I'd like to welcome everyone to Bridge Gospel this morning.
I'm glad that you are here with us.
If this is your first time, I'd especially like to welcome you.
I know that it can be awkward to walk into a new church sometimes.
You don't know if you're taking somebody's seat.
You don't know where you can and can't have the coffee.
Just relax. Enjoy your time here. We're glad that you're here.
I'd also like to welcome everyone who's visiting online with us or is away from the church.
I believe that God will bless you right where you're listening this morning.
So I'm going to pray for the offering.
We're not going to pass a plate or a bucket or put anybody on the spot.
We have a box in the back.
Or you can give online. You can scan the little code.
If you write a check, just make that out to Two Rivers Church.
They're the ones that helped us get this church going out here.
So I'll pray for the offering.
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that every good and every perfect gift comes from you, Lord.
We thank you for the ways that you provide for us through wages, bonuses, gifts,
inheritance, and sources of increase that you bring into our lives.
Lord, so we thank you for the opportunity to worship you through our offerings.
And we know that it may leave our hands, but it will never leave our life.
In Jesus' name. Amen. Hallelujah.
So we have something a little special this morning.
Sharon, would you come on up?
This is Sharon's last day here with us.
She is going on a long-term assignment to Cambodia.
She was there last year.
She did a great amount of medical ministry, teaching over there.
So we would just like to welcome anyone who would like to pray for her or with her this morning.
You're welcome to come forward.
If you have a scripture you want to share and encourage her,
we want to send her off with a blessing and encouragement.
Anybody want to come up?
Kids, you guys want to come up and pray?
Come on, guys.
You guys are good prayer warriors.
So, Sharon, we just let you know we are very proud of you,
that you are about ready to embark on your second mission over to Cambodia.
And Tim and I, as pastors of this church, I just want to know that we will miss you,
but we're so excited for you that you get to go on an amazing adventure while we're stuck here.
Yeah, you're just like, oh.
But, Sharon, you're going to do amazing.
So I'll start us off in prayer, and if everybody's got a prayer, we can pass the mic.
Dear Heavenly Father, God, we just pray over Sharon.
Pray for provisions.
Pray for protection of her body, protection of her mind, protection of her finances, Lord,
that you will guide her steps as she travels to Cambodia,
as she strengthens the team there, that she builds that team up.
That she has a calling, and she has a mission there,
and that you have already set that purpose there,
that when she leaves Cambodia, that team is stronger, that church is stronger.
And, Lord, we just are just in awe and thank you so much for what you've poured into this woman
and that she is walking out the mission that you have set before her.
Lord, God, we just did a cover,
Sharon, from the tip of her head down to the soles of her feet, Lord,
that your spirit goes with her, Lord, as our spirit goes with her.
Lord, God, just bless her every step that she takes, Lord God.
Yes, Lord, and just guide her steps, Lord.
And we just open the hearts of all the Cambodians that are going to hear your word through her,
Lord God, and through her missionary work, Lord.
Just bless it, Lord God.
God's strength in it.
We come against the enemy that's going to try to thwart it in any way.
We bind him now in the name of Jesus, and we loose, Sharon, to do your work in Jesus' name.
Six more days, right?
Yeah, so, Lord, I just pray over these six days, Lord,
that everything, all the loose ends will just come together, Lord,
that your hand is upon it, and that she can leave in peace,
knowing that everything is done, everything is completed,
and that she can look forward to this mission trip, Lord,
with a free mind from all that's behind, Father,
and that you will use her in such a mighty way, Lord,
that you have her marked for your glory and for your honor, Lord,
to be displayed through her to the Cambodians.
Lord, your word says that it is the Lord who goes before you.
He will be with you.
Do not fear nor be dismayed.
Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord is with you.
Lord Jesus, I just thank you so much for sharing.
Sharon, all I was seeing is that there's going to be,
you're going to be looking directly at people,
and the Lord's just going to give you these extremely accurate prophetic words
that, you know, like they're just, it's going to be absolutely amazing.
I just feel like that there's just so much more,
that you've done so much there, but this next one,
this next trip is going to be absolutely,
it's just going to knock it out of the park.
I just thank you, Jesus.
I thank you, Lord God, that you have given Sharon,
not just the family here, but you've given her a huge family in Cambodia,
and she is a grandmother and a mother to so many there,
and I just thank you for expansion of her family.
Thank you, Jesus.
In Mark 16, 15, it says,
And he said to them,
Go into the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
So, Father, as we send her,
I thank you, Lord, that you're going with her.
And, Lord, we just can hardly wait to hear what she's going to do,
in Jesus' name.
I'm just seeing, as you're packing this week,
that God is packing into you your authority,
that he is giving you, he's reminding you of who you are,
and you are going to stand in the authority that he is giving you
when you are on your way, when you are there,
and that that is going to be standing in your authority.
You're resisting the devil because he is going to be coming against you,
but you have more power in you because Christ is in you,
and he is packing that into your whole being,
and you are going to stand in that authority in Cambodia.
Praise God.
Sharon, I just see that the impact of your trip there
is going to be far-reaching beyond anything
that you're going to experience while you're there.
and it's just going to be like a ripple effect,
the lives that you touch, especially the children.
So I saw Psalms 1830 over you,
and it says,
As for God, his way is perfect.
The Lord's word is flawless.
He shields all who take refuge in him.
And I just feel like the release of these words
won't come back void, Sharon,
and he's wrapping you in his spoken word right now.
And he shields all who take refuge in him,
and his way is perfect,
and he is lighting the way for you to go.
He is beside you, behind you, and before you.
And he is just going to give you those breadcrumbs
and show you what needs to be done.
So, Lord, we thank you for your daughter's heart.
We thank you for the hunger that you've placed in there
to serve others, to love others,
and to bring your gospel to the far reaches of the earth, Lord God.
We thank you for the covering that you have over her, Lord,
and that you are her shield, that you are her buckler,
and that you go before her, Lord,
and that you are a strong tower in which she gets to run to, Lord God,
and that she abides under the shelter of your wings,
and there the enemy can't reach.
And so we just pray courage.
We pray faith and trust in who you are over Sharon right now
as she goes out and does her thing, in Jesus' name.
Hallelujah.
Well, dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for Sharon.
I thank you for what you have called her to do.
I thank you for what you have put in her heart,
that you have put a people in her heart, Lord.
So, Lord, we send her in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit
to proclaim the gospel to Cambodia.
We commission her in your name, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
I'm so proud of you, Sharon.
Hallelujah.
Missions are an important thing.
We can't send 100 people, but we can send one.
All right, so we're going to get started this morning.
Today's message, maybe appropriately enough, is called Making Plans.
We'll be in Ecclesiastes 7.
I like having a plan.
I like knowing what I'm doing.
I like knowing where I'm going.
I like thinking I know what's going to happen next.
And, you know, there's something really satisfying about a plan that's working, right?
You know, you did the math, you have the money, you have the time,
and everything's kind of lined up.
And then there's something happened that maybe wasn't in the plan, right?
Maybe somebody calls, or they quit, or, you know, maybe the car breaks,
the market crashes, somebody changes their mind,
and the opportunity maybe that you were counting on, maybe that disappears.
Or maybe nothing dramatic happens at all, and it just doesn't work.
So you had a plan.
And one of the strangest things about being human is that
even though this happens over and over and over again,
we keep making plans.
You know, we plan our next week, we plan our next year,
we plan where our money's going to go,
and, you know, I know what I'm eating for Christmas, right?
I know what I'm eating for Christmas.
I don't know what I'm eating for dinner tonight,
but I know what I'm eating for Christmas, right?
But we make plans.
And we can't do much of anything without making plans.
And I don't think that planning is our problem.
I think that the problem is what starts happening inside of us
when the plan starts to make us feel safe.
Because if I have a plan, maybe I start to calm down.
Or maybe if I have a plan, I quit being afraid.
And maybe tomorrow is a little bit less mysterious.
But I think that there's something else that happens, too,
that I don't just want to plan, it's that I want to know.
I want to know what's going to happen.
I want to know if what I'm thinking is going to work.
I want to know if I'm making the right decision.
I want to know if all the fears that I'm worried about,
if those things are actually going to happen.
Now, Ecclesiastes has a lot to say about this.
Chapter 7, verse 14, it says this.
It says,
And as I kind of sat with that verse for the last month or so,
I think I have a much bigger problem with it than I realized.
You know, when we don't know what's going to happen next,
we start to look for something that will tell us.
We look at how our week went.
We look at how much money we have.
We look at how people are responding to what we're saying or what we're doing.
We look at whether or not we felt peace.
And we try to turn the present moment that we're living in
into some kind of a forecast.
Now, Ecclesiastes says there is a time, right?
It says, verse 3, or chapter 3, verse 1 says,
For everything there is an appointed time
and an appropriate time for every activity on earth.
A time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to uproot,
a time to weep and laugh, to mourn, to dance.
But what it doesn't say is that you get to pick one.
That you get to find a good season and stay there.
Or if you have enough faith, you can avoid all the bad stuff that's on that list.
But Ecclesiastes says there is a time and a season.
There's a time for this and that.
There's a time to grow and begin and there's a time to die and end.
And one of the most dangerous things that we can do is we can treat a season of our life
like it's some kind of a verdict about our future.
But seasons change.
And the things that we feel that are so permanent right now that are entrapping us
and holding us down, they may not be as permanent as we think.
And things that look impossible at this moment may not be as impossible as we think.
And there's seasons in my life where everything I touch seemed to work.
Everything seemed to just land.
Everything just took off.
And then there were seasons of my life where I couldn't figure out why everything was so hard.
And there were seasons where the phone just wouldn't ring.
Nobody would call.
Seasons where I would pray and it just felt like everything just hit the ceiling.
But a season is just that.
It's a season.
The problem is when we start to ask that season to tell us something that it just can't know.
The season can tell us what's happening around us, but it cannot tell us what God is doing.
And it can tell us how we feel or how we should feel, but it cannot tell us who God is.
It says, in times of prosperity, be joyful.
That seems simple.
And it says, when times are good, enjoy them.
Now, some of us are terrible at this.
And sometimes something good will come into my life and instead of enjoying it, all of a sudden we start to plan the funeral.
Oh, this is going too well.
Something bad is going to happen.
You know, everything is good.
The family is healthy.
The bills are paid.
Work is good.
And somehow it can be difficult to receive that sometimes.
But Ecclesiastes says, don't be suspicious.
Just be joyful.
Don't apologize for a good season.
Don't manufacture anxiety.
But don't refuse the gift that we have today.
Because you're afraid of what will happen tomorrow.
You see, and some of us just need permission to enjoy the things that are going on in our lives right now.
Ecclesiastes says, receive it.
Don't worship it, but receive it.
Because Ecclesiastes is saying the same thing that you're thinking.
That it may not always be like this.
And that's not being pessimistic.
And that's why we enjoy it.
But in times of adversity, consider this.
It says, don't panic.
It doesn't say, God abandoned you.
It doesn't say, rewrite your whole theology when something bad happens.
It says, consider.
And I think that means that we need to slow down.
When things change and when things hurt, when things don't work.
And something that you found brought you a lot of security suddenly is gone.
And Ecclesiastes says, before you interpret this, before you decide what it all means, consider.
Now, we may try to force an interpretation on the things that happen in our lives.
How many of you have done that?
Well, this is happening, so, well, that must mean this.
And we may go out and seek relief from our circumstances or try to anesthetize ourselves against what's happening.
Or we'll demand an explanation.
We want to know.
What does this mean?
Why is this happening?
Is God punishing me?
Is God warming me?
I mean, this calamity must explain something.
Is God closing the door?
Is this the beginning?
Is this the end?
And Ecclesiastes doesn't say, well, you've got to figure this out.
But it does say to consider.
What kind of conclusions do you come to when things go wrong?
That maybe God is letting you down?
That he's angry?
That he doesn't care?
That maybe you missed God's will?
I've had a few conversations like that.
That you've ruined it?
That it's over?
That it's never going to change?
But our pain has this weird ability to feel very permanent.
And when we're lonely or when we're in pain, we don't just feel lonely.
We think that we're always going to be this way.
That we're always going to be lonely.
And when we feel afraid, we feel like we're always going to be afraid.
And when we fail, we think, well, I'm always going to be a failure.
And suddenly that moment has gotten this power in our life.
And it becomes almost a prophecy about our future.
And it starts disciplining and shaping our whole life.
And if we're not careful, we can stop trying.
We can stop hoping.
We can stop praying.
And eventually we can stop trusting because this fear is speaking a message to us.
And our feelings are very real.
But they're not prophecy.
They're not God speaking to us.
And our feelings may tell us something that is completely real.
But they cannot tell us what happens next.
And Ecclesiastes says that God has made one as well as the other.
The prosperous day, the adverse day.
The day the phone rings, the day it doesn't.
The day they love you, the day they don't.
The day of celebration, the day of mourning.
He has made one as well as the other.
That doesn't mean that everything that happens is good.
It doesn't mean that everything that happens is bad.
It doesn't ask us to pretend that the tragedies that we face don't hurt.
But it does refuse to give adversity control over our lives.
You see, a bad day is not evidence that God has lost control.
A bad diagnosis doesn't mean that God has disappeared.
The betrayal does not make evil suddenly more powerful in our life than God.
You see, suffering does not have sovereignty, but God does.
And that's why prosperity can't prove that God loves you.
And adversity can't prove that he doesn't.
You see it?
And it says, God has made one as well as the other
so that no one can discover what the future holds.
There it is.
There's the thing we don't like.
That we don't know what happens next.
Because we don't.
The prosperity or adversity or success or failure,
and none of it speaks to what's coming next.
And we hate that.
I hate that.
You know, we don't want God to be just sovereign.
We want access to the controls.
We want to know what the events in our life mean.
We want to know where this whole thing is going.
We want to know how long this season is going to last.
We want to know why this thing has happened.
We want to know what God is doing.
We want to know when it will change, when they will change.
And we want to know the day that everything's going to be okay.
And we look at our circumstances and we try to decode them
and discover what the future is.
But Ecclesiastes is saying that we really can't.
You know, we can be wise.
We can pay attention.
We can learn from patterns and observations.
We can seek wisdom.
We can make changes.
See, it's not an invitation to be passive.
But it is taking away the illusion that somehow we can know where we're going next.
And I think prosperity can be just as dangerous as adversity.
You know, prosperity tells us, well, this is how it's going to be now.
I've figured it out.
I've made it.
I'm secure.
And I think I know what's going to happen next.
And adversity tells us the same thing in the opposite direction.
It says, well, this is how it's going to be now.
Nothing will change.
I'll never recover.
Those people will never change.
I'll never be able to quit.
And it says the same thing.
It says, I know what happens next.
You see, prosperity and adversity can both become false prophets.
One says tomorrow must be good because today is good.
The other says tomorrow must be terrible because today is terrible.
Ecclesiastes look at both and it says, you don't know.
Now, we do this constantly.
We'll try to look at our day and we'll say, well, this was terrible, so God isn't listening.
Or this was amazing, so God must approve of everything that's going on.
Or maybe the business exploded.
Maybe your relationship fell apart.
Maybe the doctor called and somebody said yes and somebody said no.
And by the end of the day, you've developed this whole theology of what's going on and what you think about God.
You know, what have you decided about God because of what has happened?
Have you decided that God loves you because things were working?
Have you decided that God forgot about you because they aren't?
Have you decided that you finally arrived or you finally become someone because people notice you?
Or have you decided that you're a nobody because they didn't?
Have you decided that God is faithful because he answered your prayer or that he's absent because he didn't?
Because we have this assumption that if I can interpret the moment, I can know the future.
And I think that's the trap.
If I can figure out what this thing means, then maybe I can figure out what comes next.
And if I can figure out what comes next, then maybe I can finally feel safe.
But the safety that we're looking for does not come from knowing tomorrow.
Ecclesiastes says we don't know.
The safety you're looking for has to come from knowing God.
So in prosperity, we can be joyful, but in adversity, it says consider.
Because we don't know what happens next.
So this creates a problem.
If I don't know what's happening next, why do I need a plan?
Why should I have a vision?
Why should I start anything?
Why should I risk anything?
Why should I build anything?
You know, why make a plan when I don't know what's going to happen next?
You see, some people have dreams, but there is no plan for their life.
They have no plan.
They have no idea of where they're going, how to get there.
And somehow, maybe it's in God's hands.
But I think that's where Scripture really speaks.
Psalm 20, verse 4 says,
May he grant your heart's desire.
May he bring all your plans to pass.
That's a prayer.
I love that.
May he bring all your plans to pass.
It means we should make a plan.
We should dream.
We should build.
We should start things.
We should prepare ourselves.
We should pray that God will bless the things that we have set our hands to.
But notice, it's a prayer.
It says, may he.
And I think embodied in that Scripture and in that prayer is an admission that I can make the plan, but I can't make it happen.
And that's the difference.
You see, the problem isn't having a vision and having a plan.
The problem is the prediction.
You know, a vision says, this is what we think faithfulness looks like next.
But a prediction says, this is what must happen next.
You see, a vision can survive surprises, but a prediction can't.
You guys remember, you know, back in January 2020, everybody had a big plan for 2020.
Every church had like a 2020 vision of, you know, here's where we're going.
Here's what we're building.
Here's what God gave us, this big vision.
And then in March, it all just got deleted off the Internet.
I remember that.
The problem wasn't that anybody had a plan.
The problem was they took, here's what we're visioning and believing and planning for into here's what God is going to do.
And they're not the same things.
And that shift, I've seen it in my own life.
It can happen so quietly.
It starts as a prayer and an idea, and we can build it into an expectation.
And before we know it, it almost feels like an entitlement.
Well, I know this is going to happen.
And then, and then when the plan starts to fall apart, we don't just grieve our plan, we grieve our relationship with God.
But maybe we asked him to make a promise that he never made, you see.
See, our plans are not prophetic.
They're not prophecy about the future.
And I think we should dream.
We should plan.
We should build.
We should pray the most ridiculous prayers as Christians.
I mean, the other end of our prayers is the whole resources of heaven.
Right?
It's on the other end of the line.
Pick up your phone cord, it goes over to your buddy's house.
You pray to God, it goes all the way to heaven.
Right?
So I pray, may he bring all of your plans to pass.
But we have to hold it with open hands.
Because we don't know what happens next.
And that should make us humble.
That should make us responsible.
That should make us open to what God is saying and doing and changing in our lives.
It should make us more thankful when things work out.
And it should protect us from disappointment when they don't.
So how do you live like that?
Paul talks about this in Philippians chapter 4.
He says,
I have learned to be content in any circumstance.
And I almost hear Ecclesiastes 7 in what he's saying.
I have experienced times of need and times of abundance.
In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of contentment.
Whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing.
And notice Paul says, I have learned.
I have learned.
He wasn't born knowing this.
He learned.
He learned how to have plenty without making plenty his God.
And he learned how to have nothing without, you know, his nothing predicting his future.
And both of those things have to be things that we learn.
You know, plenty will try to say to us, well, you don't have to depend on God.
You don't have to pray anymore.
You don't have to depend.
You've made it.
But then nothing will try to say, well, God is failing you and forgetting about you.
And your story is over.
But, you know, you see the different spiritual disciplines Paul is talking about here.
He's saying, can you suffer without believing that God has abandoned you?
And can you prosper without believing that you no longer need him?
And Paul says, I learned how.
Philippians 4.13, he says, I am able to do all things through the one who gives me strength.
And that's what the verse means.
Not that I can accomplish anything that I imagine.
I mean, he's sitting inside of this tension in his life.
And not everything went great for Paul.
He's not saying, I can make every plan succeed.
He's saying, I can remain faithful when the plan falls apart.
I can be content when I have plenty.
I can be content when I have nothing.
I can be content when I'm in prison.
And I can keep following Jesus and keep loving God when my circumstances change.
And he says, there is something greater.
There is something that did not change when everything else did change.
And that's Christ.
My circumstances changed, but Christ didn't.
Maybe my resources changed.
Christ didn't.
Maybe my plans had to change.
Christ didn't.
Maybe my prayers weren't answered the way that I had hoped.
But Christ didn't change.
Hebrews 13.8 says,
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
You see, the constant was never the season that we lived.
The constant is Christ.
And that is the difference between Christian hope and optimism.
Optimism says, well, I think tomorrow is going to be better.
Christian hope says, whether tomorrow is better or whether it is worse,
Christ is still the same.
You see, an optimism depends on the situation improving.
But Christian hope is rooted in our identity in Christ,
who is the same yesterday and today and forever.
So what do you do about tomorrow?
Maybe you have a plan for your family,
for your career, for your retirement, for ministry,
for next year, for next Christmas dinner.
Good.
Make a plan.
Pray over the plan.
Submit it to God.
Work towards it.
Psalm 20 says,
May he grant your heart's desire.
May he bring all your plans to pass.
And I hope he does.
And I hope that some of the things you're praying for right now
happen beyond any of your wildest dreams.
Beyond anything that you've imagined.
And I hope God opened doors that you didn't even know were there.
And I hope he brings things that you never expected.
And I hope he provides in a way that doesn't make sense.
And I hope he restores to you everything that is lost,
everything that is gone.
And I hope he gives you a joy that completely catches you off guard.
But your confidence cannot be,
I know what happens next.
Because I don't, and you don't.
It says,
In times of prosperity, be joyful.
But in times of adversity, consider this.
That God has made one as well as the other.
So that no one can discover what the future holds.
See, we don't know if it's going to get better.
We don't know if it's going to get worse.
We don't know if an opportunity is going to come,
if a relationship is going to change,
if a prayer is going to be answered in the way that we want.
We just don't know.
And Ecclesiastes tells us not to pretend that we do.
But I do know who will be there.
It's the same God that's been there the whole time.
The God of prosperity is the God of adversity.
And the Christ who is enough to provide and fill our hands
is the same Christ when our hands are empty
and looking for the next thing.
And the Christ who held you
and provided for you yesterday
will not stop being Christ tomorrow.
Because God has already told us who he is.
So we should make plans.
We should dream.
We should build.
We should plant.
We should pray.
We should go.
And I don't think we ask God for enough.
I don't think that our dreams are big enough sometimes.
And I think that sometimes we get so afraid
of being disappointed
that we just stop asking.
But uncertainty is a horrible reason to stop praying.
It's a reason to pray.
So dream.
Write it down.
Make a plan.
And pray that God,
may you bring our plans to pass.
But if tomorrow doesn't look like the plan,
you know, he's still God.
If prosperity comes,
we can be joyful.
And if adversity comes,
we can consider.
But neither one gets to tell us who God is.
And neither one gets to tell us what happens next.
And when you forget,
because we all forget,
in prosperity, we can be joyful.
And when adversity comes,
we can consider.
And we can know that Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday and today and forever.
You see, our feelings are very real.
But we have to be very careful
about what they can tell us about God.
We have to be very careful
about what they can tell us about other people
and what they can tell us about our future.
Because we don't know what happens next.
But I know that Jesus never changes.
Amen?
And in a world that is always changing,
I find a lot of hope
in knowing the one that never changes.
He's the same yesterday and today and forever.
He's the God of every circumstance.
He's aware of everything that's happening.
He's aware of what we've done.
He's aware of what they did.
He was there.
And I find great hope in knowing
that He can turn things around for my good.
The same yesterday and today and forever.
And if you've never known Him,
today is a great day
to place your hope
in Jesus Christ.
The same yesterday and today and forever.
And the Bible says that you can know
that you have eternal life.
You can know that you have.
It doesn't say,
well, live your life
and hope that you make it
and you'll find out later.
The Bible says that you can know
that you have.
And if that's you,
I encourage you,
today can be your day
to make Jesus the Lord of your life.
because He never changes.
He's the same yesterday
and today
and forever.
So dear Heavenly Father,
we thank you
that you reign
over all the things
in our lives.
We thank you
that you reign
over other people
and circumstances.
We thank you
that you provide for us.
We thank you
that you provide us
with a hope
and a future.
We thank you
that you provide us
with a promise
of eternity
that we can spend with you.
So Lord,
encourage us
when things don't look
the way
that we had planned.
And Lord,
keep us
when things go well
and it's easy
to forget who you are
and to forget
that you put us here.
So Lord,
I pray a blessing
over each and every person here
that whatever plans
that they have set their heart to,
I pray that their plans
are successful.
I pray that you bless them.
I pray that the things
that they set their hands to
work out.
And I pray for favor
and opportunity
in each and every life
and household
represented here this morning.
So Lord,
we thank you
for your faithfulness
and we thank you
that you
are the same yesterday
and today
and forever.
And all God's people said,
Amen.
