The Master’s Plan
Gtcotr/ss042907
The main body of our text today will come from Matthew 14.
God teaches us that success is more than a one step process.
Success most often belongs to those who will place their lives in God’s hands and endure the process.
God has a plan, He will succeed and we have a chance to participate. The fact is that God does not first have to seek our permission before He upsets our plans.
What we are going through at any given moment is most likely not punishment for our past but positioning for our future.
God said in 2 Samuel 7:8 that He took David when David was basically nothing and made him a King. Note that God did not take David and give him a kingdom, but He took him and made him a king --- there is a difference. (NLT/Paraphrased Bible)
Perhaps we, all of us right now, are just in the middle of our making.
Key Scripture: Mark 14:22 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." (NKJV)
When in the scriptures we see continual patterns of action, we can conclude that these patterns exist for a reason, which reason most often is to reveal a deeper truth than the mere action itself.
Such is the case in the scriptures we will read together today. Herein you will see an evident pattern which brings revelation to a deeper spiritual truth affecting every child of God.
You see, the truth is:
Psalms 138:8 The LORD will perfect that which concerns us …
Philippians 1:6 We can be confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in us will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
2 Corinthians 3:18 says that we are being changed into the image of God one step at a time.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (NLT)
With these things in mind lets read a story from the bible. This is the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 men plus women and children: (Go with me to
Matthew 14
15 When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food."
16 But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
17 And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish."
18 He said, "Bring them here to Me."
19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.
20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.
21 Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Notice any correlation between our key scripture in Mark 14 and this account of Jesus feeding the 5000 in Matthew 14?
* Mark 14: 22 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."
* Matthew 14:19 … He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples …
Here in these two passages we see a pattern developing that is repeated over and over again in scripture.
While you consider these scriptures, let me tell you another story. This is the story of Jesus appearing to two men who were walking on the road from
Luke 24
13 ¶ Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.
16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.
17 And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?"
18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in
19 And He said to them, "What things?" So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
20 "and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.
21 "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem
22 "Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us.
23 "When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.
24 "And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see."
25 Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
26 "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"
27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.
29 But they constrained Him, saying, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." And He went in to stay with them.
Luke 24
30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
32 And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"
33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to
34 saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"
35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.
By now you can see an evident pattern. It is the precious hand of God which takes, blesses, breaks and gives. All with purpose! He:
Takes us (Calls) (many are called but few are chosen)
Blesses us (Equips) (many only want to live in blessings)
Breaks us (Tempers) (we come to know Him in the breaking)
Gives us (Uses) (Crucified with Christ … Christ lives in me)
The bless’ed breaking of God multiplies our potential and magnifies our dependence on Him. Give yourself to the Master’s plan.
