the past; this is all about the future!”

I know full well that as Jeremiah wrote chapter 29 he was not thinking about Valley Assembly in the year 2007 AD. He was thinking about his own people, the Jews.

Because of their sin, God had allowed His chosen people to be conquered by the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar.

He and his armies had come to Israel from the northeast and had killed many of the Israelites, taken others captive and deported them to Babylon. Among these people were craftsmen & artisans & educated people including Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Some of the poorest and least educated he left in Israel. And the prophet Jeremiah chose to stay with this remnant in Jerusalem.

As Jeremiah writes, he is writing specifically to those who had been deported to Babylon. Through Jeremiah God promises that He will bring the Jews back into their land after 70 years of exile. Why? Because God has a plan for His people, a plan to prosper them and not to harm then, a plan to give them a hope and future.

Often in the Bible, God talks about a specific historical situation, and then He inserts a timeless principle, or He inserts a statement about the kind of God He is that goes far beyond the historical situation. This is one of those places. God had and still has a plan for the Jews. But the broader principle, the insight into the character of God is that He has plans for His people – not just the Jews in Babylon, but for the people of Spokane Valley as well.

God has plans. Let’s look at some evidence of that in the Bible, and then let’s talk about Valley Assembly.

In Genesis 6, God saw how corrupt mankind had become. People’s thoughts were wicked; their actions were wicked; there was great violence. Yet in the midst of all the sin, God saw a man who pleased Him; his name was Noah.

So God began to speak to Noah and reveal to him the plans God had to destroy mankind. But along with those plans for judgment, God also revealed another plan that would show His grace. “I want you to build a boat” God said. “And here is how you are to build it.” Then God goes on and gives very detailed plans to Noah about how to build the ark and how to prepare for the animals & the people that would come because of God’s grace.  God has plans.

Years later, in the book of Exodus, God invited a man named Moses to come up on Mt. Sinai and meet with Him there. The Jews had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years, and God directed Moses to lead his people out of their captivity. There had been the 10 plagues and finally Pharaoh had said that the Jews could leave.

They had crossed the Red Sea through a miracle of God, journeyed to the south and east and now were standing at the base of Mt. Sinai.

As Moses goes up the mountain, God meets with him there and gives him the 10 Commandments, the rules by which His people were to live. But God also gives Moses something else: very detailed plans for a place he was to build where the Jews would offer their sacrifices and worship God.

Those of you who have read the books of Exodus and Leviticus know how detailed those plans were: chapter after chapter and detail after detail – measurements and materials down to the minutest detail. God has plans.

Years later, as David and Solomon talk about building the Temple in Jerusalem, a permanent place of worship, we read these words in           1 Chron 28:19 All this," David said, "I have in writing from the hand of the LORD upon me, and he gave me understanding in all the details of the plan."  God has plans.

Not only does God have plans for things – an ark, a tabernacle, a temple, He also has plans for events and for people. As I began to use my Bible program on my computer and look up passages that talked about the plans God has, I found some very encouraging verses.

Ps 33:10-11

This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?  

When Pastor Norm gave me his letter of resignation, I was really surprised. I knew he had had some reservations about whether or not he was the one to pursue this transition we had talked about where he would eventually become the Lead Pastor and I would become an Associate Pastor and do pastoral care and visitation and teaching.

My plan was that Pastor Norm would take over the primary leadership of our church, and I would be there to support him and encourage him and assist him in whatever ways that I could. My plan was that with the coming of our new youth pastor Mike Garbutt, Pastor Jason would develop a ministry to college age people and do web support and graphics for our church. My plan was that we would bring in a new children’s pastor and that Pastor Ken would lead Alpha and do more of our administration with Pastor Norm leaving. Those were my plans.

But through these past few weeks I have begun to feel like the Apostle Paul in Acts 16.  He had plans to go into the province of Asia, but God said “no” to Paul’s plans. He had plans to go into Bythinia, but God said “no” to Paul’s plans. Then Paul went to Troas, and there God revealed to him the best plan, God’s plan – a good plan that would further advance God’s kingdom.

The people that are leaving us are not first and foremost committed to Valley Assembly. They are first and foremost committed to God, and to His kingdom. And God’s Kingdom is much, much larger than Valley Assembly.

God in His wisdom brought each of these men here for this particular season in the life of our church. They have blessed us. And now God will use them to bless others, and bring others here to bless us for this new season in the life of our church.

God has a plan – to prosper His Church and not to harm it, to give us a hope and a future. What is happening right now to Valley Assembly is being orchestrated by God: not by me, not by the Deacon Board, not by other leaders, but by God.

There is a rumor circulating that these men have been asked to resign. That rumor is not true. Gossip is a terrible thing in a church, and you cannot be a healthy follower of Jesus and be passing on gossip. The two are mutually exclusive. I have not asked any of these men to resign; the Deacon Board has not asked any of these men to resign; the leaders of our church have not asked any of these men to resign;

As a matter of fact, at the leadership meeting we had a few weeks ago we took an advisory ballot and 84% of the votes said they supported Pastor Norm becoming lead pastor. Yet the rumor has it that he was asked to resign in that meeting. That’s how far from true these rumors are.

84% said they thought Pastor Norm should become lead pastor, but God had a different plan. (picture of Mankins)

I am pleased to announce this morning that Pastor Kent and Toni Mankins have been invited to rejoin our staff, and they have accepted. 14 years ago Kent and Toni joined our pastoral staff and ministered to us for 7 years. Then God led them away from us to Southridge Community Church where they have been Lead Pastor for the past 7 years. God has blessed their ministry at Southridge, and not only has the church grown, Kent and Toni have also grown. But recently they have sensed that their time at that church is coming to an end, and so they are announcing their resignation there this morning.

Kent and I have maintained a close relationship through these past 7 years, and as we ate lunch together several months ago, I was talking with him about our planned transition to Norm becoming the Lead Pastor and my assuming a lesser role. And Kent said to me: “Al, if for some reason it does not work out with Pastor Norm, I sure would love to be considered for that. Even during these 7 years away, I have continued to feel that Valley Assembly is my church home.”

At that point I had no idea that God had a different plan than Pastor Norm. But God has a plan. He has a plan for who our new children’s pastor should be. He has a plan as to who should help us in the administrative area, who should help us with finances, who should help us with web support and graphics, who should help us with Alpha, who should lead our preschool.

So God has a plan for our church, and I am excited as I see Him working out that plan.

But what about our individual lives? Does God have a plan for each of us individually?

Jeremiah 29:11 is as much for you as an individual as it is for us as a church. God has plans for nations; He has plans for churches; but He also has a plan for your life.

At every baby dedication I say these words: “God has a plan for your child’s life. To discover that plan and live it out is the most important task he will face, and he will need your help.” I believe that.

This summer as we look at the book of Psalms on Wednesday nights, one of the Psalms we will study is Psalm 139. And v.16 of that chapter says: All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. That sounds like a plan to me. Nothing takes God by surprise. Things may take us by surprise, but He knows our lives even before we live them, even before we are born.

God’s plan is to bless you, not to harm you; God’s plan is to give you hope and a wonderful future. “If that’s true,” you may ask, “then why are some Christians’ lives so messed up? Is that the wonderful plan you are talking about?”

What we see in some people’s lives is not God’s plan. Yes, He has a good plan, but there are some steps we must take to see His plan come to fulfillment in our lives. Let me quickly give you three things.

Cooperate with Him. Let God’s plan be your plan rather than bringing your plan to Him and trying to get Him to cooperate with you.

God’s plan is better than your plan. I have had to come to grips with that as we move through some of these changes in our church. I could have worked harder at trying to convince Pastor Norm to stay and fulfill my plan. We could have offered him more money, given him a bigger office, and a fancier title, and more vacation.

Any time we try to twist God’s arm or other people’s arms to get them to cooperate with our plan we usually get into trouble. As the 1977 Broadway musical put it “Your Arms Too Short To Box With God”. We can fight with God, and lose, or we can cooperate with God and see His plan unfold.

Let Him decide what it means to prosper you. “Plans to prosper you” it says in the NIV. “Plans for your welfare”, “plans for good”, “plans for  peace”, “plans to take care of you” some different translations say. When God says He will prosper us, He is not always talking about material things – although sometimes He is. But here God is not talking about padding our bank account or giving us expensive cars to drive.

The word used is the Hebrew word “shalom” that is usually translated “peace”. The root meaning of the word is “to be safe (in mind, body or estate); figuratively, to be made complete.” This verse in Jeremiah 29:11 is not talking about things; it’s talking about something deeper than that. It’s talking God keeping you mentally and emotionally and spiritually and physically safe, and making you a complete person. That is what God desires to do for each one of us.

A third thing in seeing God’s plan for your life is…

Commit yourself to being a devoted follower of Jesus. There are blessings that will come to our lives when we are devoted followers of Jesus that will not be there if we are not devoted followers of Jesus. That’s just the way God made life. Casual followers of Jesus will not experience all the good that God intends for them to experience. His plan for their lives will be thwarted – not because God has no plan, and not because God does not want to see His plan fulfilled, but because we have chose to not walk the path where the blessing is.

Are you a follower of Jesus today? Are you a devoted follower of Jesus? In the closing moments of our time together this morning, I would encourage you to make whatever commitments are necessary for you to leave this place a devoted follower of Jesus.

GOD HAS A PLAN                                                                             6-17-07

Jeremiah 29:4-14 (11)

The Bible is more than a history book. Yes, it does give us the history of the Jewish people; it does give us a historical record of Jesus’ years on earth and of the early Christians. But the Bible is more than just history. The Bible is God’s Word to us. It’s the primary means through which He still speaks to us today.

Day after day as we read this book, God speaks to us from it. And two weeks ago last Thursday God spoke to me in a special way from some verses in the writings of the Jewish prophet Jeremiah. Turn in your Bible to Jeremiah 29.

I was driving home late in the afternoon. We were going to have a meeting that night of the Elders and Deacons to talk and pray about the changes that are taking place in our pastoral staff right now. And that afternoon Pastor Ken had told me about yet another change.

Read resignation letter.

That letter brought to mind a question I had been asked a couple of weeks earlier after both Pastor Norm and Pastor Jason had resigned. Someone said to me: “Pastor, has the boat sprung a leak? Are we in danger of sinking?”

As I drove home thinking about all of this, God brought to my mind these verses from Jeremiah 29, especially verse 11.  But let’s begin reading at verse 4 (read through v.14).

Verse 11 is a verse I memorized many years ago. To be honest with you, I had not thought about that verse for a long time, and certainly not in relationship to this current season in the life of our church. But as the verse came to my mind, God seemed to say to me: “This is not about the past; this is all about the future!”

I know full well that as Jeremiah wrote chapter 29 he was not thinking about Valley Assembly in the year 2007 AD. He was thinking about his own people, the Jews.

Because of their sin, God had allowed His chosen people to be conquered by the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar.

He and his armies had come to Israel from the northeast and had killed many of the Israelites, taken others captive and deported them to Babylon. Among these people were craftsmen & artisans & educated people including Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Some of the poorest and least educated he left in Israel. And the prophet Jeremiah chose to stay with this remnant in Jerusalem.

As Jeremiah writes, he is writing specifically to those who had been deported to Babylon. Through Jeremiah God promises that He will bring the Jews back into their land after 70 years of exile. Why? Because God has a plan for His people, a plan to prosper them and not to harm then, a plan to give them a hope and future.

Often in the Bible, God talks about a specific historical situation, and then He inserts a timeless principle, or He inserts a statement about the kind of God He is that goes far beyond the historical situation. This is one of those places. God had and still has a plan for the Jews. But the broader principle, the insight into the character of God is that He has plans for His people – not just the Jews in Babylon, but for the people of Spokane Valley as well.

God has plans. Let’s look at some evidence of that in the Bible, and then let’s talk about Valley Assembly.

In Genesis 6, God saw how corrupt mankind had become. People’s thoughts were wicked; their actions were wicked; there was great violence. Yet in the midst of all the sin, God saw a man who pleased Him; his name was Noah.

So God began to speak to Noah and reveal to him the plans God had to destroy mankind. But along with those plans for judgment, God also revealed another plan that would show His grace. “I want you to build a boat” God said. “And here is how you are to build it.” Then God goes on and gives very detailed plans to Noah about how to build the ark and how to prepare for the animals & the people that would come because of God’s grace.  God has plans.

Years later, in the book of Exodus, God invited a man named Moses to come up on Mt. Sinai and meet with Him there. The Jews had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years, and God directed Moses to lead his people out of their captivity. There had been the 10 plagues and finally Pharaoh had said that the Jews could leave.

They had crossed the Red Sea through a miracle of God, journeyed to the south and east and now were standing at the base of Mt. Sinai.

As Moses goes up the mountain, God meets with him there and gives him the 10 Commandments, the rules by which His people were to live. But God also gives Moses something else: very detailed plans for a place he was to build where the Jews would offer their sacrifices and worship God.

Those of you who have read the books of Exodus and Leviticus know how detailed those plans were: chapter after chapter and detail after detail – measurements and materials down to the minutest detail. God has plans.

Years later, as David and Solomon talk about building the Temple in Jerusalem, a permanent place of worship, we read these words in           1 Chron 28:19 All this," David said, "I have in writing from the hand of the LORD upon me, and he gave me understanding in all the details of the plan."  God has plans.

Not only does God have plans for things – an ark, a tabernacle, a temple, He also has plans for events and for people. As I began to use my Bible program on my computer and look up passages that talked about the plans God has, I found some very encouraging verses.

Ps 33:10-11

This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?  

When Pastor Norm gave me his letter of resignation, I was really surprised. I knew he had had some reservations about whether or not he was the one to pursue this transition we had talked about where he would eventually become the Lead Pastor and I would become an Associate Pastor and do pastoral care and visitation and teaching.

My plan was that Pastor Norm would take over the primary leadership of our church, and I would be there to support him and encourage him and assist him in whatever ways that I could. My plan was that with the coming of our new youth pastor Mike Garbutt, Pastor Jason would develop a ministry to college age people and do web support and graphics for our church. My plan was that we would bring in a new children’s pastor and that Pastor Ken would lead Alpha and do more of our administration with Pastor Norm leaving. Those were my plans.

But through these past few weeks I have begun to feel like the Apostle Paul in Acts 16.  He had plans to go into the province of Asia, but God said “no” to Paul’s plans. He had plans to go into Bythinia, but God said “no” to Paul’s plans. Then Paul went to Troas, and there God revealed to him the best plan, God’s plan – a good plan that would further advance God’s kingdom.

The people that are leaving us are not first and foremost committed to Valley Assembly. They are first and foremost committed to God, and to His kingdom. And God’s Kingdom is much, much larger than Valley Assembly.

God in His wisdom brought each of these men here for this particular season in the life of our church. They have blessed us. And now God will use them to bless others, and bring others here to bless us for this new season in the life of our church.

God has a plan – to prosper His Church and not to harm it, to give us a hope and a future. What is happening right now to Valley Assembly is being orchestrated by God: not by me, not by the Deacon Board, not by other leaders, but by God.

There is a rumor circulating that these men have been asked to resign. That rumor is not true. Gossip is a terrible thing in a church, and you cannot be a healthy follower of Jesus and be passing on gossip. The two are mutually exclusive. I have not asked any of these men to resign; the Deacon Board has not asked any of these men to resign; the leaders of our church have not asked any of these men to resign;

As a matter of fact, at the leadership meeting we had a few weeks ago we took an advisory ballot and 84% of the votes said they supported Pastor Norm becoming lead pastor. Yet the rumor has it that he was asked to resign in that meeting. That’s how far from true these rumors are.

84% said they thought Pastor Norm should become lead pastor, but God had a different plan. (picture of Mankins)

I am pleased to announce this morning that Pastor Kent and Toni Mankins have been invited to rejoin our staff, and they have accepted. 14 years ago Kent and Toni joined our pastoral staff and ministered to us for 7 years. Then God led them away from us to Southridge Community Church where they have been Lead Pastor for the past 7 years. God has blessed their ministry at Southridge, and not only has the church grown, Kent and Toni have also grown. But recently they have sensed that their time at that church is coming to an end, and so they are announcing their resignation there this morning.

Kent and I have maintained a close relationship through these past 7 years, and as we ate lunch together several months ago, I was talking with him about our planned transition to Norm becoming the Lead Pastor and my assuming a lesser role. And Kent said to me: “Al, if for some reason it does not work out with Pastor Norm, I sure would love to be considered for that. Even during these 7 years away, I have continued to feel that Valley Assembly is my church home.”

At that point I had no idea that God had a different plan than Pastor Norm. But God has a plan. He has a plan for who our new children’s pastor should be. He has a plan as to who should help us in the administrative area, who should help us with finances, who should help us with web support and graphics, who should help us with Alpha, who should lead our preschool.

So God has a plan for our church, and I am excited as I see Him working out that plan.

But what about our individual lives? Does God have a plan for each of us individually?

Jeremiah 29:11 is as much for you as an individual as it is for us as a church. God has plans for nations; He has plans for churches; but He also has a plan for your life.

At every baby dedication I say these words: “God has a plan for your child’s life. To discover that plan and live it out is the most important task he will face, and he will need your help.” I believe that.

This summer as we look at the book of Psalms on Wednesday nights, one of the Psalms we will study is Psalm 139. And v.16 of that chapter says: All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. That sounds like a plan to me. Nothing takes God by surprise. Things may take us by surprise, but He knows our lives even before we live them, even before we are born.

God’s plan is to bless you, not to harm you; God’s plan is to give you hope and a wonderful future. “If that’s true,” you may ask, “then why are some Christians’ lives so messed up? Is that the wonderful plan you are talking about?”

What we see in some people’s lives is not God’s plan. Yes, He has a good plan, but there are some steps we must take to see His plan come to fulfillment in our lives. Let me quickly give you three things.

Cooperate with Him. Let God’s plan be your plan rather than bringing your plan to Him and trying to get Him to cooperate with you.

God’s plan is better than your plan. I have had to come to grips with that as we move through some of these changes in our church. I could have worked harder at trying to convince Pastor Norm to stay and fulfill my plan. We could have offered him more money, given him a bigger office, and a fancier title, and more vacation.

Any time we try to twist God’s arm or other people’s arms to get them to cooperate with our plan we usually get into trouble. As the 1977 Broadway musical put it “Your Arms Too Short To Box With God”. We can fight with God, and lose, or we can cooperate with God and see His plan unfold.

Let Him decide what it means to prosper you. “Plans to prosper you” it says in the NIV. “Plans for your welfare”, “plans for good”, “plans for  peace”, “plans to take care of you” some different translations say. When God says He will prosper us, He is not always talking about material things – although sometimes He is. But here God is not talking about padding our bank account or giving us expensive cars to drive.

The word used is the Hebrew word “shalom” that is usually translated “peace”. The root meaning of the word is “to be safe (in mind, body or estate); figuratively, to be made complete.” This verse in Jeremiah 29:11 is not talking about things; it’s talking about something deeper than that. It’s talking God keeping you mentally and emotionally and spiritually and physically safe, and making you a complete person. That is what God desires to do for each one of us.

A third thing in seeing God’s plan for your life is…

Commit yourself to being a devoted follower of Jesus. There are blessings that will come to our lives when we are devoted followers of Jesus that will not be there if we are not devoted followers of Jesus. That’s just the way God made life. Casual followers of Jesus will not experience all the good that God intends for them to experience. His plan for their lives will be thwarted – not because God has no plan, and not because God does not want to see His plan fulfilled, but because we have chose to not walk the path where the blessing is.

Are you a follower of Jesus today? Are you a devoted follower of Jesus? In the closing moments of our time together this morning, I would encourage you to make whatever commitments are necessary for you to leave this place a devoted follower of Jesus.