“God’s Encouragement within His Purpose”  Roman 8:28-30; Phil. 3:21 2/19/12      by his power, he is enabled to bring everything under his control.” 

A movie came out this year called “The Vow” about a couple who had a car accident and her memory of the last five years was wiped out.  She could not remember that she was married to her husband, and so her husband has to woo her back to him.  But this is not a fictional story.   Kim and Krickitt Carpenter were driving down the road and were in a terrible accident.  The movie broke all records for Valentine’s Day weekend raking in $40 million.  But what the critics and the movie itself will not tell you- but what is in the book, and what they will tell you- is how much their belief in Christ played in hanging in there and keeping them together even thought their plans, their expectations and their lives changed.  Part of life is keeping your promises even when your expectations change, and keeping your hope alive. We make vows and plans and purposes, but they are subject to the powerful winds and waves- problems of life. 

    We do not know all the variables of life- unexpected things happen.  Whitney Houston was 48, two weeks ago she would not have predicted what happened.  She had just finished the movie “Sparkle” and seemed to be coming back.  At her four hour funeral (we’ve never had one of those here), T.D. Jakes said, “You may think today that death has won, but even death has not win. Our plans change, but do you know who wins in the end?  God wins.  Life changes that is a definite- but keep yourself in God’s care.  Look for His hope in the midst of changing life. 
    One of the great passages we read is Romans 8:28- where God takes the good, the bad, and the ugly and molds it into His greater purpose.

           We are familiar with the great promise of Jeremiah 29:11- “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.”  This tells us a lot about God:  That God is able to make plans, that He wants to make plans, and that he is the giver of our future as well as our hope.  Don’t say my life is hopeless, my life is meaningless, don’t say I hate my life.  God is able to take the things your are hopeless about and turn them around into good.  When you and I make plans, we have to adjust to what goes on around us- maybe we lose our job, have a baby, are instantly alone or suddenly with another.  But do not run away from God in the changes of life- but plug into Him.  Do not waste your life- live it to the fullest- live it for God. 

     When God made a plan- he speaks and it happens.  So God said, “Let there be light” and there was light.  He also says how life will be governed- (they called these “decrees”) and it comes to be. 

The good news about God’s plans are:
1) They are good to go- They are steady.  They are reliable.  God has a plan- He doesn’t fly by the seat of His pants- He is not moody or fickle or capricious. They do not change with the shifting wind or storms of life.  Years ago I got into a harbor pilot’s boat and went out to meet a big ship coming into the port at Georgetown.  The ship was literally bigger than any building in the town by far.  The harbor pilot’s boat was not so big.  Perhaps I wasn’t used to the rough seas- but I think it was a rough day- about 12 foot seas in a 25 foot boat.  We were bobbing up and down in the water like a cork on a windy day.  I asked my friend the pilot how we could possibly get on the big ship to steer it into the harbor, when we were bobbing up and down so- he said- you will see.  When we got up to the huge ship- it had turned sideways against the wind and waves for us- and on our side of the ship- it was smooth as glass- you could ski on it.   Our plans are like that small boat- we have little strength, little control. We are pushed around by the circumstances of life- sometimes we are on top sometimes on the bottom.   But God’s plan is like that big ship- that silences the wind and waves with His size.  Our plans are not reliable, God’s plans are totally reliable. He is our rock- our steady fortress to whom we can go.  We should be encouraged by that more than I was encouraged to get out of those heavy waves when we came alongside the ship.  Come alongside of God.  Plug into His plans for you. 

2) They are purposeful- God’s will cannot be thwarted, but it also is not wishy washy- chaotic, or accidental.  Part of that purpose should encourage us- “All things work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.”  It is not just that God makes plans.  But God’s love goes with His purpose- and we should hold them both together.  We are called by His purpose, and called to love Him in response to His great, unconditional love.  The sufferings, the road blocks, the heart aches of life- all work together for good.  The classic image is like a tapestry.  We just see the inside unfinished product, but God is designing a finished product. “All things” includes the worst sin and the best deed you have done.  It includes the first and worst sin of humanity and the last sin.  Evil, tragedy, suffering are not more powerful than God- He visibly showed that on the cross- where the condemning and mocking of the most innocent was turned into resurrection.  When the cross happened- we thought “God has lost”; “His purposes will not be achieved.”  If you keep your eyes only on the cross- your crosses- you may feel along and that God has forsaken you.  But keep your eyes on your hope- on the resurrection. 
    Evil is not all powerful.  Death-our last enemy- is not all powerful,  Sadness is not all powerful. Depression is not all powerful.  Drugs or alcohol are not all powerful.  If you think something you have done in your past or something that has happened to you- that you think has ruined your life- it has not.  The people around you who try to make you conform to them are not all powerful, Money is not all powerful. The lack of money is not all powerful.  The One who created you- who came for you- who knows you by name- who rose from the dead- He is all powerful. He made you for a reason and He gives you breath today for a reason.  Some of you may feel like your life is meaningless, or you hate your life.  Remember the purposes of God.  Do not take your eyes off of Christ- for He gives you purpose and has a plan for you.  “He is enabled to bring everything under His control.”  Everything is brought- all things work together: Not just the good things that work together, not just the bad that work together.  If you love God and are called- you know this.  If you have forgotten this, then know it again. 

     3) God foreknows- He knows all the variables- and has incorporated them into His plans.  This is a mystery- but the Bible seems to give us free will and also says that we cannot thwart God’s will.   Romans 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be like Jesus.”  This is not a timeline statement- it is not that God foreknew then he made a plan.  It is not that God made a plan and then He foreknew.  The past, future, and present are ever-present to God. The Bible doesn’t ask “when were you saved?” Salvation has many aspects.  There is a sense in which we are saved when we were predestined; there is a sense in which we are saved on the cross; there is a sense in which we are saved when we accept Christ into our lives; there is a sense in which we are not saved until we make it to heaven. We need to see all these aspects. But we don’t say we don’t need predestination- or the cross- or our own commitment- or our repentance- or our going to heave to be saved.  All are needed.  In the TV show “Person of Interest” the premise is that a machine or computer and its software can be designed to foresee so many variable as to predict a terrorist act and also when someone is about to be victim of violent crime.  God knows all the variables.  Already- because we have computer models and satellites, we can more accurately predict the weather.  Up until the last fifty years hurricanes were hard to predict when they hit our coast.  Now we can see them and usually have a computer model to forecast which way it would go.   If we, with our finite minds and slow machines, can roughly predict the future, what can God do?  The more we know, the more we can predict.  God made all that is, knows the very molecules of our bodies, and can predict life and predict choices, but more than that- if you could predict choices and you were God- wouldn’t you work them into your plan?  Good architects are great about knowing how people will behave.   Highway engineers can predict how people will choose a certain bridge or road, and much time is spent forecasting use- and then they design and build the bridge and road appropriately.  We can predict and we can hope- but God can predict and He can know.   Cannot God, who sees all things, knows all things- achieve His purpose in life?  If God knows all, and love you- then why not trust Him?  Why not give up your worries and fears? 
     In Rick Warren’s Forty Days of Purpose” bestseller, he talks a lot about God’s purpose, but he begins this very important topic by saying, “It is not about you.”  The world is not designed around you.  But the world is designed by God for a greater purpose.   Our task in part, is to discern God’s purpose and move along with it.  Ride the wave of God- how God’s Spirit moves in your life.   
    Perhaps you have heard of Jeremy Lin, the new star of the NBA.  But perhaps what you haven’t heard is what Jeremy Lin says about his faith.  Lin says his rise in the NBA is “a miracle of God.”  He came from parents who were no taller than 5’6”, so his being 6’3” wows them.  He received no athletic scholarships for college- so he went to Harvard.  No player from Harvard has been in the NBA since 1954 until now. He was unselected in the NBA draft.  Last week, on Valentine’s Day.  he led his team from 17 points down and hit the winning 3 pointer with 1 second left. A week ago he outscored the famous Kobe Bryant 38-34 and Kobe was saying, “Who is this guy?”  Listen to what he said, “Anytime something like this happens, a lot of stuff has to be in place, and a lot of this is out of my control.  If you look back at my story, it doesn’t matter where you look, God’s fingerprints are all over the place…there were 20 or 30 things that had to happen at the right time in order for me to get here.  That’s why I call it a miracle.
He says he turn around came when  he quit trying for worldly things and started to try to please God. He spent daily time in prayer.
3 weeks ago Lin was a guy who had been cut from 2 teams , was sleeping on his brother’s couch, and was a 3^rd string guard. He was inspired by John Piper’s book, “Don’t Waste Your Life.”  He says your talent is a gift from God- you have to use that for God’s glory.  In your life, if you look hard enough- God’s fingerprints are everywhere.  His purposes are at work in your life.   

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.  We can do that because all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.  It doesn’t mean that all is good.  But He can take the worst kind of evil like the cross and turn it into good.  He is Almighty God, and He has made us with a purpose.