Planning for the Future?

In Christ I have an everlasting Foundation!


Proverbs 10:25 says

25 When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, But the righteous has an everlasting foundation

I want you to not only have this foundation, I also want you to know what this foundation is so that you will rest upon it, strap yourself to it, and depend upon its strength when your challenges come.

What does this foundation look like? How does it satisfy? I'll tell you.

It looks like acceptance. It feels like security. It produces significance.

As an introduction to God’s love for us, it is worth looking at two people who lived in contrast to God’s foundation. This is a very interesting story from the Bible.

Check out this link to begin:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2021%20;&version=65

We have just read about Ahab, Jezebel, and their own self-indulgence, their own plans to get at something they thought they must have! We have seen that by their “needs” they were completely undone, with no hope of redemption.

What would it have looked like if Ahab and Jezebel had received and understood an everlasting foundation in God? Well, we don't know that for sure but we do know what it actually did look like for them without this foundation.

Let’s look at our relationship to God through Christ in contrast to Ahab’s relationship to God based on his own desires.

In Christ:

We are 100% accepted – To contrast, Ahab’s offer was rejected by Naboth. Ahab could not deal with this rejection. What came out of Ahab when he was rejected? Was it grace? Far from it. Ahab's result: anger, defeat, depression, and finally murder.

In Christ, we can learn that no matter what our plans are, even if they are not supported by God’s will, we are still not rejected. God still accepts us and will lead us from our inferior plan to His greater plan.

We are 100% secure. Naboth not only declined the offer to sell his land but his decline shook Ahab’s already shaky confidence in himself as King of Israel. His security in his position as the king was shattered.

He felt slighted – no matter Naboth’s reasons
He felt disrespected – no matter how humbly Naboth declined his offer.

What was the result of Ahab feeling disrespected, rejected, and slighted? Did he respond with kingly grace? No, not in the least. Ahab's response was to turn these feelings inwardly and to respond with anger and then, depression...

Having the grace of God gives me power to live, power to press on in Him. This same grace also gives me the confidence that no matter where I find myself - in the good or bad graces of others - I am more willing to give grace because my security is found in God, not people or things.

In Christ:

We are 100% significant. It would appear that Ahab needed more than just being King of all Israel to be satisfied that he was actually significant. It is interesting to note isn’t it? All of his power as ruler still did not bring him true significance.

Ahab, to fulfill his need for something greater, needed possession of things that others thought valuable, things he did not have.

Therefore, we see his inexplicable need for acquiring another vineyard.... Another vineyard?

Had Ahab secured this vineyard do you think he would have been satisfied - fulfilled?

Now I am assured that there is not one individual reading these words that has not had

· some type of need
· some type of desire
· some type of want

Whether this “requirement for our life” was physical, mental, emotional or material, we have all had some of these needs, desires, and wants rejected, defeated, or unfulfilled.

What I have, what you have as a Christian is something Ahab did not have.

I have the grace of God to still have these issues, wants, needs, and desires that I have deemed as important not come to pass in my life. I have the stregth, then to still have hope; still have peace; still have joy.

I have, you have:

The grace of Jesus
The power of Jesus
The presence of Jesus in our lives ---

all combined to overcome these rejections and defeats.

We can live in an awareness of a relationship with Christ and experience God’s love, peace, and joy no matter the situation.

So, no matter what whirlwind blows our way, we have a strong Foundation! Our Foundation in our identity is not based upon what we see in the mirror, hear from others, nor is it dependant on our circumstances or feelings. But, the identity of who we are in Christ grounds us and then strengthens us through every heartache or storm.

So, we can see that Ahab desperately needed a foundation, too, don’t we? We see that Ahab needed a relationship with God and an understanding of what that relationship meant for his life.

Ahab desperately needed to know the love of God, no matter his position and no matter his crime.

Wouldn't you like to realize for yourself what Ahab never truly received for himself?

The purpose God has given for this ministry is simply:

"Getting you ready for what God has next..."

You see the fact of knowing who we are in Christ is the foundation of getting folks ready for what God has next.

As we help each other to get this down, we also will see that during the process of learning of our identity we also need balance.

Just because we are 100% Accepted, 100% Secure, 100% Significant, God does not necessarily approve of everything we do.

God can not approve of what we do outside of His will. Why? God knows that the wage of our sin is death, an eternal seperation from God and His love. You can see that in the lives of Ahab and Jezebel.... having no relationship and no foundation gave them no hope but themselves.

How about you and I as Christians .... Does that apply to us?

Well, we will not experience eternal death: Once again, we are completely and eternally accepted, secure, and significant in Christ.

Consider this, though. Sin can either be something we do or something we should have done but didn’t do. And, sin's wages, or payment, brings death. If not eternal death for the Christian, what types of death in this life can it bring?

There are many different kinds of death –

- Death of a dream
- Death of a marriage
- Death of a job
- Death of a friendship
- Death of a strong witness of God’s love.

And these emotional and spiritual deaths linger longer, sting deeper, and may bring even greater mourning than those deaths that come from physical death.

That weighs out the question, "The wages of sin coming out of not surrendering to

-our identity in Christ

-to the reality of Christ
-to the power of Christ
-and the presence of Christ ----

what are the wages of this sin here and now?"

The wages of this sin will be

• staying where you are
• never moving forward
• never getting into God’s will

Never getting to what God has planned next in your life.

So, what will we do? Where can we start today?

Lets take an inventory.... an inventory of one or two things that have continued to reflect the death of a life without Christ, even though you may be "in Christ."

Thinking on these things, pray with me, asking God for the faith you need to surrender these things to him and to stand on the Foundation He has given us as His children in Christ.


Father,

I know that sin in my life has cheated me of everything that you wanted for me.
I know that when knowing your will but still wanting mine, I have denied myself all of you and your abundance and denied you of having pleasure in me seeing your love and plans fulfilled. I ask you to bring to my remembrance, daily, who Christ is for me and who He wants to be through me. I know that I shall at some point surely fail you. But I thank you in knowing that you will never fail in me. Amen