Does God Have a Plan?
November 4, 2012 - 23rd Sunday after Pentecost
New Series for November: End Times - suggested by Elder Dan Tilford
Does God have a plan?
Yes …
Ephesians 1.1-10
With the sound of a trumpet.
In the twinkling of an eye.
The Resurrection of the Dead!
The Book of Life opened.
A new heaven and a new earth.
Is there a timeline?
None that we can know.
Acts 1.7
Matthew 24.36
The End is not our business.
Yet many have tried to out-guess God.
Dispensationalists - timelines and charts.
A few verses:
Daniel.
Ezekiel.
Revelation.
Harold Camping - latest example - after repeated failures to predict the coming of Christ, Mr. Camping has now disavowed any further efforts.
Others persist: two Christian groups have set-up webcams in Jerusalem, 24/7, so we can watch the return of Jesus when he comes to the Mt of Olives.
Rumors of The End:
Jerusalem sacked and burned 586 BC.
Temple destroyed by Rome, AD 70
Rome sacked and burned by the Goths, 410
Year 1000
14th Century:
Bubonic Plague
Terrible wars
Papacy divided - Rome, Avignon
Earthquake and war: Chicken Little runs around, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.”
Why?
People look for the victory of good over evil … right over wrong.
People overwhelmed: Churchill quote:
In 1922, Churchill wrote: "What a disappointment the twentieth century has been. How terrible and melancholy is the long series of disastrous events, which have darkened its first twenty years. We have seen in every country a dissolution, a weakening of bonds, a challenge to those principles, a decay of faith, an abridgement of hope, on which the structure and ultimate existence of civilized society depends."
Islam has its own version.
So does Hinduism.
All religions have beginnings and endings … nothing wrong with that!
But folks who look for a timeline fool themselves, waste their time, disobey God!
Glad to be a Presbyterian: The End belongs to God.
A sovereign, loving God.
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The God and Father of Jesus.
The Alpha and the Omega.
The beginning and the end.
Who holds the whole world in his hands.
Jesus says: Go back to Jerusalem to receive power.
Don’t waste time waiting for me to come again.
Wait for the Spirit in Jerusalem.
Ten days.
And then, don’t look upward … look outward - look out for the world … look out for one another … look out for ways to improve life … bring justice, help the downfallen, end war, bring peace.
I am with anyway … always … the Holy Spirit I send to you - my Spirit, my love.
Where two or three are gathered in my name ...
Don’t fret about tomorrow.
What to wear or eat.
Or even death.
Or the End of the World.
Big things belong to God.
God takes care of them just fine.
God doesn’t need us poking around in the things that belong exclusively to God.
Our task: clear and concise.
Love one another.
Make disciples.
While we’re at at it:
Be of good cheer.
Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God.
Live every day, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Does God have a plan? …
Indeed!
It unfolds as it should.
We know all we need to live well for Christ … the rest belongs to God!
To God be the glory.
Amen and Amen!
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