May 26, 2024 Text:  Acts 2:14a, 22-36

Dear Friends in Christ,

Roll the dice and take your chance.  When your numbers up, it’s up.  Do feel lucky?  Well, do you?  Is that how we live?  Is that how God operates?  Is life random, or . . . .

“DOES GOD HAVE A PLAN?”

It has been my experience as a Pastor that people answer this question in three different ways.  Some feel that their life has no direction.  They do not see God leading them and that things just happen randomly.  Life has just evolved and whatever happens, will happen.  They don’t have a God direction and they may have a hard time seeing heaven and hell and judgment.  A fellow by the name of Haywood Broun noted this little nugget, “Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist there is no God.”  And why does this happen?  The 17^th century mathematician Blaise Pascal said it correctly:  “Men despise religion; they hate it and fear it may be true.”  And this scriptural teaching that God is one God in Three Persons?  Well, it is beyond the human mind.

Does God have a plan?  The second answer from people is yes, He does but they do not have the spiritual awareness to see it.  Someone once remarked to me, “I know God has an answer, I just wish He would write it in the sky.”  These folks have a hard time understanding who God is.  We tend to fit Him into our thoughts and ideas.  When that happens, we want Him to be a skywriter and give us the plan.  Come into my office, Mr. and Mrs. Christian and I will lay everything out for you.  Is that how God works?   

The third way to answer this question is the Spirit induced way.  Yes, God does have a plan.  Yes, He does reveal it to us.  No, He does not always do it in ways that are expected.  I see my life as one God-ordained journey.  I tell my family over and over that God has put me exactly where he wants me to be.   In my socialization over the years, it has led me to see the reasons for events in my life that have taken place.  The Lord has always given me signs.  What career path to take.  Who to marry.  What call to take.  There are more big decisions in my future where He is going to lead me.  Do you see it the same way?  Which of these three ways do you find yourself?  No-direction God?  Some direction God?  All direction God?  Does God have a plan?  Or is it all random?

There was nothing random about your salvation; God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have a definite, gracious plan for you.  In God’s work, we know him and his character, and we see the three persons of the Trinity in action.  Why did God need a plan?  Sin.  It separated us from God.  We deserved death.  But God had a plan.  Peter proclaims this wonder:  God knew what was going to happen.  He knew that we would sin, and He knew what redemption would cost.  It was the price of His Son.  Yet He still went forward.  He created. He redeemed.  

The entire Trinity was involved in God’s plan.  The Father foreknew and sent His only-begotten Son.  God allowed Jesus to be crucified.  He preserved Him from corruption and raised Him from the dead.  Jesus was exalted to God’s right hand.  Jesus’ saving work was complete.  God declared His Son Jesus both Lord and Christ, Master and Savior.

The Son submitted to the Father’s will and came to earth.  He took on our flesh, assumed our nature and shared in our weakness.  He did mighty works which showed His identity.  He resisted all temptation and took our sin upon Himself.  He became obedient to death on a cross.  He faithfully carried out God’s plan.

The Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost.  The Spirit gathered the crowds to hear the message in their own language.  The Spirit testifies to Jesus through the Gospel.  We are born again of water and the Spirit.  He speaks to us through God’s Word.  Continually calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies, and keeps us in the one true faith.  

This is God’s plan.  The Father, Son, and Spirit are one God, and each person works in grace and mercy to make us His own.  What a plan!

So, if He knew you from the creation of the world and He had this wonderful plan that He made your soul a part of, doesn’t it figure that He is giving you some direction in life?  I think you know the answer to that.  No need to roll the dice or feel lucky.  You are blessed because this Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has made you a saved soul.  Now may the Trinity help you to live like one.

Amen.