Brian Cole: 'The Preparation Of A Saint' - Part Two

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GENESIS 11:27-32 - THE PREPARATION OF A SAINT - Part Two

[Read part one HERE]

Last week we discussed how God was already preparing Abram and Sarah even before Abram got the call from God to move away. Now, this week we will talk about Our Preparation and God’s sovereignty.

In the 11 chapters we have covered thus far, it may have seemed from almost the beginning that God has lost control of things and that nothing has gone as He planned. But we do not know the mind of God, and must always remember that He is sovereign over everything.

We can see in these seemingly insignificant verses a bigger plan brewing and should remind us that He knew what He was doing all along.

In Eph. 2:10, Paul describes us as God’s “Workmanship, created in Jesus Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” So we might ask: “For what good works is God preparing us?” Maybe some of us might answer: “I ain’t got a clue!”

God’s purposes are certainly not always obvious at the time. Moses had no idea why he was stuck in the desert with the sheep. He must have felt like he was permanently out of the game. Likewise, David had no idea of the future greatness for which he was being prepared for. Abram could not have discerned the higher hand bringing him from Ur to Haraan, and Sarah’s tears we're not answered with any explanation of the need for her present pain.

Only later, in hindsight, would they be able to look back and discern how God indeed had done all things well in their lives. In the meantime, they simply had to cling to God, believing, though not understanding.

Even without the knowledge of all these fancy words like “Predestination,” “Election,” and “Sovereignty,” an awareness of the way in which God frequently works in the lives of the men and women in Scripture provides us with a vital perspective on our own experiences. The situations in which we find ourselves could very well be a key part of God’s preparation of us for the task to which He will call us at some point in the future. But it may be only as we look back that we will come to understand how it all works into God’s plan for our lives. In the meantime, we may simply have to cling to God, believing, though not understanding.

Everything for me changed when I was about 10. For you young people, there’s no way you can understand the decisions you make this week and how they will affect you 35 years from now.

My home life with my dad sucked, i was teased and bullied in school, I had no friends, i hated my brother because dad showed him a love I never received and I got the blame for everything. I so desired the life I seen most kids have, just having friends, having fun and seeming to have a “normal” life, but I went in the opposite direction and slipped into darkness fast. And I never could have imagined the way my life would be for the next 33 years.

And even after all that time, in 2009 when the Lord finally got my attention and I submitted to Him, I still had no clue of where my life was going to end up.

Oh, I certainly had my own plans, and those started with the desire to “work with addicts... then VBS happened and I felt a calling to work with youth. That led to talk of hiring me as a youth Pastor not even 2 years later. When applying for the Youth pastor job and then said also needed to train leaders, did I have any qualifications? At first no, but then looked at what I did in the occult and all the other things I was involved with. All the past and current training led to this!

Read Acts 17:24-28 - “The God who made the world and everything in it, being the Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined alloted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us.”

This passage is awesome, because what it’s saying is that THIS is not an accident. Its saying that the God of the universe actually determined when you were going to be born, where you were going to be born, and everything about your life, He says He’s going to put these “boundaries in it, and He has specific things happen in your life so you would “feel your way toward Him and find Him.”

So that means that everything that happened in my life caused me to wonder: “Man, what is this all about, why did my life suck so bad, why am I who I am and where I am, why does there seem to be no purpose???” And after I finally came to myself, I had to feel my way toward Him and find him. And He said: ALL of that works together for a reason, because He wanted me to find Him.

And in the same way, what He is saying is that it is no accident that you are here today, or going through what you're going through in life. In all our lives, but especially our young people, everyone in this world is trying to feed you this lie that everything is an accident, everything is random. This is the exact opposite of what God teaches.

Look at Jeremiah 1:5 - “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Before I was formed you knew me!!!! How can you know me before you make me? Really!! Is that true of me, or just Jeremiah? Is that really true... “And before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” So before Jeremiah was even born, He says: “This one I made, and I know what I’m making, and I’m making him for a reason, he’s going to be a prophet to the nations! I got a plan for him.

There’s this plan that before God made us He knew what He was going to make!

It’s like this computer I’m using. They guy who made this knew what he was going to make before he made it, it didn’t just show up. There was a purpose for it, and there was some thought put into it. And in the same way he’s saying to Jeremiah: “Look, I needed a prophet, to the nation, because Judah is gonna go insane, they’re gonna be sinning left and right, and I’m gonna need someone, I’m gonna make someone so bold, so I made you!

This is a game changer! When you wake up each day and realize you are not an accident, but realize that the God of the universe has a specific purpose for you, and everything you’ve been through has prepared you for what He has for you... Cause don’t we sometimes look in the mirror and go: “I’m so weird. I’m so different. Like everyone else is a certain cookie cutter way, and then there’s you! And no one get’s you!

And that’s why God said: “Yeah, that’s because I specifically made you!”

Ya, I got a cheap IBM and it’s noting compared to a new MacBook Pro. But my computer is not a Macbook, or a Dell, nor does it work like a newer model, but that’s because it was build in its time for its purpose. It’s not supposed to be like the other ones.

But that’s what we do, “I’m not like that, and I’m not like that... “But I don’t need another computer, I’m used to this one! I made you for a different reason!! God made you specifically for a reason. The enemy and the world is the one that wants you to think you gotta be like everyone else. He wants you to feel out of place if you don’t “fit in” to the mold he wants you to compare yourself too, because there is no “ONE MOLD,” so it’s impossible!!

When I speak at the schools I try so hard to drill this into the students heads without being able to quote Scripture. I tell them that no matter what they choose to do, or even what “click” they are part of, someone is gonna mess with them, insult them, bully them and be jealous, so why not just choose to be who you are and what you were made for instead of trying to fit in where you don’t belong.

Eph. 2:10 - “We are God’s Workmanship (craftsmanship), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. There’s things you were made to say and do that no one else on the earth can because they weren’t made for that - YOU were! You're NOT like anyone else, you were made to be different, you were made for a purpose, and God uses everything for that purpose: Rom. 8:28 - And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those called according to His purpose.”

It may be the same for you, too. The experiences in which you find yourself now may very well turn out to be God’s preparing for you for the good works he has planned for you to do later. That’s a great encouragement, isn’t it? And this isn’t just a lesson for young people to learn, Moses and Abram were still in their preparation stage long after most people retired!

Join us next week as we conclude this section on God’s sovereignty and preparing His people.