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God Always Has A Plan
Sin separates
- Separates us from God and each other
This happened in the Beginning
- Adam and Eve sin
- They hide from one another
- Hide from God
Because of sin It’s not COME AND SEE
- It’s GO AND HIDE
Still happening today
- Sin separating families
- Spouses
- Church members
Same Problem, different day
To understand the Magnitude of the fix, you must understand the magnitude of the problem
- Being angry at cost of a new engine for your car
- Not just a few hoses and wires
- It’s a big deal
Sin is a big problem
- Not a new one, but a big one
COME AND SEE
- Most of the first followers of Jesus saw him because someone said – Come and See
We often misunderstand the fix he brought, because we misunderstand the problem of our world
- Because we are often THE PROBLEM
Because we misunderstand, we are prone to not trusting
- That it will be fixed
- That God has a plan
- That better things are ahead
- That all will be made right
God’s Always has a plan
- For this moment
- For your life
- for your children
- For the world
God’s plan WILL come to pass
- But we each have the option to take part or not
But we have a problem with trusting God’s plan
- Two specific things
Trouble Trusting…
His Timing
His Process
Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah
Prophet 700 years before Jesus
Israel had turned its back on God
God Called Isaiah to prophesy about coming destruction/exile
Separation is a form of exile:
Exile:
The state or a period of forced absence from one’s country or home
After Isaiah Dies, his prophecies come true
- Israel is conquered by the Babylonians and eventually the Persians
- Removed from their promised home
- Removed from the temple (destroyed)
Exiled – Separated
- From God and from each other
To understand the Magnitude of the fix, you must understand the magnitude of the problem
God Always Has A Plan
Must First…
Trusting His Timing
Romans 5:6
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Isaiah did not see the exile nor did he see the future promise
- He trusted God in his timing
- He kept warning people hoping they would turn back to God
The reason we struggle with trusting God’s timing is we want validation NOW
We usually think
If we have to wait, it’s not worth it
- Have gotten out of line before because wait too long
But waiting is a spiritual discipline we MUST learn
- We must learn to TRUST
God’s timing is PERFECT
- His plans never fail
- He is never late but he is never early
Do we trust God enough to believe he will do what he has promised ever if we don’t see it with our own eyes?
God always has a plan
- And we must trust His timing
We must also…
Trust His Process
The results of His decisions and how he does them
Fast forward 150 years after Isaiah
- The people of Israel are under foreign power (Never ruled themselves until 1948!)
- The exile came true
The students of Isaiah kept much of his teachings/prophecy and structured them into the second half of the book
They began to wonder…
- When will God redeem us?
- When will he set us free?
What did they think their problem was?
- Their Enemies (Babylon, Persia, Rome)
To fix this problem, they need a strongman
- A warrior
- A general
- A fighter
Someone who could get them out of the mess…
But what was their REAL problem?
- What sent them into exile in the first place
- What has separated them from God?
Their sin
- Sin was/is the problem
Because Sin Separates
So instead of a fighter, God gave a promise to send someone else…
Someone Called “The suffering Servant”
Isaiah 52
13 See, my servant will be successful; he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.
14 Just as many were appalled at you—his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being— 15 so he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.
Isaiah 53
Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him.
4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.
6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth.
8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully.
10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.
11 After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive[i] the mighty as spoil, because he willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.
God ALWAYS has a plan
- That plan included sending Jesus,
John 3:16
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
The people wanted a fighter, but what they really needed was a savior
The problem wasn’t the Babylonians, Persians, or Romans
It was their own hearts
Its been the same problem since the beginning
To understand the Magnitude of the fix, you must understand the magnitude of the problem
The same goes for us
We need a savior
We need to trust the processes God uses in our life because he knows what we TRULY need
- Trust His provision for you
- Trust His placement in life for you
- Trust in the “No’s” as much as the “Yes’s”
God Always Has a plan
- For the world
- For salvation
- For the nations
- For you
- For me
Trust His Timing
Trust His Process
To understand the Magnitude of the fix, you must understand the magnitude of the problem
God always has a plan
- His plan can be trusted
- His plan is worth waiting on
- His Process are for our good
- Trust Him with the plan
- Trust IN His plan
- Trust Him with YOUR LIFE