Jesus in the Old Testament Review

John 5:39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life;

and these are they which testify of Me. 

Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

See Christ through Prophecies, Types & Shadows, and Actual Appearances

Prophecies 

Gen 49:10  Christ would Descend from Judah

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet,

Until Shiloh (who it belongs to) comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

Num 24:17  Balaam  

I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near;

A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel.

Isa 7:14  Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Mic 5:2  "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel,

whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting."

Isa 35:5-6  He would perform miracles

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

⁶ Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing.

For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.

Zech 9:9  He would enter riding on a donkey

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation,

Lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zech 11:12-14  He would be sold for 30 pieces of silver

Then I said to them, "If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain."

So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

¹³ And the Lord said to me, "Throw it to the potter" – that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter.

Isa 53:3, 7-9  He would suffer

He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth;

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

So He opened not His mouth.

⁸ He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation?

For He was cut off from the land of the living;

For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

⁹ And they made His grave with the wicked — but with the rich at His death,

Because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Ps 16:10  His resurrection was prophesied

For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,

nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

Peter preached from that scripture on the Day of Pentecost

Acts 2:29-32 

"Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰ Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,  ³¹ he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.

Ps 110:1  The Lord said to my Lord,

"Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool."

Acts 2:33-35 

Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

³⁴ "For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:

'The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand,

³⁵ Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'

Ps 118:22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone.

Acts 4:10-11

Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. ¹¹ This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' 

The stone is both a Prophecy and a Type & Shadow of Christ 

Types: is a pattern, representation or a model

Rom 5:14.  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type (figure) of Him who was to come.

Adam is a Type 

1 Cor 15:45.  So it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Deut 21:23  Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree

For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.

1 Cor 15:21

• ·       One tree brought death, one tree brought life

Moses is a Type of Christ – What Christ will do, or how He will function

Moses, the most important person in Judaism: prophet, leader & deliverer of Israel

          Writer & teacher of the Torah

                    Intermediary between God & man

Jesus: Prophet (Deut 18:15), leader, deliverer, the Word, teacher, mediator (Titus 2:5)

Lives Mirrored:  Killing of the innocents

Exodus, Ecclesia

Look at Moses’ actions are a Pattern, or Fore-Shadowing of Jesus’ actions: 

Heb 9:19-22

For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you."  ²¹ Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.

Heb 9:11-12

But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. ¹² Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

Shadows:  pre-figures an aspect of Christ; play a role that is ultimately filled by Jesus

Col 2:16-17

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

Passover – Jesus is the Passover lamb – John 1:29; 1 Pet 1:19; Rev 13:8

Firstfruits – Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection from the dead – 1 Cor 15:23

Manna in the Wilderness – Ex 16

John 6:49-51

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  ⁵⁰ This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  ⁵¹ I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever."

The Rock in the Wilderness – Ex 17:5-6

The Lord said to Moses, "Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. ⁶ Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink."

1 Cor 10:4.  All drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

The Bronze Serpent – Num 21:4-9

Num 21:5-9

The people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread." ⁶ So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

⁷ Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

John 3:14-15

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Actual Appearances 

Ex 3:1-4, 13-14

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

² And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. ³ Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn." ⁴ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!"  And he said, "Here I am."

¹³ Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?"

¹⁴ And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

Hagar:  Gen 16:7-13

Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸ And He said, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?"

She said, "I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai."

⁹ The Angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand." ¹⁰ Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, "I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude." ¹¹ And the Angel of the Lord said to her:

"Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has heard your affliction. ¹² He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren."

¹³ Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, El-Roi (You are the God Who Sees); for she said, "Have I also here seen Him who sees me?"

Abraham

Gen 22:11-12

The Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!"

So he said, "Here I am."

¹² And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

Samson’s Parents:  Judg 13

² Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. ³ And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, "Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, "Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You." ¹⁶ And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord." (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.)

¹⁷ Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, "What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?"

¹⁸ And the Angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?"  Secret, Incomprehensible

¹⁹ So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the Lord. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on — 

²⁰ it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar — the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. ²¹ When the Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the Lord.

²² And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God!"

Who did the people in the Old Testament see?

• ·       They initially call Him “The Angel of the Lord”
• ·       By the end of the encounter, they realize it is a Theophany
• ·       And there is a God-name used or given
  • Hagar – El Roi
  • Samson’s Parents – “Wonderful”
  • Abraham – Jehovah-Jireh (Gen 22:11-14)
  • Moses – I AM THAT I AM (Ex 3:1-6)

How can we say that was Jesus and not the Father?

Jesus makes it clear that He is the I AM

John 8:56-59

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."

⁵⁷ Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  

⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  

⁵⁹ Then they took up stones to throw at Him (Lev 24:16); but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Ex 33:11  So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.

Num 12:6-8

"Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you,

I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.

⁷ Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house.

⁸ I speak with him face to face,

Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord.

Jesus makes it clear that no one has seen the Father

John 5:37 The Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.

You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.

John 6:46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God;

He has seen the Father.

John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time.

The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

John 14:7-9

"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."

⁸ Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."

⁹ Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 

Col 1:15  He is the image of the invisible God

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person

Charakteer: the exact representation of the object whose image it bore.  caricature

Occurs only in Heb 1:.

Hupostasis: reality, essence, substance, real being, natur      

charakt¢¡rt¢¡s hupostáseœs, "the exact image of His essence"

Rev 1:8

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Jesus in the Old Testament 2

Luke 24:25-27

Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  ²⁶Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"  ²⁷ And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

See Jesus through Prophecies, Types & Shadows, and Actual Appearances

Moses, the most important person in Judaism: prophet, leader & deliverer of Israel

          Writer & teacher of the Torah

                    Intermediary between God & man

Moses is a Type of Christ – What Christ will do, or how He will function

Prophet (Deut 18:15), leader, deliverer, the Word, teacher, mediator (Titus 2:5)

Killing of the innocents

Exodus, Ecclesia

Moses & the Actual Appearance of Christ

Ex 33:11.  So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.

Num 12:6-8

"Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you,

I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.

⁷ Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house.

⁸ I speak with him face to face,

Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord.

John 5:37.  You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 

John 6:45-46

It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  ⁴⁶ Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.

How do we know it was Jesus that Moses saw?

John 14:7-9

"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."

⁸ Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."

⁹ Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 

Ex 3:2.  And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.

When Moses asked His name, He answered Moses, "I AM WHO I AM."  (3:14)

Abraham saw the Angel of the Lord Gen 22:11

Jesus makes it clear that Moses & Abraham saw Him, & that He is the I AM 

John 8:56-59

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."

⁵⁷ Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  

⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  

⁵⁹ Then they took up stones to throw at Him (Lev 24:16); but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

The Passover Lamb is a Shadow of  Christ – Col 2:16-17

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

Manna in the Wilderness – Ex 16; John 6:49-51

John 6:49-51

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  ⁵⁰ This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  ⁵¹ I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever."

The Rock in the Wilderness is a Type – Ex 17:5-6; 1 Cor 10:4 Ex 17:5-6

The Lord said to Moses, "Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. ⁶ Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink."

1 Cor 10:4.  All drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

John 7:37.  On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

Cloud & Pillar of Fire – Ex 23:20-23

The Bronze Serpent is a Shadow – Num 21:4-9; John 3:14 (2 Kings 18:4)

Num 21:5-9

The people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread." ⁶ So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

⁷ Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

John 3:14-15

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

The High Priest & the perfect sacrifice – Leviticus

Prophecy of Jesus in the Wilderness

King Balak of Moab hired Balaam to curse the people of God

Num 24:17.  I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near;

A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel.

Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree – Deut 21:23

1 Cor 15:21.

For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.

• One tree brought death, one tree brought life

The cleft of the rock – Ex 33:18-23

[Moses] said, "Please, show me Your glory."

¹⁹ Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

²⁰ But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live."

²¹ And the Lord said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock.

²² So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.

²³ Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen."

Moses said “Show me Your Glory”

God says “I will show you my back”

I will put you in a place by Me; you shall stand on the rock

Jesus is that rock (1 Cor 10:4)

He didn’t just put Moses on Jesus

• He put him in the cleft of the rock

    To bore or pierce

• He put Moses in Jesus’ pierced hand – then covered him with the other hand

The place where Grace did what you can’t do

Your Plan to Succeed

When we make resolutions & don’t have steps for fulfilment

We’re just planning to fail

God has plans for us – we should have plans for ourselves

Planning is about identifying the steps to make your dreams a reality

Planning is about determining how to get to your desired destination

When we’re going to a place we’ve never been before, we put the destination in the GPS.  We need to know where we’re going to know how to get there. 

Planning is about taking back control

          Taking control of our time, of our health, of our energies, of our resources

                    Planning is about determining your own priorities

3 areas in which we generally plan:

1.  Plan what you will have
2.  Plan what you will do
3. Plan what you will be

Plans focus on things – what you will have

There’s nothing wrong with that

 1.     God is the one who gives you power to get wealth, in order to fulfill the covenant. Deut 8:18

 2.     You have the blessing of Abraham – I will bless you and you shall be a blessing. Gen 12:2

 3.     A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. Prov 13:22

Plan to BE relevant

We have a plan to get what we want, but we don’t have a plan to be better

You will never experience true success until you know the value of Time

So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Ps 90:12

Know what to do, and when to do it

          Schedules & Calendars

As long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest. Gen 8:22

Eccl 3:1-8.  To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:

God puts things on your calendar

Ex 23:14. “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year.”

Ps 81:2-4

2 Sing! Beat the tambourine. Play the sweet lyre and the harp.

3 Blow the ram's horn at new moon, and again at full moon to call a festival!

4 For this is required by the decrees of Israel

Since God plans & schedules…

Stop doing things at the last minute

Stop living in survival mode & start living in success mode

Success requires preparation

Are you prepared for relationship success?

          Do you have Cinderella plans?

                    Do you have plans past Prince Charming showing up & rescuing you?

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.  Ps 20:4

Are you prepared for financial success?

          If you can’t budget what you have now…

                    God only blesses you with much, when you’ve been faithful with little

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. Prov 21:5

The rich rules over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender. Prov 22:7

Success Requires a Support System

Make plans by seeking advice.  Prov 20:18

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.  Prov 15:22

Stop “Flying by the seat of your pants”

          Douglas Corrigan flying w/o instruments, radio, flight plan – Brooklyn to California

29 hrs later ended up in Dubland, a different continent, in a different direction

Live Life Intentionally

          Stop just letting things happen

                    Make things happen

Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.  Amos 3:

Your Plan to Fail in 2017

1 Chron 14:13-16

Then the Philistines once again made a raid on the valley. 14 Therefore David inquired again of God, and God said to him, "You shall not go up after them; circle around them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. 15 And it shall be, when you hear a sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines." 16 So David did as God commanded him, and they drove back the army of the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gezer.

I know what your Resolution should be in 2017 – “I Resolve to Fail”

You know what you want, but you don’t have a plan to get it

          If you’re failing to plan, then you’re planning to fail

Most of you live in survivor mode – live day to day

Learned how to handle what’s in front of you

                    Have no real plans for your life, except may a vacation or a big purchase

Many have O’Jay-itis – Living for the Weekend

Most people don’t plan past their next pay check

The farthest out you’ve planned is how to spend the Income Tax Return

Lack vision 

Where there is no vision, the people perish.  Prov 29:18

If you do not have a plan for your life, then other people will make plans for you

Their plan for your life is to make them successful

You do live more by other people’s plans than your own

They tell you when to come and when to go

     When you make your own plans what do you plan to do?

Nothing, or clean

Turn the TV off 

          Stop watching other people succeed

& start working a plan for your success

Log off FaceBook & Snap Chat 

          Create something instead of being absorbed in other people’s lack of creativity

Put the broom down & pick up a pen and start planning for your life 

Spend your energy planning & creating your own success

Stop living in survival mode and start living in success mode 

The church has been complicit in your Failing to Plan:

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.  Matt 6:34 KJV

-        Don’t have anxiety about tomorrow, don’t worry about what hasn’t happened

James 4:13-16

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."

¹⁶ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Jer 29:11. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God has plans for you – you need some for yourself

Stop sittin’ around just wishing & hoping

For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?  Luke 14:28 NLT

• ·       You don’t build a house without a plan, in the form of blueprints

We expect God to send miracles instead of us having a plan

When the prophet told the king that the enemy was coming, this was his counsel:

1 Kings 20:22. "Go, strengthen yourself and observe and see what you have to do”

          Make plans

David vs Philistines

When you plan, you give God something to bless

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.  Prov 16:3

Time is the most precious thing we have…

We always want more, but what do we do with the time we have?

          When someone dies, we want to know how old they were

Do you have a plan for your time?

Ps 90:12. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Stop doing things at the last minute

It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark!  Gen 6:11-15 NIV

Do you have a plan for your money?

          Other than just to spend it?

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. Prov 21:5

Rely more on chance more than planning

How many hope to win the lottery?  Have you bought a lottery ticket?

          Everything is based on Hope, not action

2 Kings 4:1-7.  Prophet gives the widow a Plan

2017 Resolve to Plan

Then work your plan daily

You’ll be surprised by how things will fall into place

Give God something to bless

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.  Ps 20:4

Wow! Does God Have Plans!

Many lost their optimism in the last 24 hours.  Many woke up this morning, feeling more uncertain about the future than they have in a long time.  So, let me remind you of the promise of our good, good Father, to us as believers:

 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jer 29:11

God’s plans for us did not change because of the election.  Even today, He is reassuring us that we have reason to hope, and no reason to fear!

All you need do is look at what was happening when the Lord gave that wonderful promise:  It was when the people He loved were being carried off into exile.  (Jer 29:4)

Before He gave the promise, He gave them clear instructions about what they were supposed to do, in the face of an uncertain future.  “Go on building houses, starting businesses and going to work.” (29:5)  “Don’t change the way you take care of and dream for your family and children.” (29:6)

But here is the most important thing He told them to do, which so clearly applies to us today:

 “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”  (29:7)

So, we pray for our nation.  We pray for our new president.  Just as the Lord directs us to 1 Tim 2:1-2:

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness."

Notice, in both scriptures, the real issue is our living in peace and prosperity.  No matter where we are.  No matter who is in charge. 

Our grace comes from our good, good Father; not D.C.

Grace2U,

DNH