Scripture referenced 10 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Matthew 22:36-39 Opening verse on the greatest commandment, love God and love neighbor
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
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Keep this verse
Jeremiah 29:11
Central text on God's plans for good and not disaster, hope and a future
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.
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Jeremiah 29:12-13
God's promise that those who seek Him with all their heart will find Him
12 You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
13 You shall seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.
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Psalm 139:13
God knitting us together in the womb, including our personalities and gifts
13 For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
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Deuteronomy 6:5
Source of the greatest commandment, love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength
5 You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
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Micah 6:8
What the Lord requires: act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
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Amos 3:3
How can two walk together unless they be agreed, used to illustrate walking humbly with God
3 Do two walk together, unless they have agreed?
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Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding, and He will direct your paths
5 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
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Isaiah 26:3
God will keep in perfect peace all whose thoughts are fixed on Him
3 You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you.
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Ephesians 6:19
Prayer that whenever they open their mouth God will give them ability to speak the mystery of the gospel
19 on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News,
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Doug Walkup, who served as church moderator at First B and was being sent off to Laramie that same Sunday, brought the message. He walked through several familiar passages to ask a question many people quietly wrestle with: how do we actually know God's plan for our lives? His answer focused less on the what and the where, and more on the who.
What was said
Doug opened by putting Jeremiah 29:11 back in its original setting. That verse, he noted, has become wall art and inspiration posters, but it was written to people in disaster, exiles hauled off to Babylon with little hope of returning in their own lifetimes. God's promise of a future and a hope was given inside a hard circumstance, not instead of one. That context matters.
The passage goes on to say that God's deeper purpose in the exile was to bring the people back to Himself. Doug argued that this is the through-line: God wants our hearts, and He is willing to put us through uncomfortable circumstances to get them. The long-term goal is always the relationship, not our short-term comfort.
So how do we know God's plans? Doug said the first step is simply knowing God personally. He described his own conversion as a college student hitchhiking in Minnesota, getting picked up by two men who asked him a direct question: do you know Jesus? He knew about Jesus, but that moment on the road somewhere between Minneapolis and Mankato was where a real relationship started. You cannot follow someone's plans if you have not met them.
From there Doug worked through the greatest commandment, loving God with heart, soul, mind and strength, and what that actually means in practice. He said a pastor told him back in 1973 that if you love God that completely, you can do what you want, because what you want will have been shaped by what God wants. The illustration was Jonah heading to Tarshish instead of Nineveh. The question is simply which direction you are going.
He pulled in Micah 6:8 to fill out the picture of who God wants us to be: act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. On that last phrase, he made the point that walking with someone requires agreeing on both direction and pace. Quoting Amos 3:3, he said two people cannot walk together unless they are agreed. Aligning yourself with God is not a one-time decision but a continuous process.
Doug then turned to the hard circumstances: layoffs, illness, loss. He shared that after nineteen years at Teton Science Schools the division he led was closed and he was let go. Within days, a job offer came from the University of Wyoming without him applying for it, a house became available, and as he and Becky looked back they could see God had been moving them toward Laramie for nearly two years. The tough circumstance was not outside God's plan; it was part of it.
He closed with Proverbs 3, trust in the Lord with all your heart and He will direct your paths, and added that this trust comes with a promise of peace. The whole sermon came back to one simple point: know Him, love Him, trust Him, and then live accordingly. When your wants are lined up with His, you are already walking in the plan.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Doug said that when two men in a car asked him 'Do you know Jesus?' it was exactly the right question at exactly the right time. What is the difference between knowing about God and actually knowing Him, and how did that distinction first become real for you?
- Doug put Jeremiah 29:11 back in its original context, where God's people were hauled off to Babylon and told they would be there for seventy years. How does knowing that background change the way you hear that verse compared to how it usually appears on posters and in artwork?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 8,008 words
0:00
Hey, church family. Good to see you guys. Very glad to see you. Good morning to you. Hey.
0:06
Let me share a
0:07
verse and then we'll stand up. It's from Matthew 22. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus replied, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And what's the second?
0:20
Love your neighbor. Yeah. Let's stand up. We'll sing about it.
0:34
Love, Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. Again, we'll sing that. I love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, with all your heart, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. I love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And I'll serve the Lord, and I will serve the Lord with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength.
1:23
Again that line. And I will serve the Lord with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength, with all my heart, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength. And I will serve the Lord with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength. Here comes an echo part. You echo with rhyme.
1:56
I will love you. Your turn. I will praise you. You sing. I will serve you.
2:21
I will serve you. And I will trust you. I will trust you. With all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength. And I will love you, Lord, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength.
2:53
Two more times. And I will love you, Lord, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength. One more time, let's sing it. And I will love the Lord with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength. Amen.
3:16
You can have a seat.
3:17
Alright. Welcome. We've got some announcements here. We are going to go through and they are all, as a reminder, always in your bulletin. But first, we have got a busy busy day today.
3:33
Today, the fifth and sixth grade girls study starts downstairs between services at 10:00, ten to eleven, and it is in that far corner room downstairs. We call it the sitting room. There's some tables down there set up so gals that are fifth and sixth grade, Andrea Largie is gonna lead you guys to a Bible study from here on on Sunday mornings at 10:00. So be there as well. There's also the high school, middle school, high school study in the youth room as well.
3:59
So, that's still happening as well led by Jerilyn and Melissa. Discovery class is between services today in pastor Ray's office and that's for anybody who's looking to become a member here at First Be. We are doing a big covenant ceremony on the thirty first. So, today, I think is the last day to get your name in the pot where it can be in the bulletin for two weeks before that. Is that right, Gary?
4:25
That's right. So and Gary, you're gonna lead that today. Is that right? Alright. So you'll see that handsome
4:29
guy. Right over there.
4:30
He's handsome and he's loving. Alright.
4:36
And all church picnic today. So, right after the the 11:00 service that ends at twelve, we've got an all church picnic. It's going be outside underneath that awesome tent and they're they've been cooking pulled pork all day yesterday. So, we're ready for that. Come back and bring a dessert or a side to join to that.
4:57
It's also a time where we are going to be able to say goodbye to Doug and Becky Walkup who are heading on to another adventure here soon. So, we'll send them off with some well wishing and another big thing that's happening is the Awana Grand Prix. You'll see some of the decorations up here and as you walked in, stick around for that as well. They're going to do their car races and award ceremony. And at First B, we would like to just say how much we appreciate all those Awana kids who come here on Monday nights and support them in that.
5:28
So, Dancey, you wanna say anything about that that's happening? Nope? Good enough? Okay. Moving on.
5:37
VBS, that is coming up very soon here. Got some excited people in the front row which is great. There's a donation table in the foyer. You guys can take a slip or a few slips. It's to go out and buy different items that we need for for VBS.
5:54
If you wanna support it in that way, grab a slip and then you can return whatever item it is here at First Bee. But those are in the back over on the left side of the foyer. Monday nights is on this Monday, 06:15, meal, music, and message. This is exciting. Young Life is there's a meeting this week, Wednesday the twentieth at 07:15.
6:16
It's at the Whole Grocer upstairs in a little conference room up there. If you would like to join, if you have some input about Young Life or some questions or any comments, people are meeting up there for that. You can contact Derek or Julie Walker, Kevin, or Shelly Olson, I believe as well for more information on that. But an exciting thing that's gonna be hopefully take off here in Jackson. So 07:15, whole grocer upstairs.
6:48
Be there for that. Get your boots out. May 26, you're invited to the Turning Point Chuckwagon, RJ Chuckwagon Show and that is a fundraiser for Turning Point. So, you can get tickets for that from the church office from Diane. Also, Judy will be selling them today in the way back in the foyer as well that she's got a little booth out there.
7:11
So, if you want to get your tickets now, you sure can but put that on your calendar. That is happening on May 26. And a special congregational meeting, May 31, 10:10AM. That would be a Sunday, right? The thirty first?
7:28
Yeah. That's up. Special congregation. There's more information about that in your bulletin, a ballot, and things like that. Always check your bulletin.
7:35
There's a lot going on and if we did everything in the bulletin at announcement time, there wouldn't be time for anything else. So, make sure to check your bulletin today and check out those flyers. Put things in your calendars and just be a part of the things that are happening here at First Bee. That's it. Why don't we get together, stand up, welcome one another and we'll bring you back together in song.
8:01
Shall we bless the Lord? Let's sing together. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Oh my soul. I worship his holy name.
8:16
I sing like never before. Oh, my soul. I worship your holy name. Man, these guys are singing so loud up front. It's so good to hear.
8:30
The sun comes up. It's a new day dawning. It's time to sing your song again. Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me. Let me be singing when the evening come.
8:56
Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Oh, soul. Worship his holy name. Sing like never before. Woah, my soul.
9:14
I worship your holy name. He's rich in love. You're rich in love and you're slow to anger. Your name is great, and your heart is kind. For all your goodness, I will keep on saying.
9:39
10,000 reasons for my heart to find. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Oh my soul, Worship his holy name. Sing like never before. Oh, my soul.
10:03
I worship your holy name. And on that day when my strength is failing, the eon draws near and my time has come. Still my soul sing your praise on ending. Ten thousand years ending forevermore. Blessed, Lord, oh my soul.
10:39
Oh my soul. Worship his holy name. Sing like never before. Oh, my soul, I worship your holy I worship your name. I worship your holy name.
11:05
My hope is been on nothing less. I'm Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest phrase, but wholly trust in Jesus' name.
11:29
Let's sing that line again, shall we?
11:33
My hope is built on nothing less. I'm Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest friend, but wholly trust in Jesus' name. Christ stood alone, cornerstone. We've been strong in the savior's love.
12:09
Through the storm, he is Lord, Lord of all. When darkness seems to hide his face, I rest in his unchanging grace. And every eye and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the Christ alone cornerstone. We've made strong in the savior's love. Through the storm, he is the Lord of Lord.
13:12
Oh, and he shall come with trumpet sound. Oh, may I there and him be found. Dressed in his righteousness alone. In the savior's love through the storm. He is lord lord of all.
13:55
Let's sing that just voices. Christ stood alone, cornerstone, weak made strong in the savior's love through the storm. He is lord, lord of all.
14:24
God, we do profess that truth right there, that through the storm, you're lord of all. You're ever just ever so constant when we're ever so changing. And I thank you, God, for your very nature. It's just you are the one true living God to cling to. And I pray that we would.
14:43
I pray that as life gets going and life gets tough and and life gets tumultuous, we would cling to the one thing that's constant. We're born naked and naked we return. And the one thing, what can we hold on to when things when we lose things, when things come out of out of our grasp? What can we hold on to? For faith in you, our hope in you, love.
15:09
These three things remain, faith, hope, and love. And I pray that we would look to the eternal, not just the temporal, but the eternal, that we would keep our eyes on you. That's my prayer for us, God. Amen.
15:36
And you were not a god created by human hands. You were not a god dependent on any mortal man. And you were not a god indeed. Anything we can give by your plan, that's just the way it You were not a god created by human hands. You were not a god independent on any mortal man, and you are not a god indeed.
16:20
Anything we can give by your plan, that's just the way it is. And you are God alone from before time began. You were on your throne, and you were God alone. And right now in the good times and bad, you were on your throne. You were God low.
16:56
You're the only God whose power none can contend. You're the only God whose fame and praise will never end. You're the only God who's worthy of anything we can give. You are God that's just so ready. And you are God alone from before time began.
17:27
You were on your throne, and you were God alone. And right now, in the good times and bad, You were on your throne and you are God alone. You're unchangeable, unshakable. You're nonstop. That's what you are.
17:58
You're unshakable. You're unshakable. You're nonstop. That's what you are. And you are from before time began.
18:15
And you were on your throne, and you were God God alone. And right now, in the good times and bad, you were on your throne, and you are God alone.
18:41
Indeed, God, you are God alone, Unchangeable, unshakable, unstoppable. And I pray that these are things that we would cling to in you. Thank you, for just for being present with us. Thank you God for the joy that we find in you. I've been thinking about that all week, how much joy you give your people if we would only turn to you.
19:09
And I pray, God, that you would fill this church with joy once again, and you would fill this joy or this church with love, and you would fill this church with hearts that are are truly giving. God, you are you are the the most generous giver of all, and you set the example for us. And I pray that, out of a joyful heart, that we would return to you the gifts that you give to us. And so we're asking that, God, that you'd bless the, whatever we put in these plates, Whatever it is. Or whatever we do throughout the week, whether it's helping someone, serving a meal, helping a little kid tie shoes.
19:48
I don't know what it is. I know there's a lot of ways, but in everything that we do, we can glorify you and serve you and give to you. It's not just with our our money, with the gifts that you've given us. I pray, God, that you just increase in us a heart that wants to give. And I pray this in Christ's name.
20:06
Amen. You can be seated. Yes. Children. Children, you are dismissed for Pete Children's Church.
23:24
And it's the last one. Is that right, honey? Last one. Last one. That's my wife.
23:30
That's why I called her honey. It wasn't some unknown person. I'd like to invite up Doug Walkup and just wanna as he's coming up, I just wanna say I'm really grateful for this man. I'm really grateful for his leadership over the years at First B. He's a humble, gentle servant and just appreciate this guy so much.
23:57
So can we welcome him? Just make him feel at home. Thanks, Doug.
24:08
Okay? Okay. Of course, a Minnesotan that stands up in front of a bunch of people and then gets clapped at before anything happens is really uncomfortable. But you'll notice that I am not pastor Ray. There'll be very few y'alls.
24:26
I'm wearing cowboy boots instead of flip flops. And, and of course, he's a lot younger and more handsome than I am. But Ray is actually returning from Guatemala this morning and may actually be here later today for the for the picnic and so forth. Well, I wanted to speak on some really familiar verses today. All of this scripture, many of you probably know.
24:51
Some of you probably committed it to memory and so forth. But I still think there's some real value in that. I still think there's some real value in revisiting some of these things that are incredibly familiar to us. So we're going to look at us a few really super familiar verses and the goal here, the purpose, what we'd like to walk away from today is a little bit better understanding of God's plan for our lives And I've got some things to share both personally and from the scriptures about that. And I think when we think about God's plan for our lives, we often think about the the what and the and the where and the how and those sorts of things.
25:31
And if we're employees or business owners or students or parents or we're pondering marriage or those sorts of things, we start to think, what should I do? God, what should I do? What's your will for me? And it's kind of works ourselves sometimes into a pretty uncertain state and yet, God says some pretty direct things about his plan for our lives. So, I'd like to spend a little bit of time just thinking through that.
26:02
One of those super familiar verses is Jeremiah 2nine 11. For Becky and I, it's been one of our, really our life verse. But it's inspired all kinds of art and posters and so forth there. And I know you can't read the fine print up there. But if you look around, you see all this art and other things that are often these glorious sort of pictures and mountain scenes and all that sort of thing.
26:24
But we're going to look at this verse a bit in the context of what it's about. I call it the plan. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster. That's a key word.
26:40
We'll come back to that. To give you a future and a hope. That's from the New Living Translation. The NIV that we'll probably spend most of the time in this morning is a light slightly different. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.
26:55
Okay? Pretty affirmative statement. Yeah, this is the way it is kind of thing. Plans to prosper you. Prosper, we often think of that in terms of money, but I think the context here is greater.
27:06
And not harm to you. Plans to give you hope in a future. Well, what context was this given in? What is this stuff, the disaster, the future, the hope thing? The context here is tough.
27:24
The context here is one not being a very pleasant situation for the nation of Judah. And first chapters in Jeremiah one through 28 are all about what Judah was. They were not in a good place. They had turned from God and throughout these 28 chapters here, God is is repeatedly warning them and he called Jeremiah to to warn Judah. And I like Jeremiah because, I don't know, he's he's a little bit more, in my mind, a believable sort of guy than some of the guys like, you know, Ezekiel I mean, excuse me, Elijah, there we go, and Elisha, you know, down fire from heaven and burning up 400 prophets of Baal and all this stuff.
28:17
Jeremiah was a little bit more of a sensitive sort of guy. And he he didn't want to do it, but he did. He said, woah, I'm too young. But he did it. And he used Jeremiah to repeatedly call for the hearts of Judah.
28:34
He wanted the people of Judah to actually be committed to him. He wanted a relationship with them. And over and over and over and over again, in these 28 chapters, he's calling for them. He's like, I wish that you would return to me. And so he wanted to restore these people.
28:54
But he also recognized that they were in such a place they weren't going to have much to do with him. And so he set up a repeated warning of destruction. They steadfastly said, no, we're not going to do it. He said, kind of, go this way, come to me. They said, nope, not going to do it.
29:13
And so this context of this Jeremiah 2nine 11 is really in this this realm of of Judah not really seeking God at all in any way, shape, or form. So, when you go to the immediate context here of of Jeremiah 29 which is a letter to the exiles of Judah. Babylon had come. They had laid siege to Jerusalem. They pretty much devastated the land of Judah.
29:43
They conquered Jerusalem. They essentially wiped it off the map. There was very little left. It was ultimate destruction of that city. And they hauled off a portion of the population.
29:55
They hauled off the nobles from the court. They hauled off the educated people. They hauled off all those things back to Babylon. So these exiles are back in Babylon, and they were sort of thinking, well, we're going to come back. We're coming back.
30:09
We're going back to Judah. There was false prophets and various things that said, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're coming back, you're coming back. And this is a letter there. This is what the Lord says. When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.
30:29
Now, you think about it, and you think about average life expectancies, seventy years means you ain't coming back as an individual, more than likely. Unless you're very young, you're probably not going to come back. The mature adults would be in their 90s or better and probably weren't coming back as individuals. I think for us, living in a pretty prosperous place and stable lifestyles, we don't necessarily get it. So think about it like this.
31:03
Think about those Jackson Hole as being equivalent to Judah and Jerusalem. Think about God repeatedly sending, Okay, you guys aren't living up. I want your heart. You aren't living up to that. I'm going to haul you off.
31:21
I'm going to cause the destruction of your area and the destruction of your country, and I'm going haul you off into exile. So think about the evil Montanans who are in another culture, another way of doing things. And they send their army down to Jackson Hole. They circle the city of Jackson. Ultimately, they eventually destroy it.
31:42
And they pretty much just devastate the place. And they put us in cattle trucks. And they haul us to Great Falls, that magnificent city on the river and so forth there. Different culture, different language, different government system, different religion, different everything, and we've got nothing. We left the beauty of Jackson Hole forcibly.
32:04
And we get to Great Falls, and we're like, this is not fun. This is not good. I used to own an electrical business. I used to own a contracting business. I used to work for the school system.
32:17
What am I going to do now? And I think these people were in a place of like, the only thing they could think of was going home. But God said, nope. You're going to stay in Great Falls for seventy years. That means that me at 62, there's no way I'd be coming back, okay?
32:34
I'm going to live and die in Great Falls. So it's tough. It's disastrous. And in the midst of that, he says, 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 a hope and a future.
32:53
And I'm in Great Falls going, oh my goodness, what is this? And so I think that this is an immediate context that we need to consider when we think about this verse. This was not a pleasant situation for the people of Judah. They'd been hauled off to Babylon. He goes on further, he says, Then you will call on me, and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
33:22
You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you. The ultimate purpose of this disaster, of this exile, of the destruction of Judah, is God's intent is to bring these people back to Him so that He can, for whatever reasons that He wants, it's kind of hard to understand, I think, he wants us. He wants our hearts. He wants us to have this intimate, close relationship with him.
33:56
So that's the immediate context of Jeremiah twenty nine eleven. So the question is then, okay, how do we know the plans he has for us? Before we get on this road someplace, we like to know, if you think about this picture up here, you think about it, before I get on a road, I want know where I'm going. Becky and I are talking about a vacation we're planning for this summer, and we don't know where we're going. So the idea of getting on a road someplace without knowing where we're going and what we're doing is just antithetical.
34:32
It's just like, this doesn't make any sense. And I think that this is how we often approach this verse. How do we know what these plans are? Where are we going? And, if we're somewhat honest, God, do I really want to follow your plan?
34:49
Oh, what if
34:49
you take me someplace I don't want to be? What if you take me to a condition or a set of relationships or an uncomfortable, conflictual situation like Jeremiah was in? What if I don't like it? Well, let's explore this a little bit and see what's going on. How do we know the plans that God has for us?
35:15
Well, if we don't know Him, if we don't know Him, that make any sense to want to follow his plans. 09/24/1971, I was a college student. I did a lot of hitchhiking in those days because I didn't have a car. And it was a different era. It was cool to hitchhike.
35:39
I'm standing out there. And it was interesting that through my hitchhiking time, either got picked up by hippies or Christians. And when the VW vans come down the road towards you, start picking up your stuff because you know you're going to get a ride in 1970. Anyway, two guys picked me up and they looked like salesmen. And they turned around after a while and said, Doug, do you know Jesus?
36:05
And I was like, what? Do you know him? And I was like, I kind of mumbled a few things about knowing about him. And I had grown up in a church. I'd memorized Bible verses.
36:19
I'd done all this stuff. I'd seen a family that really demonstrated Christ's reality in their lives. And so I knew about him, but that was exactly the right question at exactly the right time for me. And somewhere between Minneapolis, Minnesota and Mankato, Minnesota, I prayed to receive Christ. I started that relationship.
36:46
And they let me out. I got picked up by a guy from Campus Crusade, a staffer from Campus Crusade. Then I got picked up by a minister. And I'm like, holy cow. What was going on here?
36:58
I actually did have a Damascus Road kind of thing. Only it was, whatever, Highway 212 at St. Peter, Minnesota or something. But it was the first time that I actually personally knew him. And we can't follow his plans if we don't start that relationship.
37:17
We have to know him. It's the first and absolutely critical step. We have to have Jesus in our lives. Amen. Psalm one thirty nine thirteen is really familiar and it says, You made all the delicate inner parts of my body.
37:39
You knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous. And lots of times we just think about that in terms of our bodies and the biology of us and so forth, knitting us together in our mother's womb. Those of you that have kids know that there's a far greater complexity around that in just the personalities, our talents, our gifts, our inclinations, our interests.
38:09
I think it's very clear that part of that knitting together of us is those things. It is what we like. It is what we like to do. It is those things that trip our triggers. It's the things that we're good at.
38:22
You know, I'm really different than each of you. That's probably a good thing. Some of you are sighing. Yes, good. But we're we're each these unique things and I think God has put us together in that way.
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He's given us these interests, these aptitudes, these other things as a part of who he's built us to be That's a very important thing when we start to think about how do we know the plans that he has for us. Because he's given us these intimate, unique characteristics that actually drive us in a certain direction towards our plans. So we need to pay attention to how God has knit us together. And he's also given us some really clear direction about his plans for who we are. Now we'll get to the what and the where and the how and the stuff in a minute or two, but what he's really focused on is who we are.
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And by that I mean, you know, the things that that what he wants us to be. And he's given us some really clear priorities about that in his word. We actually can know a lot about who he wants us to be. A lot of times, we're focusing on the what and what should I do and where should I go and who should I marry and etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. But he's really much more concerned about the who.
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So we're going spend a little time looking at some of these scriptures here. So how do we know the plans he has for us? Well, I'm going to back that up for a second. What's the greatest commandment? Oh, I can hardly hear you.
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Speak up. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, your strength. It's coming from Deuteronomy six. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Jesus actually was asked by a a teacher.
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He's like, teacher, what's the greatest commandment? And he said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. We sang about that this morning. Okay? So, how's that got to do with plans?
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Well, it's got a lot of plan to do about the plans of who we are. Our heart. What does the scripture talk about when he talk talks about our heart? He's talking about our will, our decisions, our choices, It's talking about our emotions. It's talking about our conscience, our morality, our ethics, our integrity.
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It's kind of talking about our ways. It's really talking about who we are. And we can look at each other and go, I know the ways that Todd or Jeff or Steve know their ways because I've been around them. I've learned about who they are, the essence of who they are as a person. And that's what he wants.
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He wants our heart. See if we can get this to go again. Our soul, our spirit, and then our mind and our strength. That is how we think, what we do. Strength, I think about doing.
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You know, do, do, do, do. I tend to be kind of a doer. I like to do things. I don't like to sit and talk. I'd rather go do something.
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Do, do, do, do. And that comes into that strength. So if we love the Lord, our God, with all our heart, okay, everything that's about us, the essence of us. If we do it with our spirit, and if we do it with our mind, our thinking and our strength, our doing, if we do all that, then how do we know the plans that he has for us? Well, it's actually pretty simple.
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Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And then what's his plans? Well, do what you want. When I first heard this, it was in Trinity Baptist Church 1973. Pastor Weins was speaking on this sort of stuff.
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And I'll never forget it because I was like, woah, wait a minute. Do what you want. I've been a Christian for like two years and that was not a part of my schema. That was not how I thought. It was like, do what I want.
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If I do what I want, I'm going to be doing some stuff that probably isn't all that great. And for the last forty two years, I thought about that. I thought, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all who you are, with your soul, spirit, with your mind, with your strength, the stuff that you do. Well, if you do that, then you kind of can do what you want. Well, let me give you a little graphic illustration of that.
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So, we got all this stuff that God wants and you can think about that if you've been in church and you've been reading the scriptures and stuff. You kind of know some things that God wants. One thing he wants is our heart but if you're what you want, if you're sort of headed towards what he wants, that's an interesting place to try to head for or to try to be, as opposed to doing what you want and heading off someplace else. Let's think about Jonah for a second. Jonah's doing whatever he's doing and God says, hey, Jonah.
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I want you to go to Nineveh. I want you to go to Nineveh and preach to these people and all that stuff and Jonah's like, right, Nineveh. Yeah, I'm going to Tarshish. This is far away this way as I could go And okay, God's like, alright. I want you to go to Nineveh.
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So he goes on to Tarshish and he gets on the boat and he goes out. Big storm comes up. Okay? The boat's about ready to sink. The sailors are terrified.
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They cast lots. Guess who the lots fall on? Okay, Jonah. Oh Jonah says, well I've sinned, so throw me overboard and the storm will stop. So they pitch him overboard.
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And the storm stops and all the sailors go, woah. Okay, great fish comes up, swallows him. He has three days there, blah blah blah. The fish pukes him up on the beach. Jonah gets up, swashes up on the shore and goes, Woah, Nineveh, Okay.
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Alright. I'm going this way now. God could have got somebody else, but he didn't. He wanted Jonah to go. So, the the deal is is which way are you going?
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Are you going towards what God wants or are you going somewhere else? You're going to some other place. So, what's God's plan for us? Well, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, mind, then do what you want. It's a matter of aligning yourself to God's purposes and if you do what you want, you're headed some place else.
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If you're headed more to Tarshish than Nineveh, well, then, that probably doesn't mean that you're loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. That's the this loving of God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is kind of like the stuff you think about and you sort of are and do or but what is it that you actually do? Another super familiar verse from Micah. The question is asked, what does the Lord require of you? Okay, so what are you supposed to do?
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This is more of an action based thing. To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Act justly. What is he talking about? Well, it's probably stuff like honesty, integrity, how do you operate your business, how do you work for your employer, are you doing it honestly and with full heart, are you acting justly?
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Your integrity, what is it you do when nobody is looking? Act justly. Honoring your responsibilities. Okay, I'll come over and take you to the baseball game. Oh, shocks, there's something else going on, I can't do it.
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Keeping your promises really is about the acting justly parts of things. Love mercy. It's pretty simple. Be nice to other people. You know?
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What's the second commandment?
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Okay, your father and mother.
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Nope. The second greatest commandment. Sorry. Love your yourself. Love your neighbor neighbor as yourself.
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Okay? Be good to people. We know what to do most of the time. Be generous. Be kind.
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Be decent. Be a big tipper. Just kidding. Sorry. Although if you pray in a restaurant, you better leave a decent tip.
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That's all I gotta say. But love mercy means just doing good stuff to other people. Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your God.
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Okay, suppose that I'm going to go for a walk with somebody. And I say, okay, let's go for a walk. And they say, yeah, let's do that. And I start going this way, and they start going this way. And I'm looking around going, but where did my walker partner go?
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They're going that way. And finally, you catch up on this side. We're gonna go for a walk. And he said, yeah, we are, but I'm going this way, you're going that way. It's like, no, that doesn't any sense.
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So, let's walk together and they say, okay, we'll walk together. So, we're to go this direction? Great and I start shuffling along and they just blitz off and there's like, they're gone. They're up there somewhere. We're walking together?
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No. You gotta agree on direction and you gotta agree on pace. Walk humbly with your God. It's kind of a longer process. It's about agreeing.
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Amos three three says, how can two walk together unless they be agreed? Okay? If you're going to walk humbly with your God, that might relate back to loving the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength because if you're going to walk with him, you're to have to figure out which direction he's going and what the pace is that he's going to be doing. So, what's his plan for us? Well, act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.
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Which direction are you going? Are you going on your own direction or you're trying to go towards what God is, what God wants and that's a process that that aligning ourselves with with God and and walking humbly with him. It's not an instantaneous thing. It's not a one time gig. It's not a one time deal.
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It's a continuous process because of who we are. We're sinners. So, what about the stuff? What about the what's, the where's, the how's? That was the who things.
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I think we got a pretty good picture of who he wants us to be. But what about this what about the tough stuff? What about the layoffs, the trials, the persecution, illness, death? What about those kind of circumstances? And we're saying, I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
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Woah, it's kind of difficult when you start thinking about those tough circumstances. The difference is, between us and him, is he wants our long term eternal good. He wants our heart. And he's pretty much willing to do anything to get that. And that includes putting us in tough circumstances.
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That includes sharpening us in various ways. That includes when we're headed towards Tarshish for him to have the storm, the fish, the lots, the all that stuff, and get us going back in the direction that he wants. And he's less concerned about those short term, tough deals than he is about getting our hearts back to where he wants us. He wants our long term good, our eternal good. He doesn't necessarily just be considering our short term comfort.
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We're a very comfortable society. Let me tell you a story. I've worked for Teton Science Schools for nineteen years. Recently, the division that I was heading up was closed. And after nineteen years of very successful service and pretty significant dedication to the organization, was laid off.
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And I was like, woah, this is ugly, this is tough, this is hard. This is not where I want to be. Within days, I had a job offer from the University of Wyoming, and I didn't seek it. I didn't apply for it. I didn't do whatever.
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They sought me out. And so we were kind of working through the process of figuring that out. And oh, by the way, my buddy called up and says, I got a house for you. And said, you can rent our house. We're leaving town.
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You got our house. And a whole series of other kinds of circumstances came to play, and it was pretty clear, as Becky and I reflected on this thing, that God had started this process almost two years ago. And I had changed divisions within the Teton Science Schools from the place I loved, the graduate program, to a place that was very tenuous the research department and so forth. And God began leading back in those times to move us essentially to Laramie. Now, I don't know exactly why it's a great job and it's all those kinds of things but he's got something in mind and I think it's a bigger deal than leaving Jackson Hole and leaving grandkids and leaving First Baptist Church.
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His purposes in these tough circumstances had much more to do with a long term perspective than a short term comfort thing. Another super familiar verse: Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, okay, back to the heart thing, acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. Ah, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
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Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God, and trust him and he will direct your paths. And what's more is, oops, we'll get there. A little trouble with the clicker here. There we go. What's more is that, oh, this isn't just miserable.
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This is not being in the belly of a fish going, this is great. It says, you will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. What's more, when we trust him, it's gonna be decent. It's gonna be pleasant. Not necessarily the circumstances, but the ultimate outcome.
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So what do we got to do if we want to know the plans? Know him, love him, do, trust him, and then live the plan. Live the plan. It's pretty simple. Live the plan.
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In other words, do what you want because your wants are lined up with him. So live the plan, for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Who we are, as long as we're aligned with with him, if we know him and if we trust him, we're gonna be okay, even if we're in Great Falls or Laramie. Thank you.
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Let's close in prayer. Lord, I just pray that your word would really, really open up our thinking and open up our evaluation of our direction. Where are we going? Are we doing what you want? Are we doing what we want?
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Thanks for for absolutely taking good care of us. In Jesus name.
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Could you stay up here? Sure. While we
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sing our last song, Becky, would you come up? Gonna miss you, my friend. But we'll see you. These, as he just said, these guys are heading to Laramie and the Lord has an adventure there for him. As he said, we're he's not sure yet what.
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I want to thank you and I know the church wants to thank you for your service here, for sharing your life with us as a church, with sharing your gifts with us. Ed had our excuse me. Doug has acted as our head elder, no, excuse me, church moderator in the last few years. You've got to see him upfront and how graciously he has done that and just the team of them, Becky's grace and mercy and and her support. We love them.
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We're going to miss them. We're excited for them. Doug, I've learned from you just watching how you graciously, methodically, with your gifts of administration and leadership. Just work through circumstances that are in front of you and thoughtfulness and prayerfulness and I appreciate that and I've learned a lot from you in the last couple of years and so we just want to bless them and pray for them as they head out. Lord, we are grateful.
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We want to put our arms around Doug and Becky as they start this new adventure and we just want to say we're behind him. We're behind you. We're behind them. Lord, we know that you are going before them. You have prepared a place for them and you've prepared a job for them.
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We pray lord that you will surround them with godly people who will encourage them. We pray that you'll surround them with folks who will care for them and who they will be able to care for. We pray as in Ephesians that whenever they open their mouth, you will give them the ability to speak the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people around them and lord, thank you for their shepherd's hearts. Thank you for their caring hearts. Lord, we thank you for communication and technology that allows us to be close even though we're far.
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And so Lord, would you prepare their way, continue to prepare their way, surround them, protect them, and and we just look it forward to hearing from them and to the exciting things that you are doing through them and we pray these things lord in the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Thanks,
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man.
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Can we do this? I'd I'd like to go back to the first song that we we sang together. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength and let's stand up and sing it together.
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With all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your with all your strength. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. We will serve. I will serve the Lord with all my heart, all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength.
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And I will serve the Lord with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength. And I will serve the Lord with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength. The echo part, you follow Ryan. I will love you. You sing.
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You. You. And I will trust you. With all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength. And I will love the Lord with all my heart, all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength.
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And I will love the Lord with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength. One more time. I will love the Lord with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength. God, I'm
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praying for the courage to follow you with everything we've got this week from now on. Amen. Love you guys.
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