Family Worship Center - Raton, NM
This four-week series explores what happens when the future we envisioned doesn’t come to pass. How can we trust God throughout this reality? “Recalculating” is a deep dive into this question, outlining the providence and love of God even when life is all but certain.
In this series we have dealt with the Will of God, the Plans of God and this last week we dealt with the fact that believers can change their own plans consequentially by their own actions.
-Our plans bottom out
-Our confidence can be off center (meaning in ourselves)
-Our speech can betray us
But here is the beauty… who we think we are and who God knows we are can change our course for the better if we willing to heed his voice! If we are willing to recalculate.
And this takes faith! And some argue that they have a difficult time with faith!
Illustration: A Doubting Faith
“You have to show people that it takes faith to doubt Christianity. C. S. Lewis argued with God before his conversion that the universe seems so cruel and unjust. But then he asked himself, ‘But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? . . . Atheism turns out to be too simple (Mere Christianity, Book 2, Part 1).’
“In the natural world the strong eat the weak, and there’s nothing wrong with violence. Where do you get the standard that says the human world shouldn’t work that way, that says the natural world is wrong? You can only judge suffering as wrong if you’re using a standard higher than this world, a supernatural standard. If there’s no God, you have no reason to be upset at the suffering in this world. It takes faith to get mad at this world.” – Tim Keller (Article source: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-faith-to-doubt-christianity)
We all believe in someone or something. Faith is a powerful and influential force in the world, even if it’s not tangible. I’m going to argue that we all have faith.
Now here is the biggest problem I see in grasping last week’s concept. If what we had preconceived to come to pass doesn’t, then what?
How loud is the voice of the enemy in our heads at that moment?
How much do we personally doubt who we are because what we thought isn’t coming to pass as we thought?
But God, i thought you said…
But God, i was convinced your word said…
But God, why…
We all have points in our lives that we doubt because where we thought would be and where we are don’t line up the way we thought it would.
Matthew 11:1-6 NLT
Matthew 3:1-17 NLT
Big Idea: We are not guaranteed our preconceived conclusion (in this world) of God’s plan for us.
1) GO TO GOD
(Write notes below)
2) BE REMINDED OF WHAT GOD HAS DONE
(Write notes below)
3) RECALCULATE
(Write notes below)
Application Point: Preconceived conclusions to God’s plan can engender doubt as a believer experiences a change in their predetermined, though erroneous, assumption.
This space left open to write notes as Pastor Josh seems to go down rabbit trails...
Luke 15:7 NLT