Sunday, March 16, 2014

God Does not React - He Plans & Purposes

In follow-up to Sunday's sermon here are the scriptural references I mentioned.  
All scriptures references are from the English Standard Version

God’s Plans & Purposes Are established before the foundation of the earth and will stand forever:
Eph 1:3-5           Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Eph 1:11     In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

Isaiah 14:24   The LORD of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand,  

Isaiah 14:26-27    This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.  For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?  His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

Isaiah 25:1      O LORD, you are my God;  I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. 

Proverbs 19:21    Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.

God’s Plans & Purposes Are for our welfare and our good:
Jeremiah 29:11-14          For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

God’s plans & purposes for our welfare & good include suffering
Romans 5:2-5 ..we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Rom 8: 18-20 (thru 25)            For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope   

God’s plans & purposes for our welfare & good include suffering as discipline  
(Also see Jeremiah 29:14)
Deuteronomy 8:2-6       And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.  And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.    Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.

Psalm 119:67-68, 71   Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.  You are good and do good;  teach me your statutes.   It is good for me that I was afflicted,  that I might learn your statutes.

God’s plans & purposes for our welfare and our good include sufferings that grows us up in Christ
1 Peter 4:12-13       Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

James 1:2-4    Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

God’s plans & purposes for our welfare and our good include suffering that is designed to turn our eyes & hearts towards others even as he turns our eyes & hearts toward him:
2 Corinthians 1:3-11    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
                  For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.   


1 Peter 5:10      And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

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