Thank you for watching!
Hymn number 100 day by day. Hymn number 100. Can I get you to stand when you've found it?
Day by day, in with these passing moments, Strength I find to be my final fear.
Drowsing in, I'm frightened by this moment, I'm no cause for worry or for fear.
In whose hearts is my beyond all measure, Give time to each day while it is best,
Loving which I will pray in pleasure, Gambling to with ease and rest.
Every day the Lord himself does give me, With a special blessing for each hour,
For my case he framed with their ache in me, In whose name is Jesus, Lord of all.
For the protection of his tongue and treasure, He's in charge and on himself he laid,
And as I face the shame shall be in measure, For it's the best in any way,
He helped me then in his revelation, So to trust thy promises of war,
That I lose, I'll face the consolation, Offered me, relieved by all we were.
Help me, Lord, let's all enjoy our meeting, We're to take hands from our Father's hand,
One by one, the days of the moment's meeting, Till I reach the Father's name.
Amen.
The everlasting arms, hymn number 147.
On the everlasting
From day to day
Leaning on the everlasting arms
Leaning, leaning on Jesus
A praise to Him from all our lives
Leaning, leaning on Jesus
Leaning on the everlasting arms
What have I to dread, what have I to fear
Leaning on the everlasting arms
I have blessed peace with my Lord, so be
Leaning on the everlasting arms
Leaning, leaning
Safe and secure from all our loves
Leaning, leaning
Leaning on the everlasting arms
I have a song that Jesus gave me
It was sung from heaven above
It ever was a sweet melody
Just a melody of love
In my heart there rings a melody
There rings a melody
In heaven's harmony
In my heart there rings a melody
There rings a melody of love
A love of Christ who died on Calvary
For He washed my sins away
He put within my heart a melody
And I know it's there to stay
In my heart there rings a melody
There rings a melody
In heaven's harmony
In my heart there rings a melody
There rings a melody of love
To the relentless streaming glory
With the angels I will sing
To hear a song with glorious harmony
When the halls of heaven ring
In my heart there rings a melody
There rings a melody
In heaven's harmony
In my heart there rings a melody
There rings a melody of love
Philippians chapter 2
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ
If any comfort of love
If any fellowship of the Spirit
If any bows and mercies
Fulfill ye my joy
That ye be like minded
Having the same love being of one accord
Of one mind
Let nothing be done through strife
Or vain glory
But in lowliness of mind
Let each esteem other
Better than themselves
Look not every man on his own things
But every man also
On the things of others
Let this mind be in you
Which is also in Christ Jesus
Who being in the form of God
Thought not robbery to be equal with God
But made himself of no reputation
And took upon the form of a servant
And was made in the likeness of men
And being found in fashion as a man
He humbled himself
And became obedient unto death
Even the death of the cross
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him
And given him a name
Which is above every name
That at the name of Jesus
Every knee should bow
Of things in heaven and things on earth
And things under the earth
And every tongue should confess
That Jesus Christ is Lord
To the glory of God the Father
Wherefore my beloved
As you have always obeyed
Not as in my presence only
But now much more in my absence
Work out your own salvation
With fear and trembling
For it is God which worketh in you both
To will and to do
Of his good pleasure
Do all things without murmurings and disputings
That you may be blameless and harmless
Without rebuke
In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation
Among whom ye shine as lights in the world
Holding forth the word of life
That I may rejoice
In the day of Christ
That I have not run in vain
Neither laboured in vain
Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice
And service of your faith
I joy and rejoice with you all
For the same cause also do ye joy
And rejoice with me
But I trust in the Lord Jesus
To send Timotheus shortly unto you
That I also may be of good comfort
When I know your state
For I have no man like-minded
Who will naturally care for your state
For all seek their own
Not the things which are Jesus Christ
But ye know the proof of him
That as a son with the Father
He hath served with me in the gospel
Him therefore I hope to send presently
So soon I shall see how it will go with me
But I trust in the Lord
That I also myself
Shall come shortly
Yet I suppose it necessary
To send you to Epaphrates
My brother and companion in labour
And fellow soldier
But your messenger and he that ministered
To my wants
For he longed after you all
And was full of heaviness
Because that he had heard that he had been sick
For indeed he was sick nigh unto death
But God had mercy on him
And not on him only but on me also
Lest I should have sorrow
I should have sorrow upon sorrow
I sent him therefore the more carefully that
When you see him again
You may rejoice
And I may be the less sorrowful
Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness
And hold such an reputation
Because for the work of Christ
He was nigh unto death
No regarding his life
So supply your lack of service towards me
Dear God thank you for this day
Thank you for your word
Please bless Pastor Kevin and be with him
As he preaches in the film the ghost
Jesus name pray be heaven
I'm going to try to bring that series across
On to Wednesday nights now
But one thought that I want to take out of this
Before I get into the meat of the sermon
Is Philippians chapter 2 verse number 6
Philippians chapter 2 verse number 6
Just something interesting that we learn about Christ
When he came to this earth
You know we often say things along the lines
That nothing is unexpected to God
You know I mean God is in control of all things
But don't forget when Christ came to this earth
He came to set us an example
It says in Philippians chapter 2 verse 6
To be in the form of God
Thought it not robbery to be equal with God
But made himself of no reputation
And took upon him the form of a servant
And was made in the likeness of men
Alright so we know that
God became in the likeness of men
Christ being born in Bethlehem's manger
And so part of that servitude
Part of that likeness of men
Is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ came
And put limitations upon himself
Limitations that he wouldn't have otherwise
In the form of God
And of course we see these things play out
Jesus Christ needed to eat
Born in Bethlehem's manger
He still needed a mother to take care of him
As a little babe
He still needed to sleep
There were certain limitations placed on Christ
We know the story when Christ speaks of his second coming
In Matthew 24
He says that these are things that the Father knows
But not himself
He doesn't even know at that point of his return
There are certain limitations
That Christ had and yet
We still see his power
We still see his ability to sometimes
Read the thoughts of man
Before they even spoke the things
Christ knew things that were in the hearts
That testify of his deity
But there were certain limitations that he placed on himself
When he came to this earth
Let's keep going to verse number 8
And being found in fashion as a man
He humbled himself
And became obedient unto death
And so of course God cannot die
And yet Christ limits himself
In a body that could die
And so I'm just trying to bring those thoughts to you
That even though we read stories of Christ
In the four gospels
When he came to this earth
His first coming
Yes he is God, he's 100% God
But he's also 100% man
That is a key doctrine of our church
One of the fundamentals of the faith
Is that he's 100% God yet 100% man
When he came to this earth
He had certain struggles
Going fasting for 40 days and 40 nights
Don't think there was some easy breeze
Thing for God to do, no
He still had the challenges
He would have suffered with hunger, with weakness
All those things that he went through
When he came to this earth
And so the reason I titled
Well the reason we're looking at this
Is because I want to look at certain stories of Christ
When he walked this earth
And I want to show you that there were times
When even the plans of Jesus Christ
Was the plan
There were certain times that he was caught
Unawares as it were
And as I said to you the title of the sermon today
Was expect the unexpected
Expect the unexpected
Christ came to set an example for us
That we would walk after his steps
Please turn to Luke chapter 9
That's all I wanted to take from Philippians 2
Just a reminder that Christ came
And limited himself when he came to be a man
Turn to Luke chapter 9 please
Luke chapter 9
Don't forget the reason I'm going through this series
Is there are a lot of things that for me
Are subconscious
Things that I guess growing up in church
Growing up as a Christian
That I don't tend to preach about all that much
Because it's kind of just
Second nature to me
You know I operate sometimes on instinct
And there are certain teachings of the Bible
That I kind of I guess I overlook as far as preaching
And I had to go back and dig down deep
Hey what are some of these things
That are subconscious things that I've learnt
Many years ago that I forget to preach about
Because it's so natural to me
Okay and expect the unexpected
Is what we're looking at here
So obviously life contains
Many things that are going to be unexpected
You know we sort of have an idea
Of what tomorrow would look like
But tomorrow can change very rapidly
You know we can kind of know
What the next year looks like
We can kind of make plans you know ahead of time
And it's wise to make plans
But even in the midst of plans
You know things happening just like my man
I wasn't expecting that to happen
You know I was planning to do X, Y and Z
And yet something has changed
Something has happened
Whatever that could look like in life
Alright
And you know I don't want to discourage
Anyone from making plans though
Alright
There's a saying that goes
If you fail to plan
You plan to fail
Okay
If you fail to plan
You plan to fail
And you know just different conversations that I have with people
You know
Planning is such an important part of my life
You know like I've already got planned out
Exactly
The trips that I'll be making down to Sydney
I've already got those flights
A lot of those flights booked
Because there was a special discount
With Jetstar
I was able to get some $18 flights believe it or not
Down to Sydney
I don't think even the fuel of the plane costs
And so you know you take advantage of these things
You plan ahead
Hey but you know what
I mean
The world could blow up in the next month
Who knows
Things can happen but you know
It's wise to plan
Alright
But you don't want to plan to the point where
You know you haven't considered
The unexpected events might happen
And this is what I want to talk to you about
Because it's good to plan
But sometimes people plan
Such a strict idea
Such a strict plan
Where something unexpected happens
And it breaks their plan
And then they don't know what to do with their lives
Because it just didn't work out the way that I wanted to
And you know what
We have to be
You know be able to be flexible
We have to adjust to different situations
And I just want to show you a few stories
Of where Jesus Christ has plans
He has a plan to travel to a certain town
Or a certain area
And something unexpected happens
He's unable to finish what he really wanted to do
But I want to show you just the reaction of Jesus Christ
And how he deals with unexpected events
So let's look at Luke chapter 9
Luke chapter 9 verse 51
Luke chapter 9 and verse 51
Luke chapter 9 verse 51
It says
Alright so Christ is making plans
He knows his time is coming
Alright
He's planning his trip to Jerusalem
Okay he's making these plans
Look at verse 52
Now if you don't know
Just let me give you some geography of Judea in these times
So you've got Galilee
Where Jesus Christ had his main ministry in Galilee
And that's kind of north of Israel
Now to get to Galilee all the way to Judea
Or where Jerusalem is situated
Jerusalem is situated further north
But in order to travel from Galilee to Judea
You have to pass through Samaria
You have to pass through the land of the Samaritans as it were
And so you can see Jesus Christ
He's preparing his trip to Jerusalem
But part of that is to stop in Samaria
Okay and do a work
And so he sends a couple of his disciples out there
To repair, you know get himself ready to be set up there in Samaria
Now what takes place?
Verse 53
So don't forget there was a bit of a conflict between the Samaritans and the Jews
And they're like well Jesus you're making your way to Jerusalem
Hey you're worried about the Jews we don't want you here
Because there was that conflict between the Samaritans and the Jews
Hey but don't forget what it said there
In verse 52
I don't want you to lose that point
And enter at the end of it
And enter into the village of the Samaritans to make ready for him
Okay so Jesus sent his disciples to make Samaria ready for him
That was his plan
To go and preach there
To do some works there
To convince or to demonstrate himself as a Messiah of the Samaritans
To have some of the Samaritans believe in him
But they did not want him there
They did not want him there
Okay
So look what happens
Alright
Now the disciples they you know they get a bit offended
They get a bit offended
Why aren't the Samaritans receiving Jesus Christ?
And I wanted to show you the difference between
The disciples who were not expecting this change
And versus Jesus Christ who was ready for the unexpected
Just show you the differences there right
It says there in verse 54
And when his disciples James and John saw
Look these are apostles
These are guys that have been walking with Christ
For many years now
Learning from the teachings of Christ
And yet even the most experienced guys
When his disciples James and John saw this
They said Lord
Will thou that we command fire
And come down from
Fire to come down from heaven
And consume them even as Elias did
What happens when someone is not expecting the unexpected?
Hey they get angered
They're quick to anger
Hey instead of coming and preaching the gospel to the Samaritans
How about we destroy them Jesus
How about you give us the ability
How about you give us the permission
To call down fire from heaven
And destroy these wicked Samaritans
Reverend what do we learn there?
You know what if we learn to expect the unexpected
It will prevent you from being quick to anger
Because my plans didn't work out
Oh man we made it
You know Jesus sent us the Samaritans
We're trying to do nice things for them
We're trying to preach the gospel
We want to get them to heaven
And this is how they treat us
They don't want us here
And guess what
When your plans don't go according to plan
When you don't expect the unexpected
You'll find yourself getting angry
Okay angry to the point
That you forget the purpose of why you came to the Samaritans
You came to save them
Not to destroy them
Not to kill them
Not to wipe them out
You came to give them the gospel
And yet their anger is so angry
God Jesus Christ let us cast down fire
I mean you know there are times in the Bible
Where Christ you know
We see fire fall down from heaven
You know the one that we probably remember the most
Is Sodom and Gomorrah
I mean look that was a wicked city
That was a city full of reprobates
Full of homosexuality
Full of wicked acts
And you know what
I mean even then
Lot is able to live there for some time
Before God ultimately judges and destroys that place
And these guys are asking the same kind of punishment from God
To destroy the Samaritans
Simply because they would not receive them
When they came into the city
How does Jesus Christ respond?
It says there in verse number 55
But he turned and rebuked them
And said
Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of
For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives
But to save them
And they went to another village
Hey that sounds good Jesus
Alright I mean look
Has his plan to Jerusalem
His initial plan to Jerusalem
Is he still going to Jerusalem
Yes he's still going there
But listen something unexpected happened
Jesus Christ was expecting to go to Samaria
And preach to these people
But they rejected him
So instead of getting angry
What does Jesus do?
Well we'll just go to another village
Hey we'll just go to another place
That will receive us
It's not about getting angry
It's not about destroying these people that don't want to hear from us
How about we go somewhere else
You see Christ's plan was still the same
He's still going to Jerusalem
But in the midst of that travel to Jerusalem
The unexpected happened
Jesus Christ was ready
He expected the unexpected
He knew that things aren't always going to go according to plan
But the disciples weren't
Alright James and John
They weren't happy with that
They weren't happy with their plans
Not working out exactly how they wanted to
And so they get furious
They get angry
And this is why sometimes people
You know they make plans
It doesn't work out
They get angry and think
Oh I'm not going to plan ever again
Wrong approach
Just adjust your plan
Adjust your plan
Go to another village
Yeah
I mean if you go door to door
Soul winning is the best example
That we can have here
And they don't receive you
They don't want to hear from you
Go to the next house
Alright
Don't get all upset
Oh man I came here
And I wanted to preach the gospel
They don't know what they're missing out on
And you know what
If you just have that attitude
You're going to give up on the soul winning
You're going to give up on doing service for God
Say well you know what
Oh well
We'll go to another village
We'll go to another place
And you need to keep this in mind
Now look
Jesus Christ still went to Jerusalem
Okay
It's not like this one thing
Caused him to completely
His plans to completely fall apart
The plans of Christ
He could adjust
Right
And so
All I'm trying to show you here
That you need to learn
That unexpected things happen
You still have your plan for Jerusalem
Whatever your plan is
But you need to be able to adjust
According to that plan
Otherwise
As I said to you
You will become quick to anger
You will get frustrated
You will lose focus
Of what you were trying to achieve
In the first place
Can you please turn to John chapter 7
Turn to John chapter 7
Let's have a look at another story here
John chapter 7 verse number 1
John chapter 7 and verse number 1
John chapter 7 verse number 1
The Bible reads
After these things
Jesus walked in Galilee
For he would not walk in Jewry
Jewry is Judea
Don't forget
Galilee
Then Samaria
Then Judea
So Jesus Christ is in Galilee
He would not walk in Jewry
In Judea
Why?
Because the Jews sought to kill him
I mean that's wise
It's wise
If I go to Judea right now
They're going to get a hold of me
They're going to kill me
And it's not my time yet
To do that
But let's keep going there
Verse number 2
Now the Jews feast of Tabernacles
Was at hand
So you may recall on Sunday
I preached about the feast
The booths that they would prepare
That's basically the same thing
They're preparing for that same celebration
The feast of the Tabernacles
And you may recall the commandment was
For all the Jews to go to Jerusalem
Set themselves up there
For a solid week
And to celebrate that feast
Alright so
The instructions of the Lord of Moses
Jesus knows he has to get to Jerusalem
Okay
He has to go there
But he says look
I'm not walking there right now
Because if I go there they'll kill me
Now what happens
Verse number 3
His brethren
Now when he says his brethren
He's talking about his actual brothers
His actual family
You know Jesus Christ had half brothers
Alright
Mary had other kids with Joseph
After Jesus Christ was born
His brethren therefore said unto him
Depart hence and go into Judea
That thy disciples also may see the works
That thou doest
Now if you take verse number 3 alone
It sounds like his brethren
Are like really excited for Jesus
Hey go to Jerusalem
Do the works
So they all believe on you
Kind of thing
They're actually mocking Christ
Okay
Christ was not received by his family
At the beginning
Alright
They're actually mocking Christ
I'll show you why they're mocking him
He keeps going there
Verse number 4
For there is no man that doeth anything in secret
For he himself seeketh to be known openly
If thou do these things
Shall thyself to the world
Yeah Jesus
If you're really doing these miracles
That we're hearing about
These great works
Why don't you just show yourself to the whole world
Just go to Jerusalem
Stop walking around Judea
Hey now's the time to go to the feast
Make your way there
Make it all public
Let everybody know that you're the son of God
They're mocking Christ
If you're really doing these things
Then you have no problem
You're not going and showing the whole world
Now of course
Christ would have to make plans
If he's trying to keep the law
If that's part of his mission
Is to fulfil the law
Part of fulfilling the law
Is to go to this feast
Of Tabernacle
Of Tabernacles
He'd have to go down to Jewry
Where they're seeking to kill him
Alright
Look what it says here
Verse number 5 sorry
For neither did his brethren believe in him
So there's just further confirmation
They're mocking Christ
They don't believe in him
They don't believe he's the Messiah
They don't believe he's actually doing these miraculous works
You know that they've been hearing about
Anyway verse number 6
And Jesus said unto them
My time is not yet come
Cause he knows if I go
I'll get killed
That time is not yet
But then he says
But your time
Is always ready
In other words
I can't go to Jerusalem right now
But you can
You can always go
Okay why can't you always go
Cause it says here
Verse number 7
The world cannot hate you
But me it hateth
Because I testify of it
That the works thereof are evil
So Jesus Christ says
Look you're free to go to Jerusalem
There's no controversy about you
You're not testifying that the works of the world are evil
I am
I can't just do it right now
Alright
Let's keep going
Verse number 8
So Jesus Christ says to his family
Go ye up unto this feast
I go not up yet unto the feast
For my time is not yet fully come
Is not yet full come
And we had said these words unto them
He abodes still in Galilee
Alright so they're making their way to Jerusalem
Okay
He stays in Galilee
Verse number 10
But when his brethren were gone up
Then went he also up unto the feast
Not openly
But as it were in secret
Okay
So we learned a few things there
Jesus Christ knows man
If I go with a big group of people
And people are talking about Jesus
And his works
And he's been on a public show
He knows by the time I get to Jerusalem
I'm going to be killed
And that time is not yet
So Jesus Christ creates other plans
Okay
He goes hey you go
And then Christ makes other plans
And goes by himself
He goes secretly
Okay
So he's fulfilling the law
He's going to the feast
But he doesn't want to be caught yet
He doesn't want to be killed yet
It's not the right time
Alright
So what do we learn there
Number 2
Jesus Christ was expecting the unexpected
Jesus Christ said look
I know it's the plan to go down to Jerusalem
But if I go
I'll get captured
And I'll be killed
And it's not the time
Okay
He's expecting the unexpected
He's prepared for something like that to take place
So the next point that I have for you brethren
If you learn to expect the unexpected
It'll help you be flexible
In your plans
You're not going to have plans that are so rigid
And that you march yourself to death literally
Okay
Into the hands of the enemy
You say look it's dangerous here right now
It's dangerous to do it like that
It's not going to work
And so we need to adjust the plan
And make it flexible
So Jesus Christ had flexibility
About how he sought out his work
Sought out his business
You know when I think about the word flexible
Probably the best thing you can describe right now
Is the microphone cable
Hey this is a very flexible cable isn't it
I mean if it was rigid
And literally like a stick
I really wouldn't be able to move all that much
Alright
I mean if this was just a rigid
You know solid piece of cable here
You know I'd be worried that as soon as I move
Or I do something weird
I might actually break that cable
Okay and that's what happens
If you cannot learn to be flexible
Your plans will break
Okay
The idea of being flexible is to be
Capable of bending
Without breaking
Capable of bending
Without breaking
And so when you plan
You'll make sure that your plans are flexible
The unexpected happens
You make it flexible
To work around that which is unexpected
But your plans still don't change
You still make it to the feast of the tabernacles
You're still able to fulfill the law
Or whatever the task was that Jesus Christ had to do
But he was ready to be flexible
You guys go without me
I'll go by myself
Of course Jesus Christ is going by himself
He doesn't have all the fanfare
You know people aren't talking about him
You know those that are trying to kill him
Aren't expecting a lone man to walk into Jerusalem
To be Jesus Christ
Right
They're expecting this mass following of Christ
And they'll be able to pick him out from there
And so Jesus Christ is able to make it into Jerusalem
Safe and sound
Without that threat of death
Because he was flexible
Okay
He still completed his plan
But he was flexible
See the inability to be flexible brethren
Will equate to breakage
It'll equate to breakage
You know and we
You need to be flexible with life
Okay
The unexpected happens
And you need to be able to maneuver that
And figure out what is the best way forward
When this unexpected event takes place
Otherwise like I said
It'll cause breakage
And uh
You know probably an example that I can think of
Potentially is if you're
You know you got a plan to find a job
Right
And you're like okay I'm going to apply
I'm going to apply for
You know
And you know sometimes people have
Like they throw all their eggs in one basket
Oh I found this one job
And I've just got to get this job
And I'm going to do everything I can to get that job
Alright
No flexibility
No thought
Well what if I lose that
I need another plan
Okay
Or if I don't get that one I need to apply again
That's what flexibility gives you
Alright
You may desire a certain position
Or a certain place
But if it doesn't work out
If you're not flexible
And you don't get what you want
It's going to break
You're going to be discouraged
And you're going to give up
Okay well
I wanted that job
I didn't get it
Therefore
That's it I'm done
I'm not going to look for work anymore
No being flexible means hey
I want this
Lord if this is your will for me
Please help me get this job
But if it's not your will
Help to continue applying for these other positions
Flexibility gives us so many different options
So many ways to manoeuvre
When the unexpected happens
You're ready
You're ready with other options
Available to you
Instead of causing breakage
Destroying your plans
And
Yeah
And not accomplishing
What you're seeking to accomplish
So the first two points
Breakpoint number one
Expect the unexpected
Why?
Because it will prevent you
From being quick to anger
And number two
It will help you be flexible
Please turn to Luke chapter 8
Turn to Luke chapter number 8 please
And verse number 26
Luke chapter 20
Sorry
Luke chapter 8
And verse number 26
Luke chapter 8
And verse number 26
Alright verse number 26 reads
And they arrived at the country
Of the Gadarenes
Which is over against Galilee
And when he went forth to land
So they're on a ship
They're crossing over here
They met him out of the city
A certain man
Which had devils long time
And wore no clothes
Neither abode in any house
But in the tombs
And when he saw Jesus
He cried out
And fell down before him
And with a loud voice said
What have I to do with thee Jesus
Thou Son of God Most High
I beseech thee
Torment me not
For he had commanded
The unclean spirit
To come out of the man
For often times
He had caught him
And was kept bound
With chains and fetters
And he break the bands
And was driven
Of the devil into the wilderness
So the first person
That Christ comes across
In this land
Is this demon possessed man
Alright
And the devil's crying out to Christ
The devil knows who Christ is
The devil's crying out
Hey you know leave us alone
What do you want to do with us Jesus
Knowing full well that Jesus Christ
Could cast this devil into hell
Verse number 30
And Jesus asked him saying
What is thy name
And he said
Legion
Because many devils
Were entered into him
And they besought him
That he would not commend them
To go into the deep
And there was there
And heard of many swine
Feeding on the mountain
And they besought him
That he would suffer them
To enter into them
And he suffered them
Or he allowed them
Okay so the devils are like hey
You know there's a whole bunch of swine
There's a whole bunch of pigs over here
Jesus don't cast us into hell
Don't cast us into the pit
Can you just cast us into this swine
And so Jesus Christ allows them
To do that
Alright
Verse number 33
Then when the devils out of the man
And entered into the swine
And the herd ran violently down
A steep place into the lake
And were choked
Now notice this
When they that fed them
Saw what was done
They fled
And went and toad it in the city
And in the country
Hey so the farmers of the pigs
Of the swine
Alright they're like man
We've just lost all our
It's not cattle
What do we call them
What do we call pigs
And we lost all our animals
We lost all this money
Alright
Jesus Christ has come
He's causing us problems
So they go into the city
And start to complain about Jesus Christ
It says there in verse number 35
And when they went out to see what was done
And came to Jesus
And found the man
Out of whom the devils were departed
Sitting at the feet of Jesus
Clothed in his right mind
And they were afraid
They also
Which saw it told them
By what means he that was possessed
Of the devils
Was healed
And so they all recognise
Hey here's Jesus
Here's the troublemaker
Right
The farmers are claiming
He's the troublemaker here
And they also see the demon possessed man
Okay who's been healed
From his possessions
And it says in verse number 37
Look at this
Then the whole multitude of the country
Of the Gadarenes
Round about
Besought him
To depart from them
So they're saying
Look Jesus
Can you please go
We don't want you here
You're a troublemaker
You know we don't need you here
Can you please go
And look Jesus Christ has made this effort
To get on a ship
And literally cross the ocean
Not the ocean
The river there
To go to this place
Alright
I mean yeah
The demon possessed man
He's sought that
He's dealt with that
But now they're saying
Look get out of here
We don't want you
In our city
You're a troublemaker
We've got a promise for you Jesus
So again
The plans of Christ
Just aren't quite working out
Now of course the will of God
Is that this demon possessed man
Will be healed
But there's something else
That I want you to notice here
About Christ
The fact that
You know he was ready for the unexpected
Even though he makes plans
To go to a certain place
A certain town
Once again we see the people
Of this place
Rejecting Christ
Please go
We don't want any trouble
It keeps going there
In verse number 37
For they were taken with great fear
And he went up into the ship
And returned back again
So Jesus Christ says
Alright
We'll go back
So he goes back into the ship
I like the next verses
Verse number 38
Now the man out of whom the devils were departed
Besought him that he might be with him
So the man that got you know
Healed from the devils
The possession
He says Jesus
I want to go with you
Right
You've healed me
Praise God
You know
I want to follow you
I want to be one of your disciples
Please take me with you
And he keeps
Sorry
So
Yeah
But Jesus sent him away
Saying
So Jesus says no
Okay
Verse number 39
Return to thine own house
And show how great things God
Have done unto thee
And he went his way
And published throughout the whole city
How great things Jesus had done unto him
Wow
That's amazing
This demon possessed man
Who says you know what
Jesus can I go with you
Alright
Jesus says no
You stay in your city
You go and publish
You go and preach
About the great things that Jesus Christ
Has done for him
And he does
He does so
The next thing that I have for you
The third point here brethren
If you learn to expect the unexpected
You will develop tact
Okay
You will develop to be tactful
Alright
Being smart
You know tactfully
Tactics
Alright
Now you know
One of the things that we could consider here
You know Jesus could say look
You know we've made the effort
You know we've landed on your land
I'm not going
I'm sorry
We're staying
We're going to preach
Jesus goes no
You know what
The city are against me
They want me to go
He gets into the ship
Okay
That's one option
He takes the option to get into the ship
The next option
Do we take the demon possessed man with us
The one that was demon possessed
He goes no
You know what
Christ uses tact
Hey
He's got a plan
He's got a purpose
He wants the city to be reached
With the gospel of Jesus
He wants these people to hear
About the great works of God
But it can't be him
It can't be Jesus
They don't want him there
In fact the more time he spends
You know these are things that obviously
Christ has to process
In his human mind
You know if I stay in this city
They're going to be further
They're going to be further frustrated
By the message of the gospel
So he says
You know what
I'm going to appease
These troubled people
I'm going to give what they want
I'm going to leave
Hey
But I've got to adjust my plan
I've got to use tact
I've got a man who is recently saved
Hey
I can take him with me
Hey
He can be a great disciple
I can teach him great things
But more important
Is that he stays in this city
And preaches the gospel
He wins his people to the Lord
If I hang around here
You know
It's going to make his life harder
If I hang around this city
People are going to reject the word
Hey
But they'll receive him
Why
Because they've seen his life change
They've seen him
Trust Christ
They've seen him
He's from the devils
Hey
He's an open testimony
Of the great things
That Christ has done for him
And so Jesus makes that decision
It's better that I leave
And leave this man to reach this city
Hey
That's tact
Jesus still accomplishes what he wants
For the gospel to reach this place
But instead of it being him
And his disciples
He finds this opportunity
This one man
Demon possessed man
Who's able to do some great works for God
Brethren
That's what tact is
Tact
Is the ability
Of doing the right thing
At the right time
Usually it has to do with a difficult situation
Where you're able to measure a difficult situation
And come out with the best outcome
You know
Some people might say
No, no, no
You should stay there Jesus
You know
You've made the trip
You've taken your disciples
You wanted to be in that city
You should just stand your ground
And who cares who gets offended
Jesus Christ goes
You know what
Now I'm going
It's better that I go
And it's better
He's able to come with me
It's better that he stays
He's able to reach his people
With the great news of the Lord God
Of what God has done for him
And so this is tact
Alright
Difficult situations
Unexpected situations
What do I do
You've got to be able to measure the situation
And it's not easy to develop tact
Because every situation is different
The thought there is
Jesus Christ has to consider himself
His disciples
Consider the people of the city
Consider the man that recently got saved
And go
What is the best outcome in this situation
So he leaves
And puts that man in charge
Of reaching the city
That's what tact is all about
You know
These are things that you know
You'll develop
If you get thrown into difficult situations
And you've
It falls on your shoulders
To figure out what is the best step forward
So many possibilities
You know
And tact allows you
To narrow down the best possibility
The best outcome
And move forward with that outcome
But brethren again
You need to be able to be flexible
You need to be able to consider
That things aren't always going to go according to plan
And work toward that
Please don't take the view that
I just want plan for anything
I just want don't do anything
Because I can't expect
I don't know what's around the corner tomorrow
Yeah none of us know what's around the corner tomorrow
That's why we have to expect
The unexpected
That's why like Jesus
Whatever plans we have
You know what
We've got to figure out
What is the best way to do things
Hey when things change
You know what
I'm going to adjust my plan
I'm not going to get angry
I'm just going to adjust my plan
Hey when things change
I'm going to look for
The different flexible opportunities
That I hear
What is the best way
When things don't go according to plan
Hey I'm going to use tact
What is the best way to reach these people
The gospel of the Lord
Okay
Whatever it is brethren
When you're able to stop
And assess your plans
Stop and not be full of pride
Because things did not go according
Exactly how you want
You know what
We see these examples of Christ
I love these examples
Because again we see the humanity of Christ
He's got his plans
He's got his mission
You would think that
Whatever Christ wants to do
It should just happen
But hey
There are times when the people
Just rejected him
And Christ has to be
Able to adjust his plans
To expect the unexpected
I think that's definitely
The best way to live your life
Is just know
Know full well
That tomorrow could bring
Something that you just never expected
Okay
And the difference between
Those that give up and fail
And get frustrated and angry
Versus those that
Hey find a way around things
Is the one that finds a way around it
And is able to still push forward
And accomplish what they're trying to do
Is that they were expecting that
That was a consideration
They're already open to
You know
Are my plans not going
Exactly how I want
But here are the ways
Here are the ways around it
Here are the answers
That I can take
And move forward
Can you please go to another passage
Please turn to
Ah sorry
Turn to Acts chapter 16
Turn to Acts chapter 16 please
Acts chapter 16
We're not looking at Christ this time
We're looking at the Apostle Paul
Acts 16 verse 6
Acts 16 verse 6 please
And
Yeah
I love
I love this little passage here
We know that
Of course Paul had
A lot of plans
He had three
He accomplished three
Missionary journeys
As you read through the book of Acts
And he's always playing out
He's like alright
We're going this way
We're headed to this direction
We're going to these cities
We're going to preach the gospel here
We're going to visit the brethren here
You know
Paul has all these plans
To start all these churches
And it doesn't always go
According to plan
Alright
Now sometimes
Things don't go according to plan
Because
It's just the way the world is
You know
Just
Trouble develops
And
Just situations develop
Sometimes you may have a plan
And you think it's
Exactly what God wants
And
It's not what God wants
Okay
Even if you think
Man
How can this not be something
That God wants
I'm doing some great work for God
How can God turn around and say
No
Not that
Well that's why I love this story here
In Luke
Sorry in Acts 16
Acts 16 verse 6
It says
Now when they had gone
Throughout
Phrygia
And the region of Galatia
Look at this
And were forbidden
Of the Holy Ghost
To preach
The word in Asia
Now that Asia of course
Is modern day Turkey
So hold on
Paul
You're planning to go to
Modern day Turkey
To Asia
To preach the gospel
But the Holy Ghost prevents you
Isn't this something
That God wants you to do
To preach the gospel
To these people
Interesting
That the Holy Ghost
Is preventing him
From going into Asia
Anyway
Verse number 7
After
They would come to Mysia
I like that
Okay well
God doesn't want me to go to Asia
So let's go to Mysia
Okay
That's where you go
You know
Alright
Let's be flexible
Let's adjust this to the situation
And they would come to Mysia
They are saved
To go into
Bithynia
So they're like
The next plan is
Alright
Now we're going to go to Bithynia
After this
Notice what it says
But the spirit
Suffered them not
The Holy Spirit said no
You're not going that way
Hold on
What
Paul's doing some great works here
He's preaching the gospel
He's seeing people saved
How can you stop this great work sometimes
Lord
Twice
Paul's plans
Are now out of whack
Aren't they
But does he give up
Does he get frustrated
Does he get angry
Is it all over
It didn't work out
No
He's sensitive
To the Lord's leading
You see sometimes
God closes doors
And you're there trying to open that door
And say no God
I need to go this way
And God says no
You know
I don't like it when God says no
I don't like it
Because I'm like
Okay I want to do this God
God says no
It's like
Surely it's what you want Lord
Sometimes it says no
You see when you expect the unexpected
The next point that I have for you
It makes you sensitive
To the Lord's leading
It makes you sensitive
To the Lord's leading
You know I'm always praying to the Lord
Lord when I'm developing plans
Thoughts ahead
You know personal plans
Or plans for our church
Or plans for Sydney
You know I think about the options
And I say God
Can you just open the doors
That you want me to walk through
And Lord can you close the doors
That you don't want me to go
You know can you make it difficult
And here's the thing
When God makes it difficult
You know I'm like
I want to go that way
Sometimes I'm not sensitive
I don't realise that God is saying no
Okay
And then I'm like
Oh of course
I asked God to close that door
Why am I getting frustrated
That door's not closed
Alright
That door's closed
And walk the way that God opens
What did God open for Paul here
Let's keep going there
Verse number 8
And they pass in by Mysia
Came down to Troas
So instead of going to Bithynia
Well Paul goes alright
Second time we can't do it
We'll just go to Troas instead
So you can see Paul's definitely
He's got a plan
He's got a mission
Alright
But his plans are flexible
You know
He's able to adjust
He's not getting frustrated
He just goes
Well we'll just go somewhere else
You know
We'll just do the work
Somewhere else
Verse number 9
And a vision appeared to Paul in the night
There stood a man of Macedonia
And prayed him saying
Come over into Macedonia
And help us
And after he had seen the vision
Immediately we endeavoured
To go into Macedonia
Assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us
For to preach the Gospel unto them
You see
Paul was sensitive to the Lord's leading
The Holy Spirit said no
Alright God no
We'll go somewhere else
And then he's doing the work
He says alright
We're gonna go somewhere else
The Holy Spirit says no
I mean I can imagine
People getting frustrated at this
I can imagine right
It's not working
Why God why say no?
Well now we know why
Macedonia needed Paul
Macedonia needed the Gospel
And as you keep going through that chapter
You know we have the great chapter of the Philippian jailer
That believes in the Lord Jesus Christ with his whole house
You know the great story is there leading up
You know being sensitive to the Lord's leading
And going exactly where Jesus Christ wanted him to go
And he was able to do some great works for God
Seeing many people saved
There in Macedonia
And you know what even then
Hey we think about the Philippian jailer
Hey he follows the Lord's leading
And he finds himself in jail
You could almost say
Hey Paul it's just not working out for you
But he had to go to jail
To meet the Philippian jailer
He had to go there
To have that you know
That meet where he was able then
To preach the gospel to this person
And to the whole family
And that they will all be saved
You know and even
Even though Paul
Look at this
Even though his plans are so messed up
Just in this one little passage there
It's not going the way he wants
Even thrown into jail
Like I said to you
Alright
I love what he says
Don't need to turn there
You guys know this passage
You know Paul's able to say
I was able to finish my course
You know the plans that I had
The things that I was doing for the Lord
I was able to accomplish it all
And yet during that plan we see
Many times
And I'm just saying
I'm just looking at different stories here
But many times
His plans were interrupted
Many times the unexpected happened
But we learn with Paul
That he was prepared for the unexpected
And he said well
We just have to adjust our plans
We just have to be flexible
Let's not give up on the ministry
Let's keep doing what God wants us to do
And then he's able to say
Look I finished my course
I did exactly what God wanted me to do
I reached the finish line
I did not faint
I did not give up
I was not a broken man
I continued doing the things
That God wanted me to do
And so as I said to you
The fourth point
You know if you expect the unexpected
It makes you sensitive to the Lord's leading
You know I'll give you this story
I've given this story to a few of you guys
But I'll give it to the whole church
And the closest that I can
The closest thing to me
That's developed most recently
Was that time that I went down to Victoria
And I went down to Victoria
To do a funeral service
And so many things went wrong
So many things did not go according to plan
And brethren yes
I started to get frustrated
Alright I lost my wallet
I lost my licence
I needed to rent a car
I needed my licence
And because I lost my wallet
I lost my debit cards
And then my phone could not get recharged
Because I couldn't
You know when they tried to recharge my phone
The card was declined
And so I was struggling with communication
I didn't know how I could hire a car without a licence
I went to the local Queensland Department of Transport
The day that I went there
I went there urgently
Early in the morning they told me
All the systems are shut down
You know you need to go to Maroochydore
I went to Maroochydore
That place was packed
Alright that place was
And I'm like man
Am I gonna get my
I need my licence
I need to hire a car
To get to Melbourne
And rent a vehicle
I go to the rental car company
Saying look
The booking that you've placed for six thirty
Or six o'clock I think it was
Or six thirty I can't remember
Was too late
You're not gonna make it in time
We shut too early
So I organised another flight
To get an earlier flight
I'm thinking no worries
I'm gonna get there
Two hours before
The rental car company closes
And then the plane's delayed
And then there's no fuel
On the Sunshine Coast
So we gotta stop by Brisbane
The pilot says
It's just twenty minutes
No
It's gone for hours
You know what I mean
Just stopping the vehicle
Getting fuelled up
Taking off again
And by the time I got to Victoria
It was too late
The place had shut down
You know I'm just
I'm like
Lord did you not want me
To come to Victoria
Like
Am I
Is this not your plan
You know
And this is the thing
I'm getting in the flesh
A little bit
I'm getting frustrated right
It's just one day
One thing after another
It's like
You know what
I ended up getting my emergency licence
I got my passport
So I had a photo thing
But then okay
That place is shut down
There were other
Rental car companies
I go to each rental car company
You know
Look do you have a car
No
It's Easter
It's public holidays
You've come at a bad time
No cars
Go to the next place
No cars
How am I going to get to
Country Victoria
How am I going
It's the funeral
It's there tomorrow
I've got to get there
Lord did you not want me
To come
I don't understand
You know what
And then it dawned on me
It dawned on me
Because this happened to my life
But as I said to you
When God closes those doors
I'm trying to bang them open
God
Can you
It's not going to go into my plan
God
What's going on
And then don't forget
These are things we pray for
God close the doors
That you don't want me to go through
Open the doors
That you want me to walk through
The only solution
Is to get the answer
Oh I called brother Dennis
Danny Melbourne
I thought you know
Hopefully he's able to get
Do me a great favour
I'm driving to Country Victoria
I'm calling brother Dennis
He's already in bed
If you're listening to brother Dennis
Oh well
Praise God for you
Man
Who's going to help me out here
Right
The only solution was to get the Uber
You know it's a bit expensive
It's the only option
It's the only way that I'm going to get there tonight
To be ready there tomorrow morning
To conduct a funeral
Catch the Uber
I'm frustrated at this point
And I'm also talking to Christina
She's a little bit worried for me
Like stuck in you know
Melbourne
You know
No cars
You know
She's a bit worried
And then it just dawned on me
I just guess God did not want me to drive
You know
It's just
You know
This has to be the hand of God
How can so many things go wrong?
Like it just dawned on me
This has to be the hand of God
And I've just got to accept it
I've got to expect the unexpected
I wasn't expecting the unexpected
And brother when I wasn't expecting the unexpected
I got in the flesh
I got frustrated
I was getting angry
Yeah I probably would have prayed down fire
To fall upon Melbourne or something
I don't know
Okay
Not that bad
But I was getting frustrated
Right
I was already travelling to Sydney
Before that I was just
I was tired
I just wanted things to work out
So you catch the Uber
You know what
I'm in the Uber
I'm still frustrated
If I say to Christina
Look I think it's God's hand
Who knows
Maybe it would have crashed
Maybe it would have got lost
Who knows
God did not want me to get that vehicle
Alright
And getting back to Melbourne
We'll sort that out later
Who knows
That's what the plan is
Anyway
We're driving to the Uber
It's just me
And this one Hindu man
Alright
And because I'm still kind of in the flesh
I'm a bit frustrated
I'm like
I'm alone with this guy for like three hours
I should give him the gospel
But I just don't feel like it
I'm just like frustrated
Like the last thing I want to do is open God's word
Again
It's this battle between the flesh and the spirit
Isn't it
And I said no
Hold on
If this is God's hand
Maybe he wants me to give him the gospel
These are the opportunities we pray for
One on one opportunities
Where there's no distractions
Alright
Well this is what we ask for
So I guess
Give him the gospel
In fact
He's the one that asks me the questions
We start talking about work
So how long have you been driving an Uber
What do you do for work
I'm a pastor
So he asks me the question
So what are the differences between Christianity and other religions
Because sometimes it's a bit awkward to get to that conversation
But he's the one that opened the conversation
Praise God
Everybody give him the gospel
He calls upon the name of the Lord
The Macedonian call
This one Hindu man
At some point in his life
Would have prayed to God
God tell me who you really are
Show me who you really are
And that was the answer
I had to go through those struggles
My plans had to fall apart
You know the unexpected had to happen
Because God had to move me
You know
In a place where
There was a special meeting for this one man
This one driver
For him to hear the gospel
Maybe the only time he'll hear it in his life
Who knows
For him to believe in Jesus Christ
And understand that his religion was false
But you know what brethren
Yeah it's frustrating when your plans don't go according to plan
This is why
We need to learn this
We need to understand
Unexpected things happen
You can get frustrated like me
Or say well God
Maybe you wanted this to happen
What do I need to do
You know
How can I learn to be flexible
Lord how can you teach me to
To be tactful in this situation
How can I take advantage of this situation Lord
How can I not get angry
And just see your hand
Lord how can you demonstrate to me
The leading of the Holy Ghost
And your closing certain doors
Help me to just accept your will in my life
Instead of getting angry
And frustrated
And scared
And whatever it is that you might go through
That's what happens when your plans don't go according to
When you're not expecting the unexpected
And your plans don't go the way you want
You're going to feel all of those frustrations
But I think these stories that we have in the bible
And there's so many stories in the bible that we can turn to
But it teaches us a few things
You know I love the fact that Christ came and limited himself as a man
You know he's trying to do the great works of God
There are some limits to his knowledge
There are some limits to his planning
But again these things are here in the bible
So we can learn from Christ
Christ how did you react
How did the disciples react
I don't want to react like the disciples
I want to follow after your steps Christ
Teach me to expect the unexpected
There is one more passage I want you to turn to
Please turn to Proverbs 19
Please turn to Proverbs 19 and verse number 21
Proverbs 19 and verse number 21
We'll conclude on this one
Proverbs 19 and verse number 21
The bible reads
There are many devices in a man's heart
You know there are many things that we think about
Many plans that we make
You know many thoughts that we consider for our future
There are many devices in a man's heart
Nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand
The counsel of the Lord that shall stand
You know what all the devices in your heart
All your best made plans
All your best made thoughts for your future
They're not going to stand
Did you know that
But God's counsel will always stand
Okay and part of that journey
Discovering God's counsel
God's direction in our life
Is for our plans to fall apart
Is for the unexpected to happen
For God to move us from this place to this place
And God will allow something to develop
When we get frustrated
And go why God
Because he wants to move us to the right place
On his counsel, on his will
To his works to do what he wants us to do
And we need to learn that in life
Okay we need to learn to expect the unexpected
It's the counsel of the Lord that we're seeking
It's his guidance that we're seeking
Yes it's good to plan
It's good to plan
Alright
But sometimes that plan is just the will of man
And you need to be able to adjust
That will of man
When God's will says no
Okay
Expect the unexpected
And you will not be frustrated
You will not be angry
You'll learn to be flexible
You'll learn to be tactful
And you'll be best
You'll be in a better position
To follow after the steps of Christ
Okay let's pray
Heavenly Father I want to thank you
Lord for this
Our teaching Lord I thank you for the examples
That we've seen in Jesus Christ
Lord even the best made plans that Christ did
Did not always work out
But I thank you that we can see his reaction
To these things
And he's able to be intelligent, smart Lord
And seeking your will
He knows your hand Lord
When you guide him
And Lord we see the difference with the disciples
Who are in the flesh and get frustrated and angry
In different situations
God I pray we would be people that would not
That would not make no plans Lord
We don't want to be those kinds of people
Lord help us to have devices
Help us to have thoughts
Plans in our minds Lord
To achieve but be sensitive to your leading
To understand Lord
When you say no about certain things
When you direct us on a different path Lord
Help us not to fall into the flesh
But to seek after your spirit
We pray these things in Jesus name
Amen
Your hymnals
And I believe I want to sing
242 let me just turn there
Okay yeah let's turn to hymn number 242
And we'll sing it took a miracle
242 it took a miracle
And I
A God of might and miracles
Tis written in the sky
It took a miracle to put ourselves
In place
It took a miracle to ever grow
In space the way he saved my soul
Please then make me whole
It took a miracle of love and grace
Though here his glory has been shown
We still can't fully see
The wonder of his heart is bound
To take eternity
It took a miracle to put ourselves
In place
It took a miracle to hang the world
In space the way he saved my soul
Please then make me whole
It took a miracle of love and grace
The bible tells us of his power
And with the whole way through
And every little bird and clown
A testing on his tune
It took a miracle to put ourselves
In place
It took a miracle to hang the world
In space the way he saved my soul
Please then make me whole
It took a miracle of love and grace
Thank you for watching!