Let us pray! Heavenly Father, the rain and snow come in
their season and You shower us with Your Grace.
As we come and worship You we come to thank You for Your Grace which You
pour out upon us. For Your Grace feeds
us physically, mentally, emotionally and especially spiritually through our
receipt of Your Word. For Your Word
frees us and accomplishes Your task of our salvation. May we continue to be blessed and prosper as
we receive Your Word for all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this
morning. AMEN.
This morning we continue our 3 part
series entitled, “What is God’s Plan here at Emmanuel?” In the movie “Soul Surfer” the main character
Bethany Hamilton, has suffered a tragic attack from a shark, losing her left
arm. At a point of desperation, she is talking with her youth leader
Sarah. In the conversation, Bethany
faces a dilemma that is not uncommon for all of us, why did this happen to her,
and what is God’s plan? And Sarah with
divinely inspired words of wisdom, says, “I don’t know why, but something good
has to come out of this.” Encapsulated
in those words are a faith in God and what He can, does and will do for each
and every one of us.
From our Old Testament passage this
morning, Isaiah with a prayer of faith, says, “For as the rain and snow come
down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making
it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;”. God provides the rain and snow we receive for
a divine purpose. And not only does He
provide the rain and snow, God also provides us His Word. Isaiah says, “So will My Word be which goes
forth from My mouth”. God in
infinite wisdom provides His Word for us to hear, read and digest. But the Word is not only some written
document, it especially includes the gift of the Word made flesh that has come
and dwelt among us. We not only have
beheld His Glory, Jesus Christ, but we hear the Word on Sunday, and partake of
the Meal of His Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar.
For the Word, Jesus Christ came to
fulfill God’s purpose here on earth. It
accomplishes the divine task the Word would fulfill. Simply stated that task was to descend from
heaven, become incarnate of the Virgin Mary, become truly Human, suffer on the
Cross of Calvary for Your sins and mine and die an innocent death to set all of
us free from sin, death and the devil.
And then on the third day, rise from the dead and ascend unto the Father. This was God’s purpose and plan of salvation
for all of mankind. And God accomplished
through Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh our salvation.
Since the Word made flesh in Jesus
Christ has accomplished our salvation, Isaiah’s further statement is true, “It
[that is the Word] will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I
desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” For in accomplishing God’s task, we, the
people of God have not only the benefit of God’s Divine Hand upon our lives,
but God’s Word working through us that accomplishes His plan. Yes, the divine plan is the ultimate plan of
salvation that God accomplishes, but for we here today at Emmanuel, like
Bethany who dealt with tragedy, asks, ‘what is God’s Plan?’, we to this morning
come to God asking for ourselves, “What is God’s Plan for Emmanuel?”
As I have said previously, my goal and
intention is not to ‘proclaim’, ‘thus sayeth the Lord’, but to allow God’s Word
from scripture to guide us in our conversations. From this mornings readings, God through the
prophet Isaiah is very clear, “My Word will accomplish ‘what I desire’”. We can take away when we use God’s church and
His Word for His glory for His divine purpose of spreading the salvation
message of Jesus Christ to and for each of us gathered here today and for all
the people in Goodland, North Western Kansas and the United States and World,
God will bless us. This is a large
responsibility, but the promise is clear, God will use His Word to accomplish
the plan of salvation. But of the other
things in our church and world that we worry over, argue over, discuss and
debate, God will inspire and use us for His Glory and will bless us. What does this look like here at
Emmanuel? I don’t know, but God does and
I believe God will bless us, because of the promise that “It will not return to Me empty,
without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for
which I sent it.”
This
is the promise God makes to us through the Work of the Word, His Son and our
Savior, Jesus Christ. For He feeds us
daily with His Word and has accomplished for all of us our salvation, may He
continue to guide us as we discern where and what God wants us saints at
Emmanuel to do to fulfill His Plan for all of Emmanuel. AMEN.
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