Gateway Church's Podcast
A Divine Plan
Pastor John Spurling continues The Wilderness series. When your plans don’t work out, God wants to use your disappointment as an opportunity to transform you according to His divine plan.
This morning I invite you to turn to two passages of Scripture. Please turn to Mark chapter 6 and Jeremiah 29. We're in a series called The Wilderness. The last week we began this series with a message called A Gentle Whisper. We talked about preparation and frustration and inspiration that comes from the wilderness experience. So as you're turning, I invite you just to continue to pray for Pastor Robert and Debbie as their own vacation for these few weeks. You just pray that God would give them refreshing and renewing in their spirit and we look forward to having them back next month. But today the message is entitled A Divine Plan, A Divine Plan. And how many would agree with me that life doesn't always go according to plan? I mean I was raised Catholic, some of you know, one of seven children because where I was raised had to have at least five kids to even be considered Catholic. So you know we qualified and my parents had plans for all of us children. I have two older brothers and my parents plans for them were that they would graduate from the eighth grade and stay out of prison. That was the plan. They had a little higher bar for me. In fact my mom would always call me her little priest. This is Johnny, my little priest. And just her way of she had already determined the plan for my life is that I would be the priest in the family. And so I remember I was probably 12 or 13 years of age and she was still saying well this is John my little priest when she would introduce me to people and I finally pulled her aside. I remember where it happened. I said mom I said I wish you wouldn't say that. And she said well why John? And I said well mom there's something I have to tell you. She said what is it? I said I like girls. She said hey it's okay you can be a priest and like girls. I said not the way I like girls you can't. That was her plan. Besides I had my own plans for my life. I wanted to grow up and be a professional model. Swimsuit model. You have to be about 230 pounds and the dream died. So I decided I'm going to be a professional football player. That was my dream. That was my plan for my life. Again we're close to the Chicago area and so I had it all mapped out. I was going to play professional football. If that didn't work then I was a broadcast journalism major in college and I was going to do play by play of the Chicago Bears games and I was going to write for the Chicago Tribune. It was set and then on December 14th 1980 I was invited Catholic kid to a Pentecostal church and let me tell you it was Pentecostal, I mean there was crying and screaming and sweating and yelling and that was just the ushers who saw the pastor but the message came through that day and I walked the aisle and I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. It was an amazing day and in a few months my plans for my future were reshaped by God's plan for my life and now for 30 plus years I've been a pastor and serving in a capacity he has prepared for me. That was this plan all along but here's the challenge for us and I think everyone can relate to this life doesn't always go according to plan. You may say I thought I would be married by now or I thought I could retire by now or I thought the kids would have left the house by now or I thought my career would have taken off by now, I thought we would have had children by now or I thought my dreams would have come true by now or I didn't think I'd lose my job, I didn't think I would get cancer. I didn't think I'd ever get a divorce, I didn't think we would have problems making our mortgage. That wasn't part of the plan and see this sense of our plan for life isn't just related to us, it's all through Scripture. I mean no one didn't plan on building an ark, Abraham didn't plan on being the father of a new nation, David didn't wake up as a teenager and plan one day to be the king. Peter did not plan on being used by God to stop a genocide over people. Mary didn't plan on getting pregnant outside of marriage. Peter didn't plan on ever leaving his fishing nets and Paul never could have planned that one day he was going to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations. It wasn't in the plans and then I look at the life of John the Baptist, John the Baptist had ushered in Jesus Christ as Messiah and Lord and Jesus in John's mind, John's plan, Jesus had come to set Israel free from the bondage and oppression of the Romans. The power, the magnificent anointing of Jesus as Messiah but John now is in prison in Luke chapter 7 and at the hand of Herod's son he's about to die there and so he sends his disciples to Jesus with this one question. He says, "Are you the one who was to come or should we expect someone else?" And then Jesus' response in Luke 2, it seems like on the surface, has nothing to do with John's request or question. This is a response of Jesus to John's question. He says to the disciples, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind received sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured. The deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is preached to the poor. Just as the man who does not fall away on the count of man." And Jesus' response seems odd but what he's doing is he's quoting six of the seven signs of Messiah found throughout the book of Isaiah and John knew it well but he intentionally leaves out the seventh sign. You know what it is? Isaiah 61-1, "The Messiah will set the prisoner free." And in a roundabout way Jesus is telling John, "You're going to die in prison." That wasn't John's plan. You see, God had a better plan through Jesus Christ and that was not simply the overthrow of Rome. He had a better plan. His plan was to send his son to this earth so that because of Jesus Christ, his death, his atoning sacrifice, our sins could be forgiven, the sins of the world, and we could all be set free to a new life and a new future. That was God's plan. But not one story in the Bible ever begins. When someone had a great plan and shared it with God and he loved it and that's what happened. It doesn't happen once in Scripture. So the question is, what do you do when life isn't turning out the way that you planned? Or when you're going through a confusing time or you're facing a big challenge or you're simply needing direction from the Lord? What do you do? Let me tell you what I want you to do. This is what Scripture teaches. Go into the wilderness. Go into the wilderness. Find a time of solitude in the wilderness because it may very well be that God has a better plan for your life, a divine plan. And so what you need to do is find a time alone with him to find out what God's plan is for your life when it seems like your plans aren't working out. Look what it says in Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11. This is a promise for everyone here today. Take it into your heart. My rights to a people who are in exile in the wilderness in a place called Babylon. And on behalf of God, this is what he says in verse 11, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. And literally that could be translated when it says, "I know the plans," literally it means this, this is what it actually means. For I know and I alone know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and the future. God knows the plans that he has for your life. And so here's three points I want to share with you about a divine plan, point one. The wilderness is a place of isolation, isolation, whether by choice or by crisis. And it's interesting because our society is not geared towards isolation. As a matter of fact, out of all the phobias that are out there, I found this week another phobia that people suffer from and actually seek counsel and have support groups for. It's called monophobia. It's the fear of being alone without people. There is something within us, and I understand it because there's an activity to life, there's a pace of life, there's a sense of running after this and that where it just can be difficult to find a couple days completely alone and isolated. And yet this is the pattern we find in Jesus' life. You take a look at Mark chapter 6, we see this plate out in the life of Jesus. Because in Mark 6 we find Jesus sending out his disciples two by two. And they would go out and minister in Jesus' name. And then they report back to Jesus all the things that had happened. So it was a busy time of life and activity, touching lives in the name of Jesus. And they come back and we pick up the story at verse 30 of Mark 6. It says, "The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. And then because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat." Can you relate to that? So busy. You can't even fit supper in. Jesus says to them, "Come with me by yourselves. Catch this to a quiet place and get some rest." So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. So again, capture the story. Cycles are out ministering. It's an active time of life. They come back. They're reporting to Jesus. They're journey. And there's so many people around. They don't even have a chance to eat supper. And Jesus stops and said, "Listen. Get in the boat. Find a solitary place. Get on the sea of Galilee. Let's get out of here. You need some time to rest. You need some time of isolation." And so they do. They set sail, but the Sea of Galilee is not that large. And so people saw them out on the sea and from town to town, they ran along the seashore until they landed on the other side. When the disciples landed, so many people had gathered that that's the place we have the story of the feeding of the 5,000 men, 15 to 20,000 people met them on the other side of the sea. After intense time of life, many needs feeding that many people, teaching and preaching. And then finally, we pick up the story in verse 45, and these are the words of Jesus to his friends. It says, "Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to but Bethsaida where he dismissed the crowd, while he dismissed the crowd. And after leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray, to catch the rhythm of Jesus' life." See, the wilderness experience of isolation is a challenge to how we live our lives. And I want you to see the rhythm of Jesus' life because it teaches us so much about health and spiritual stability. Because Jesus had a life in which he said, "Listen, I do only what the Father tells me to do." John's Gospel, he said, "Listen, I only say what the Father tells me to say." Well, how do you know what to say and do? It's because in Scripture, time and again, we find Jesus going into the mountainside, going out in an isolated place, a place of solitude to be alone with the Father. It's the essential part of your spiritual journey. It's the rhythm of Jesus' life. You see, one of the greatest threats that you face in your spiritual life, one of the greatest threats to your spiritual health and well-being is an out-of-control pace that dictates the rhythm of your life. How's the pace of your life today? Is life the unsustainable, easy and slow? Or are you running at a pace that's driving you, a pace that's keeping you perhaps from God? You see, one of life's greatest illusions is, "If I hurry fast enough, hurry will buy me more time." There's a hurried life sickness that a man named John Orpberg wrote about in a book called The Life You've Always Wanted. It's a good book. He defines the hurried life this way. He says, "Is it above all, it's above all a continuous struggle, a relentless attempt to accomplish or achieve more and more things or participate in more and more events in less and less time?" It's the hurried life sickness. Anyone here relate to that? I understand that because I love activity, I love being part of a gateway, it's an active place, I love being part of a Metroplex, there's so much to do, but if we're not careful, the pace of our life, the sense of push and rush and activity can crowd out God, and we lose a rhythm, a pace that's sustainable for health and spiritual well-being. I just confess that's been something that's been a challenge all of my life. God's given me tremendous victory in this area to find those times. I love finding times of isolation these days, can't find enough of it, but there was a time in my past. I remember when I was pastoring, senior pastor of a church in the Chicago area, and it was a busy time. The church was growing like crazy, we'd gone from one service to two services to three, it was exciting, we were involved in ministry, and I was just loving it, and I was also given opportunity to speak at different places at pastor's conferences and so forth at that time, and so I was accepting all of those because I was out to win the world for Jesus. I was superhuman, at least I thought, and at the same time, I was teaching a graduate class in Los Angeles, and so I would leave Chicago, I'd fly to LA, I'd teach Thursday night all day Friday, Saturday, come back, fly back Saturday night, preach three times on Sunday, and through that season of life, and for many years, my wife was a flight attendant for American Airlines, and so her rhythm of life was three days on a trip, four days at home, three days on a trip, four days at home, and I had a three-year-old in a six-month home at home by myself, three days out of seven, with my schedule. Oh, by the way, I was writing my doctoral dissertation at the same time. It's not a prescription for spiritual health, trust me. And so I remember one weekend, I was coming back from teaching in Los Angeles, and I had a guest speaker, and I took him to lunch, and then I picked up my children at my in-laws, and I made my way home, it was the fall of the year, and I got home just in time, I'm exhausted from the trip, and from the pace that I was living, I'd gone 77 days without a day off. I thought the congregation I served would be so proud of me to have such a diligent pastor. My family wasn't proud of me, but I remember in that season, I was sitting there in that recliner, and I'm watching the Chicago Bears play, my favorite team, and it's the last minute, by that time I get home, it's the last minute, they're driving for the winning touchdown, and I'm tired, but I'm into it, trust me, and I'm sitting there watching it, and just then my three-year-old daughter comes out, and she loved to do dress up, but dress is on, dress up, and so she came, and she stood right in between me and the television set, and she's showing off her new dress, and she said, "Daddy, look at my Cinderella dress, Daddy," and I'm like, "Megan, it's pretty now, move away from the television, dear," and she said, "Oh, no, Daddy, look, when I spin, Daddy, look, when I spin, it twirls, look at the twirl, Daddy," and I'm like, "Megan, move away from the television, honey." Daddy sees, "Oh, no, Daddy, Daddy, look at my white gloves." Grammy got me new whites, Cinderella gloves, Daddy, Daddy, look at my gloves, I'm like, "Megan, move away from the television." She stopped, and she put her hands on her hips, and she walked over to me in the recliner, and she put one of those pudgy little white gloved hands on either side of my face, and she turned my head so I made eye contact with her. And then she said this to me, and I quote, "Daddy, what's more important, me or TV?" And in that moment I'm thinking, "Is there a third option in here anywhere?" It's something of the spirit broken me in the weariness of my physical body and in the reality of a child's words. And Dad, let me tell you something. Our kids may be impressed with the fact that we're interested in saving the world, but they're more impressed when we're home touching their life. And God was not impressed with my spiritual resume. My daughter came over and I grabbed her, and I said, "Honey, come here," and I picked her up my arms, and I sat her down my lap, trying to hold back the tears that were welling up in my eyes. I looked at her face, a beautiful three-year-old, and I said, "Sweetheart, you're the most precious thing in this world to me. You're more important than anything, TV, anything. I love you." Now tell me, what did you want to say to me? And she just wanted to explain all that happened while I was gone on my recent trip, and after about five minutes or so, she said, "Daddy, can I get back down and play?" And I said, "Yes, sweetheart." But then I said, "Before you go, remember what Daddy said, "I love you, your most precious thing in the world to me." She said, "Okay, Dad." And she walked away and went back to her room. And as I sat there, the Holy Spirit spoke into my heart, and I broke and I wept bitterly before the Lord. The Holy Spirit said to me, "If you keep up this pace, you're going to lose your family." And I don't think you want to do that. And it was that time of recognizing that I was missing my time of isolation with God. I was so busy winning the world, I was losing my own soul. And the very next morning, just by chance, I was reading my regular devotion for Matthew chapter 11, verse 28, just by chance. Don't you like how God has those moments of chance? Matthew 11, 28 says, "It's an invitation of Jesus Christ for you, and that morning, especially for me." The word say this, the word says this, "Come to me," Jesus says, "all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and catch this. Learn from me. For I am gentle and humble and hard, and you will find rest for your soul." And I entered in. I took that word for me, and I went back and I was reading what I shared with you a moment ago from Mark chapter 6, and God began to download the fact that I was living a very unhealthy spiritual life. I was seeing great miracles and things take place, but I was dying on the inside because I was not spending time isolated alone. Intense ministry, intensity of life, on top of intensity of life, on top of intensity of life creates an toxic and addictive lifestyle, and so many ask you something. The pace that you've been running on these last few months, is it sustainable without harming your family or your spiritual well-being? How are you doing in the pace area of life? Because God wants to know if you're willing to stop, get alone with him for an extended time of isolation and listen to him. The wilderness is an opportunity for us to joy, the isolation with God. Here's the second point. The wilderness is a place of confrontation. Now, I'm sure that's what you came to hear this morning, isn't it? Isn't that wonderful? But here's the point. Your past is going to catch up to you at some point in time, and so what God wants to do is He wants to help you face the challenges of dealing with your past and confronting the reality of who you are, who I am. It reminds me of a story of a man named Jorge Rodriguez, and Jorge Rodriguez was a villain, a bank robber around the turn of the 1900s, the 20th century, and he was a Mexican who would come over into Texas and he would steal from Texas banks, true story, and then he'd go back to Mexico and he would live there, and the Texas Rangers had formed a special group, a special group of agents to track down Jorge Rodriguez. In one day, one of those special agents saw Jorge as he returned back over into Mexico and he followed him quietly, and he saw him go into his little hometown and walk around the town hall, and then finally Jorge made his way into one of the cantinas, his favorite one. The Texas Rangers made his way and slipped in behind a back door, and he made his way and surprised Jorge, and he pointed a gun right to his head, and the Rangers said, "Listen, Jorge Rodriguez, I'm here to take back all the money that you have stolen from Texas. If you don't give it to me, you're a dead man." Well, Jorge did not understand English. He only spoke Spanish, but he could tell by the tone of the voice and the badge of the man's chest that he meant business, and so he began to speak rapidly, but he did so in Spanish. The Rangers didn't understand him, and just then a teenage boy steps up, and he said to the Ranger, "Seeing your," he said, "I understand English and Spanish. Would you like for me to translate?" The Rangers said, "Yes." And so Jorge began to tell his story. He said, "Tell the Ranger." He said, "I've not taken--I've not spent a dime of Texas money. If you'll go out into the center of town, they're at the well, face north. Go down five stones. The fifth stone is loose. There behind that stone is all the money that I've stolen from Texas. He can have it all back." The young boy turned to the Ranger and said, "Ranger, Jorge Rodriguez is a very proud man. He's ready to die." You see, you've got to confront your past. It reminds me of another story from Scripture about a wilderness experience. It's the story of Jacob. Now, Jacob had stolen the birthright from his twin brother, Esau, many of you know the story, and he ran away to the house of his uncle Laban, and he spent 20 years there serving under Laban and toiling under his care, and God prospered him in that process. But it was Jacob's sin of his past that finally caught up to him. And then in Genesis chapter 31, actually God is the one, one day, who came to Jacob and said, "I'm calling you back to your homeland." In other words, I'm asking him, telling you, "My plan for your life is for you to go back and confront your past, go back and confront your brother. Make it right. Stop running from your past." I wonder today, how many of you have some unresolved issues in your past that you might be running from? Some of you may be struggling to find God's better and perfect plan for your life because there are some unresolved things in your past that he's trying to get your attention. You need to deal with today. You need to make something right that's not right in your life today because you'll never be at peace with God's plan for your future until you've made peace with your past. So God leads Jacob into the wilderness, and Jacob all this time was wanting to still control the situation. Jacob's name means deceiver, and he deceived his brother, and this was a pattern of his life. It was part of his character. It was embedded in his name. He was one who manipulated and wanted to control in twist situations, and so when God calls him back to his homeland, Jacob's idea is he's going to send wave offering of gifts and livestock to his brother Esau and to wear down the anger of Esau, hoping that Esau would not be there to kill him when they finally met. And so he's doing this, still trying to play the angle, still trying to control the situation. That was his MO. Now, a quick survey here. How many of you are control freaks? How many honest ones do you have? Your spouse is the control. Don't answer that. Don't answer that. See, all of us in some way want to control our life. It's just a part of human nature. We want to control the way we live our life. We want to control how others perceive us, and get this. We even want to control God. And that was Jacob's challenge. And finally, the time comes and as they stop, and Jacob can see as the sun is setting in the east, he can see a dust cloud rising, and he knows it's Esau and the 400 men who are coming toward him. And he knows tomorrow is going to be confrontation day. This is what it says in Genesis 32 and verse 22. Let's read it together. It says, "That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his 11 sons and crossed the fort of the jabbock. After he had set them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. And so, catch this, Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him till daybreak. And when the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip, so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. And then the man said, "Let me go for it as daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?" And Jacob answered and said, "My name is Jacob." And then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob but Israel because you've struggled with God and with men and have overcome." You see, you have this confrontation that happens in the wilderness called Jabbak. And Jabbak was the river that separated the territory of Laban from Jacob's homeland. It was a crossing over. And finally, for maybe the first time in his life, Jacob is alone. And God wrestles this man on behalf of God, or God wrestles with Jacob there. And they do this battle. And Jacob's at a point of struggle and desperation. And Jacob now is so desperate that they struggle from nightfall until daybreak, from darkness until the coming of the light. Have you ever wrestled with God all night long? Have you ever had those moments when you've come to the point of absolute desperation before the Lord? That's where we find Jacob because the wilderness is a place of confrontation, not just with God but with who we are on the inside. And this man who wrestles with him touches Jacob's hip. And Jacob's strength now becomes his weakness. Let me tell you something. Every great man and woman of God will go through life with a limp. And Jacob now is at a place where he's saying, "I'm not going to let you go unless you bless me." Because you cannot face the greatest challenges of life without first dealing with your greatest weaknesses. In our lives, God is calling us to a point of confrontation because we can in ourselves get so preoccupied with our life and our plans. I remember a time when I was in seminary. I mean, I was at a place where I was serving as an intern. And I was thinking I was a hot shot. I was a seminary. I was a reverend. I thought, "Whoa, I've arrived. I'm going to set the world on fire. Watch out. I'm going to win the world for Jesus." And I remember it was a Sunday night service. And it was a Pentecostal church, a typical Sunday night altar call. And it was a, you know, everybody come forward kind of altar call. And I just honestly didn't want to be there. I had things to do. I was busy. And you know what? This wasn't what I was interested in. I was just ready to go. But as I'm standing there kind of waiting for the service to wrap up, I notice over on this side of the altar, there's a young boy, maybe 11, 12 years old, and he has his hands lifted and he's running in place and he's looking upward towards heaven and he's crying uncontrollably. And so from over here, I notice this boy and I'm thinking, you know, what's up with him? What's the deal? What's the story I wonder? And you know, I'm not interested in what's going on because I'm busy and I'm important and I've got all things to do. And I'm just into myself and trying to get God to, you know, bless my life. But I'm looking at this boy and now it's five minutes and he's running in place and his hands are lifted. And then it gets to be seven, then eight minutes. And I'm watching the whole time. And now about eight minutes, people are holding up his arms and he's crying uncontrollably and he's running like he's running towards heaven and like he's looking in the face of God. And I'm standing over here going, what's up with this kid? I'm just totally involved in this, in observing him. And in that moment, God spoke to my heart. And so I'm standing there. The Holy Spirit spoke to me. And He said, "I wish you were more like him." That's a moment of confrontation. And I broke before the Lord and I wept, I don't know, an hour or more. And I found myself in a wilderness with the Lord where He was saying, "Listen, I've got to," in order for me to use you, in order for you to go and pursue the plans that I have for you, I have to break you down to the core element of understanding that you're nothing without me. I need to touch your hip because my grace is sufficient and my power will be perfected in your weakness. And that was a moment of realization that I've never forgotten all these years. I'm nothing without the power, the provision, the presence and the plan of God in my life. What about you? What about you? Third and finally, the wilderness is a place of transformation. Now, just a few moments on this because what we find here is that God calls all of us to a life of change. And the greatest challenge that you face in your Christian life is to allow God to change you from the inside out. Romans 12 says it this way in the message. Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God, you'll be changed from the inside out. But here's the catch. How many know that change is difficult, right? I mean, have you ever tried to change someone else? How'd that go for you, by the way? I remember when I married my wife, we're now 20 years married in a week. And I remember I was 29 and desperate. But that's okay. She was 27 and equally desperate. So we were made for each other. And we'd lived several years on our own as single adults. And I remember those first couple of years were pretty tough because I knew this. I knew that she was a wonderful woman. But because she lived on her own and stuff, she had some rough edges. And I knew that I was the person to kind of shape her and to make her into the woman of God that God had been preparing me to have. I just knew it. So I was just giving her some suggestions on how she could, you know, be refined. And here's the thing. At the same time, she knew, according to her, that I was a wonderful man, the man of her dreams. Except I had some rough edges. I had some sharp corners about me. And she knew that she could just instruct me and help me and guide me to become the perfect man of God. And in our home, it created some great tension and conflict. And finally, after about two years, we had this sit-down meeting. And we finally agreed with one another that listen, I can't be your Holy Spirit. If that change is going to happen in you, God's going to do it. I'm just going to pray for you. I'm going to support you. But it's the Spirit of God in you that's going to change you. And this is what God desires to do in your life in the wilderness. He desires to change you from the inside out. And we change as hard. Change is difficult for us. Somebody else is not going to be able to change us. And we are ill-equipped to change ourself completely. It's the work of God by a spirit. And you know where we find that work happening best in the wilderness? When God has our attention, when we've gotten to the point where God has said, "Listen, I've got some things I want to talk to you about if you've got some time." And when we get away, we realize as Jacob did that night, that God wants to take our character and change us. He wants to take our identity and change us. No longer will you be named Jacob, the deceiver, the one who plays and manipulates your name now will be Israel, the one who struggles with God and survives. God preserved you. And God wants to do a name change in some of your lives today. He wants to give you a new perspective in your life because the Bible says in Philippians 1 that He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it on the day of Christ Jesus. God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His plan. And God desires to do Him measurably more than all we could ask for imagine according to the power of God that's at work within us. He's not done with you, are you done with Him? He has a better plan for your life if you're willing to run to the wilderness. We close with this. There's a great, great concert pianist, master pianist named Itzak Perlman. And one night he was giving a master concert in front of a live, full audience. And during the middle of the performance, one of his four strings on his violin, it broke with a loud crack. And the conductor was going to stop the concert and Perlman motioned him and said, no, no, continue on. And as the concert continued, as the song went on, Perlman, the master musician, retuned and made modulation changes. And he struck those three chords and made them sound fabulous on those three strings through the rest of that number. It was a masterpiece to watch. And at the end of the performance, the whole audience stood in unison and applauded this master musician. And then he stepped to the mic and he said this to the audience that day. He said, it is my gift and my joy to make music with what remains. Let me tell you something. God can do more in your life with three strings than you ever could with four. And this is what God wants to do. If you're willing to run to the wilderness, God wants to take your broken promises and your broken dreams and your broken down plans. And he wants to give you a better life. He wants to give you a fresh perspective on his plans and his dreams for your life. Because when you do, when you're willing to listen to the Father, he's going to retune your life. And he's going to take that brokenness and he's going to turn it into beauty. And he's going to play a song with your life that the world will hear. Because Scripture tells us, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future. That's God. Would you bow your heads, please? Close your eyes. What is the Holy Spirit saying to you today? God is in this place right now. Are you going through a challenging time in your life where you need a word from God when you need a divine plan spoken into your heart in life? Is there a point of confusion? Do you have questions about your life? It's course and direction. Do you want to know what the future holds? The Bible says the future is in his hands. Your past and present and future God holds in his hands today. So do you want the plan of God? And are you willing to pay the price? Are you willing to run into the wilderness? Are you willing to get alone for an extended time of solitude so that you can hear the voice of God and he can confront some things in your life that may be hindering you from a full revelation of God's purpose and plan for your one life? Because he has an incredible plan for your marriage, for your family. He has a plan for your children, a destiny. If we'll live submitted to him, his plan can be our plan. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word. I pray that you would touch every life in the name of Jesus. I pray. Amen. Would you stand, please? Ultra ministry team, would you make your way forward? God is in this place and so in this final moments of the service, I'm going to invite anyone who has a need. Whatever it is, I'm going to invite you to come forward because God is here and he who began a good work in you, he's faithful, he wants to complete it. If we can help you with anything in your life and he needs you have and he challenges you face, I believe prayer. When God's people get together, prayer can change circumstances and God can give you a fresh revelation today at this altar on what he wants to do as you look into the future because he has a plan to prosper you and not to harm you. God is in this place. If you have any need for prayer, please come forward. Let us pray with you. We'd love to do that. Keep coming. We'd love to pray for you and maybe for you.