Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ.

Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Today in chapter 14, verse 24, we're just going to read a few verses here, just three or four verses. I want you to look at it, verse 24, the Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed so shall it stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot. Then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?

And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? It's a Old Testament passage, and we're going to apply this to our present day and even present situation in literally, I think, a daily battle that you and I have every day of our lives. Let's pray together as you're at home and I'm here, and let's ask God to bless this time. It really will take a miracle of God over the course of time as we have to do these online services. It will take a miracle of God for the truth of every message to somehow get into the ear of those who are listening.

With all the opportunities of distractions and all the things that are in the way of getting God's word as he's given it to the man of God, to the listener, there's all kinds of things that Satan now has opportunity to throw in the minds, to throw in the situation. So let's pray and ask God to work a miracle because that's what he does. Let's pray. Lord, we love you.

Thank you for all that you've done. And Lord, I needed this this week as I've worked on this, just some thoughts you laid on my mind and my heart and among other ones, and Lord, as you led yesterday that this is what we would deal with today, God, I pray that you would bless and Lord, that you would overcome everything that this situation can put in our way and Lord, I pray that you would somehow allow those of us who desire your word right now that Lord, you would help us to do everything we can do to keep Satan out of the way. Lord, I ask you to bind him, limit his power when it comes to this right now. Lord, we know you are all powerful.

You are God, you are sovereign, you are king. We acknowledge that and Lord, I pray that you'd help and as I try my best to lay out before our listener what you've laid on my heart this week, in Jesus name we pray, amen. On many occasions and circumstances in my life, I have found myself trying to make something happen. You know, I know that I can't and I know that it is futile, but I still, almost without even thinking about it, will find myself at times trying to figure a way to make something happen, to fix a problem, to meet a need, to change a person, to alter circumstances, to manipulate an outcome, whatever the case is, I always seem to find myself and my mind at work trying to make things happen, spending time thinking, plotting, manipulating, prioritizing and even at times stressing to find a way to make something happen.

We do that, you know, we all do. You at home right now, you have your things right now that's on your mind. You have things that are gonna be happening this coming week, things that have happened this past week and many times that has consumed our mind, how we're gonna fix this, how we're gonna make this work, how we're gonna change this thing or this person and how we're gonna make this fit into the plan that we think is best for our life right now. Even while many times the preacher is preaching, our mind is off on some other issue, some other problem. I can't tell you how many times in my life if I thought about it as many church services I have sat through that while somebody's preaching or somebody's singing without even desiring to or meaning to, my mind is active thinking how I can make something happen.

I'll tell you how bad it can actually get. I have had times where I have been preaching and while I'm preaching on something, I am fighting my own mind at the time because it's going thinking of something else I need to fix this week and I got an all of a sudden idea of how this can work and I'm trying to preach God's word, it hits me while I'm even preaching. That's how powerful I know this is in our flesh and I have spent hours at times in a waiting room and even in a hospital room trying to figure out as we sat there with our youngest son how I could make something happen and fix something that I just couldn't fix. I've sat at the deathbed of my own mom, I've sat at the deathbed of my own dad and have spent time thinking what I could do to change this situation, how I could make this happen.

And it just doesn't work that way. I've sat at my office here at the church. I have four or five offices that I use here at the church and I like to keep people guessing where I might be. They don't know if I'm there, if I'm not there, if I am there, where I'm at and my staff has found out that usually I find out about things because I work in different places but I have spent time at my office at church and even laying in bed in the middle of the night thinking about this church, thinking about things that are happening in this church, how I could fix it, how I could make it happen, how I could produce growth, how I could somehow get our people to grab a new vision, how I could motivate people to get out and do things and here I am still trying to make something happen. I could go on and on and on and describe that process and maybe you sitting at home today know exactly what I'm talking about, it's just our human nature to somehow think that we've got to make something happen. Isaiah chapter 14 verse 24, God is speaking here through Isaiah to Israel. This is a time where they were literally in captivity and being bombarded by the Babylonian Empire and the Chaldean Empire and God had made a promise that that was going to be defeated and that they were going to move on to better things but that just hadn't happened yet and as God writes this passage in Isaiah verse 24 as he's giving this promise once again to his children, notice the verse we read, he says, the Lord of hosts hath sworn saying, surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass. I have found something about God, God can make it happen. God said as I have sworn and as I have thought it will happen and God says this as I have purposed so shall it stand.

I want to just talk briefly today to you about the subject of making it happen. In this passage of three or four verses I see some principles and they're very, very simple principles but I've got a lot that God's laid on my heart for me to give you today and I'm going to do it in very quickly, timely fashion. Number one in this passage I want you to see God's promise, God's promise. Verse 24 says this, the Lord of hosts hath sworn saying surely. Notice that passage that God here has sworn, he's made an oath, he's made a promise and then he uses this word surely. That means God will surely do what God has sworn, what God says God follows through with. You see it was almost 200 years since God had predicted and told the children of Israel that they were going to be free of this particular bondage that they were in but it had been 200 years. I mean a promise sounds great and just because God said it yeah that's wonderful and thank God for it but if you've gone 200 years and what God said was going to happen still hasn't happened it's going to create some doubt in your mind and it might have been that as Isaiah through the inspiration of God is giving this promise once again to the children of Israel. I mean it might have been that they thought well what is this to us? I mean how do we know this is going to happen?

We've heard this before. How do we know we can count on it? When is God ever going to do it? And may I say dear friend we see in this passage that God is reminding them that he's made a promise and I want to remind you today that God has made some promises. And what God promises God does. The promise of God the Lord of hosts hath sworn. You see what God was getting ready to tell them would be a present comfort but it would give them future hope. You see God is to his people the same today that he was yesterday and God will be the same yesterday and today that he will be hereafter. He will forever be the same that he has been and is.

And if you're sitting at home you're probably like what did he just say? I am telling you this that God was God is and God always will be the same God of yesterday as the God of today and the God of today will be the God of tomorrow and if God has made a promise and God's put it in his word and if God has spoken it then God will do it. God's promises.

God has made this observation before we go on to the next simple thing. There have been times in my life where I made a statement. There have been times in my life where I made a promise. There have been times in my life that I was going to make something happen and so I felt this is what's going to happen and somehow some way I'm going to make this happen because I know that I just believe that I can and I have said something and I have made a promise or I have given the illusion that this is going to happen.

I've done it here at church. Listen, we put out a calendar for 2020. We worked hard, laid things out, had meetings, scheduled things ahead and God sure took care of that didn't he? May I say this that in reality my word is really only so strong. I mean my word is only as strong as I am and may I say that I'm human and I have weakness and I'm frail and I'm flesh. But what God says God does, you can count on it. What I might promise or what I might say there's going to be stipulations. There might be some circumstances that come up out of my control that I just didn't foresee and that might change what I have said or what I have promised or what I have committed to but there is absolutely nothing that will come up unforeseen in God's eyes.

He's already seen it all. God's promise. Let me notice secondly in this passage God's plan. Look at verse 24.

The Lord of hosts hath sworn saying surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass. You say preacher, this passage, what does this have to do with us? This passage was not written to us.

It was written to Israel but this passage was written for all of us and as God was writing to Israel at this particular time for this particular circumstance the principle is still the same. God is reminding them I've made a promise and even though you're tired of waiting and even though you've gotten impatient and even though you haven't seen things happen the way you think they ought to happen I have made a promise and I've got a plan and you've got to trust me with it and that is applied to every area of our life. Now at this passage we have two words we've got to look at.

The first one is the word thought. Look at verse 24. This is what God says, surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass.

This word thought is the Hebrew word damma. It literally means to devise, to consider, to plan out. It means this that God says what I have planned will come to pass.

As I have fought or as I have planned, as I have considered, as I have devised so shall it come to pass. God says if I've planned it I will make it happen. Let me just say this morning that God has His plans and you and I have our plans. Sometimes our plans are different than God's plans. Sometimes we think our plans are better than God's plans. So then we have a decision to make whose plans are we going to go with? Are we growing weary of waiting for God's plan to unfold?

And have we now decided that we've got to come up with our own plan and we've got to figure some way to make that plan happen in our lives? Can I remind you just briefly this morning that Samson had his own plans. Now God had plans for Samson's life. God even told Samson what his plans were for Samson's life.

But Samson had his own plans and he ended up blind and grinding grain in a prison. May I say this that David had his own plans. Now God had a plan for David. David was a man after God's own heart through David's lineage and through his seed. God was going to continue the line for the Messiah. But David had his own plans and David ended up repenting with bitter tears having become a murderer and an adulterer. How did David's plans for himself work out?

Can I bring up another one this morning? Jacob had his own plans. Jacob was not the first born and obviously Esau his older brother was but God had a plan for that but Jacob had his own plans and Jacob ended up lying to his own dad deceiving his own father and running for his own life and ended up wrestling with an angel of God and lost. What about Abraham? Abraham had his own plans.

Abraham thought well I'm going to get my child, I'm going to get my son, I'm going to have my seed and Abraham I can't even describe some of the things that Abraham produced but may I say this his plans ended up producing eternal unrest in the Middle East that you and I watch every day on our television. You know what is interesting just about the four that I've mentioned out of a hundred that I could mention in God's word what is interesting is that in all of these instances in all of these people's lives in all of these circumstances are you listening to me right there at the house God eventually did what he planned anyway. You see if God has planned it he is going to do it with or without your help and without your help and if we make our own plans we're going to produce some circumstances and some things that will greatly be adverse to our life but if God planned it he said it shall come to pass.

God says this surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass. You must understand today that God already has a plan for your life. If you're a teenager maybe sitting at home watching reluctantly with mom or dad or both or whoever or maybe if for some reason you're a self-motivated young person and on your own phone you're maybe watching this or however it might be I want you to understand something God already has a plan for your life before your life ever even started may I challenge you moms and dads that might be watching God already has a plan for your children. God's plan is not being put together as circumstances unfold every day. God said this surely as I have thought. God's plan was in place before your present circumstances ever happened. God has been thinking about you since the beginning of time. God's plans are not changed by a virus or by a pandemic. God's plans are not altered because of updated new information. God formulated a plan and took into account where you would be how you would feel and everything that you would possibly go through.

May I give you a bit of advice today if I can out of love and out of concern and even to myself we need to let go of some injustices that might have been done to us in the past by some person or some family member or some boss at a job or some pastor at another church or some employer somewhere where you used to work and we walk around as though that ruined some successful master plan of your life. Everything was going fine till this person did this till they fired me from this till they let me go from this church till they did this till they did that and dear friend may I challenge you God has a plan. God had a plan and God will accomplish his plan in your life if you trust him. God said this as I have thought may I challenge you today God has put a lot of thought into his plans for your life. Now I have three boys at home hopefully they're watching and I'm going to tell you something I've done a lot of thinking about my three boys. I've sat at times by myself in a morning late at night I've been out in the woods sometimes sitting thinking I've been preaching other meetings and places and get some time alone and I'll think about my sons and pray for my sons and just begin to think of some of the plans that God might have for their life. I think a lot about it and I see a lot of potential and I see all kinds of ways that God if they would let them that God could use just in this entire picture my three sons but I have never even come close to give it as much thought about my sons and my plans for their life. I've never come close to thinking about it near as much as God has thought about them. God said as I have thought listen I know you've waited 200 years for this but let me tell you something I didn't make a promise haphazard I thought about it way before I ever promised you that this would take place I never said when it would I never said how it would I never said all the circumstances it would and Israel as much as I've done for you I know that the Babylonians and the Chaldeans I know that they're creating havoc in your life right now and this is not what you would like and this is not what you would want and I know that this is not what you would have planned but God says as I have thought I thought about this before you were ever in it I will think about this after you're gone I know everything that's happened in the past I know everything that will happen in the future and as I have thought and thought and thought about this I've got a plan and I will accomplish that plan God's plan dear friend whatever God plans he can make it happen once you notice thirdly in this passage and there's only four that I'm gonna show so I'm almost half done is God's purpose God's purpose now let me just say before I even read the verse that oftentimes you and I will have no idea of what God's purposes might be in our life verse 24 as God once again through the pen of Isaiah and the voice of Isaiah he says this the Lord of hosts hath sworn saying surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass and as I have purposed so shall it stand a little different there in fact in two verses verse 26 God says this this is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth you see this brings us to the second word that we've got to look at to understand this passage the first word was thought and God said as I have thought we know that word means plan that God devised a plan that God's considered everything and he's got a will that he wants to accomplish and we understand that but we now need to look at this other word it's the word purposed this is a Hebrew word which means this to determine to deliberate to resolve this means that if God has planned it then God will do what it takes to do it and in doing so God will accomplish his sovereign purpose as I have thought God came up with a plan so shall it come to pass if God has a plan God can make that plan happen but God always has a purpose for the plan that he planned you see you and I oftentimes don't know what that purpose might be you see God made a promise that he was going to defeat the Babylonians and the Chaldeans God made a promise that he was going to free them from that God made a promise that he was going to give a victory but it had been 200 years and they didn't understand why it had been 200 years and may I say in 2020 Pastor Daniel Hautry has no idea why God waited 200 years but I know this that God had a purpose because he had a plan and if God has a plan then there's a purpose for it and I don't know in 2020 why we can't meet together in this building and I don't know why this virus has hit America and all over the entire globe I don't know why these things happen I don't know why these mandates are in place I don't know what possible purpose God might have for allowing it but I know this that if God's allowed it God has a plan and God has a purpose for that plan that is why God says this in verse 24 as I have purposed so shall it stand that means God says this I had a plan that plan is going to come to pass and when that plan comes to pass there's a purpose that I had in mind that entire time and when that plan is done then it will accomplish my purpose and that will stand interesting you and I may I say this may choose to go with our plans but you and I need not be surprised when those plans do not end up accomplishing all that we thought they would accomplish can I tell you how many times in life I came up with a plan and I thought hey this is the best and I need to do everything I can do to manipulate this to motivate this to figure it out to make it happen and I've done that so many times and when it was all said and done it did not do what I thought it would do it did not accomplish what I thought it would accomplish and it ended up bringing things and causing things in my life that I never foresaw God says when I plan something I'll do it and when I plan something and do it I have a purpose for it and when God does it and you and I wait and are patient and trust him and allow God to do it God has a purpose for it and that purpose will remain see preacher what is your point here God says that what he plans he does and what he does remain strong you can count on it it's stable it doesn't move you see God has a purpose for the plan that he makes nothing is by accident whatever God allows dear friend God has an eternal purpose for it our purposes now get me this morning our purposes are temporary say preacher what do you mean we make our plans often based on what we think is best for us at the present time based on the information that we have after all how else could we make a decision how else could we make a plan we have to make a plan based on what we think is best at this particular time in our life and we've got to make decisions based on the information that we have but may I remind you you and I have no idea what the future holds we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow let alone tonight and God has that information you and I don't so the best plans that Daniel Haughtry could ever make would at best be temporary may I say this the best plans that I can make for my family for my sons at best would be temporary the best plans that I could make for myself I have no idea what the future has and I have no idea why God might not be doing something right now the way I think he should but I've got to trust him because not only does he have a plan but he has a purpose for that plan you and I do not know all things we are not in all places we do not have all power last time I checked God does verse 26 that's why God says this this is the purpose that is purposed notice this phrase if you have your Bible upon the whole earth God takes all things into account listen to me this morning it is purposed on the whole earth God's purposes aren't just limited to your life or to my life God's purposes accomplish a master will a master plan that God has it is not just about you and me and it is not about our desired income it is about God's will about God's master plan and about what God wants because whatever God wants he has a purpose for that that will last for an eternity. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today God bless you.