Pastor Kevin Shelton tells the story of an elderly woman, who resided next to an affirmed atheist, in an older suburb. This woman, he notes, received a meager social security survivor’s benefit. Although, her finances only afforded her not even the most basic meal plans, daily she would open her windows to give thanks & praise to God.
Finally one day, the middle of the month arrived and she had not received her check. Instead of complaining, she opened her windows, fell on her knees and began to thank God and pray. The neighbor was sitting on his porch and overheard her praying "Lord although I don’t have any food in my home, I know you will provide!" The neighbor thought to himself, “This is a great opportunity to prove to her there is no god”. So he hurriedly went to the store and purchased a carload of groceries.
Upon arriving home he placed them on her porch, rang her doorbell and hid in the bushes to spring his surprise. Finally, the elderly woman made her way to the door. She opened the door, saw all the groceries and rejoiced in the Lord! Then, says Pastor Shelton, about that time the neighbor jumped out from behind the bushes and exclaimed. “God is not real, I bought those groceries there.” To this the old woman exclaimed, "I knew my God would supply my needs, but I didn’t know he would make the devil pay for them!"
Paul’s words from the New Testament book of Philippians are true! “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19 NLT)
God taking care of His people is part of the plan that we need to consistently celebrate and embrace. God has supplied our needs hasn’t He? He has provided for us time and time again, right? It’s part of His great plan for us!
The verse that was read a few moments ago, Jeremiah 29:11 is our capital funds campaign theme verse. I want to read it again because it is a very important verse to memorize and meditate on throughout our lives. And it is also an important verse for us to think about this morning because it is very descriptive of God’s plan for us as the church because God has a future for us, God has a plan for us, God has a hope for us! “For I know the plans that I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
We are in the midst of our current series, “Celebrating Our Past … Embracing Our Future… In Christ!” and so far we have celebrated and embraced God’s salvation and faithfulness. This morning, as we prepare for communion, we are celebrating and embracing God’s plan because communion is a remembrance of God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. (“Do this in remembrance of Me,” was Jesus’ statement to the disciples. We practice open communion here. Participate according to the dictates of your conscience.)
God has always had a plan. He had a plan way back at the beginning of creation when He created Adam. He had a plan when He saw that “it is not good for the man to be alone” and so created Eve.
God had a plan for a relationship with Adam and Eve that was going well until one day they decided to disobey God and do their own thing. Then sin entered the world through the human heart and soul. But God had a plan – a plan of redemption; a plan to save the human race.
That plan included a people called the Israelites whom God rescued out of slavery in Egypt and told them that they would be His people and He would be their God. And through that relationship God would redeem the human race by sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ to die on behalf of our sins and thereby make us right with God.
A lot of people were a part of that plan – Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, and … Jeremiah. The plan of forgiveness that God was working out runs right through our passage of scripture this morning.
It was tough time for the Israelites. They had been conquered by a foreign power and had lost their ability to govern themselves. Their leaders were taken back to the conquering nations capital along with key future leaders.
They had become unfaithful to God and now God was discipling them so that they once again would be faithful to Him. Jeremiah was one of the people that God used to speak to the Israelites during this time.
And what God says is really amazing when you stop to think about the situation that they were in. After all, they had disobeyed God’s plans and now were reaping the consequences of that choice. But, God says, “I have a plan! It is a good plan. It is a plan to help you, not hurt you! It is a plan that is full of a future of hope!”
How many of us when we were or have been disciplined in some way or have been told, “I have a good plan for you. It is a hopeful and exciting plan?” Not too many, right? In fact, we probably thought that the plan was not going to be a good plan at all.
Some of us were told, “This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you!” But to be told, “This is part of the plan for you, it really is a good one,” would seem outrageous, right? But, that is what God is saying in this passage!
This passage is a passage of action, of future orientation! Starting at verse 4 and reading through verse 7 of Jeremiah 29, we read the following action words, “build, plant, marry, have children, find spouses, multiply, work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon, pray!” Wow! What a plan! What a suggestion!
God’s plan is a plan of action. It is not a plan of inaction or indecision. It is a plan that is forward moving by faith not “circle the wagons and let’s hold out for the cavalry!”
God had not given up on the Israelites after all their sin and disobedience. Read 29:10! “The truth is that you will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things that I have promised, and I will bring you home again.” This is something to celebrate! God’s plan is bring the human race back home to Him where it belongs.
God’s plan is two fold: First to change human lives through the forgiveness of sin and infilling of the Holy Spirit. Second, to use the Church, including this one, to accomplish #1.
His plan is really simple. In fact, John 3:16 and 17 says it all! “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”
These verses are important to our mission and ministry. They have been taught and explained in various ways throughout our history because we have both believed and experienced God’s saving grace in our lives. And we will again remember this saving grace in a few moments through the celebration of communion.
But we must also embrace God’s plan. And we one important way that we embrace God’s plan is through our capital fund campaign. Why?
1. Because God still has a mission and ministry for us here in Kendallville and the surrounding areas. We are still open for business and with God’s help and our obedience, we will continue to be!
2. Because to embrace the future ministry and mission that God is calling us to, we need a larger facility with off-street parking right next to the building, a larger fellowship area, easier access into the building, and more space all around for a larger ministry!
3. Because God has a good future and a good plan for each one of us and for our church. This campaign is designed to help us embrace that good future and that good plan.
I challenge and encourage each one of us to give as the Lord leads us to give. Let us give faithfully, let us give joyfully, and let us give attentively to this fund so that God’s good plan that has touched our lives will be able to continue to touch the lives of others as well.
Pastor Kevin Higgins tells an old story that recounts the return of Jesus to glory after His time on earth. Even in heaven, goes the story; He bore the marks of His earthly pilgrimage with its cruel cross and shameful death.
The angel Gabriel approached Him and said, "Master, you must have suffered terribly for humanity down there."
"I did," He said. "And," continued Gabriel, "do they know all about how you loved them and what you did for them?"
"Oh, no," said Jesus, "not yet. Right now only a handful of people in Palestine know."
Gabriel was perplexed. "Then what have you done," he asked, "to let everyone know about your love for them?"
Jesus said, "I’ve asked Peter, James, John, and a few more friends to tell other people about me. Those who are told will in turn tell other people about me, and my story will be spread to the farthest reaches of the globe. Ultimately, all of humankind will have heard about my life and what I have done."
Gabriel frowned and looked rather skeptical. He knew well what poor stuff humans were made of. "Yes," he said, "but what if Peter and James and John grow weary? What if the people who come after them forget? What if way down through the centuries people just don’t tell others about you? Haven’t you made any other plans?" And Jesus answered, "I haven’t made any other plans. I’m counting on them."
Higgins concludes, “twenty-one centuries later He still has no other plan. He’s counting on you and me to continue His work of reconciling the world to Himself, to continue the work so many have faithfully carried out before us. Will we do so well?”
We’re it! God has no other plan. Remember what Jesus said on the cross? “It is finished.” For the human race, it is now or never. People are in need of a great hope that life is worth something and that there is more to it than the daily grind. The only thing left is the final judgment.
But as Rick Warren says, “God wants us to pass the test” of that final judgment. That’s where the church comes in. Our mission and message is to help people embrace and celebrate God’s good gift of hope and peace through salvation by faith in Christ. This is our business. This is why we are still here and open for business. This is why we need to have a larger facility. It is God’s will that we tell the story and it is His will that we grow larger.
We are still telling the story and we will continue to tell the story throughout the years as long as God wills it. Amen? Amen.
Let us now be in prayer and confession before Lord as we prepare for communion. Amen.
