Preparing (afixntoo)

(12-26-04)

Isa.25:1-9

 

^{ISA 25:1} O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.

 

          What God planned long ago He has done and what he is afixntoo He will! Before God did, He planned. Gen.1:1 – “In the beginning God..” There is a lot left to our imagination about the workings of God but this much I am certain of, He is, therefore.

I know the bible starts with: “in the beginning” but before that there are several things that took place worth our consideration.

·        God loved – (Jn.17:24)

·        God Chose – (1Pet.1:18-20)

·        God thought about us - (Eph.1:4)

Each of these is important for us to look at. Before God created the world He planned. God Loved the Son and Planned the how-to of giving Him Glory. Before anything existed He saw His own Son, born of a young virgin woman, in an obscure little town being honored by strangers. Before anything existed He saw Jesus stepping out of the tomb of His own burial. God Planned this, and He carried it out with finality.

          God chose the time and the people to whom He would send His Son to be Glorified before. He did this so that people would believe and in so doing be saved. He planned before creation the salvation of a yet un-made, un-fallen, humanity.

          Paul speaks well when he says – “..he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…” (Eph.1:4-5) Jesus in speaking all that the Father gave Him to say, says this of the future – “Then the King will say to those on his right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world…” (Mat.25:34)

          Before God created, He planned, and in His planning He saw you. What do you suppose He saw concerning each of you? He saw Jesus being glorified because He carried out His will and Purpose. He sees His Church, whom you are, being glorified because it too is carrying out His will and purpose.

          As I review all that God has done in His Church here this past year I get excited because of what He is doing this next year. God wrote exponential church growth into the fabric and plan of His church and it has begun.

          What God has prepared for His Church to do, we will accomplish. Why? Because God has caused it to be! Does Paul also mean us in this passage – Eph.2:10 – “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  Are you ready for what God has planned for you in 2005?

          This is the only attitude worth following – Jesus.

`Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll--

I have come to do your will, O God.' (Heb.10:7)

Church – God has written about you and you have come to do His will, and His will is for the Church to do the work to which it has been called to do.