MAPPING OUT THE FUTURE

1 PETER 3:10-12

Steve Shepherdhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/Sermon.asp?

SermonID=142575

1 Peter 3:10 NET For the one who wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from

uttering deceit. 11 And he must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek

peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his

ears are open to their prayer. But the Lord's face is against those who do evil.

(Psalm 34:12-16)

Have you ever had a bad day? Well, of course. Who hasn’t? But what about a

really bad day? Here’s one that tops many I’ve heard.

The following is seen in a Florida newspaper: A man was working on his

motorcycle on his patio and his wife was in the house in the kitchen.

The man was racing the engine on the motorcycle and somehow, the motorcycle

slipped into gear. The man, still holding the handlebars, was dragged through a glass patio door and along with the motorcycle dumped onto the floor inside the house.The wife, hearing the crash, ran into the

dining room, and found her husband laying on the floor, cut and bleeding, the

motorcycle laying next to him and the patio door shattered. The wife ran to the phone

and summoned an ambulance.

Because they lived on a fairly large hill, the wife went down the several flights of long

steps to the street to direct the paramedics to her husband. After the ambulance arrived

and transported the husband to the hospital, the wife up-rights the motorcycle

and pushed it outside.Seeing that gas had spilled on the floor, the wife obtained some papers towels, blotted

up the gasoline, and threw the towels in the toilet.

The husband was treated at the hospital and was released to come home. After

arriving home, he looked at the shattered patio door and the damage done to his

motorcycle. He became despondent, went into the bathroom, sat on the toilet and smoked a cigarette. After finishing the

cigarette, he flipped it between his legs into the toilet bowl while still seated.

The wife, who was in the kitchen, heard a loud explosion and her husband screaming.

She ran into the bathroom and found her husband lying on the floor. His trousers had

been blown away and he was suffering burns on the buttocks, the back of his legs

and his groin. The wife again ran to the phone and called for an ambulance.

The same ambulance crew was dispatched and the wife met them at the street. The paramedics loaded the husband on the stretcher and began carrying him to the street. While they were going down the

stairs to the street accompanied by the wife, one of the paramedics asked the wife how

the husband had burned himself.

She told them and the paramedics started laughing so hard, one of them tipped the

stretcher and dumped the husband out. He fell down the remaining steps and broke his

arm.

DID YOU EVER HAVE A DAY LIKE THAT?

Have mercy!

1 Peter 3:10a NET For the one who wants to love life and see good days must…

Whoever would see good days. Wouldn’t you like to see many good days, instead of

bad days? Who wouldn’t? And I think there’s a way to see many good days in life.

It was the October 12th through the 19th that Steve Shepherd & his wife Elaine

decided to take a long road trip and go visit her brother in Charlotte, NC, and then drive an additional five hours to Mechanicsville, VA, to visit his daughter and her family. For

the most part everything went well. Of course, they had a GPS in their car to show

the way.

They did pretty well most of the time, however, in driving to Mechanicsville, VA,

they had to go through, in and around Richmond, VA, and was hoping that the GPS wouldn’t fail them during that time. Earlier on their trip it said that it had no

satellite connection. That meant it couldn’t tell them anything, where to go or where to

turn. But fortunately, that GPS didn’t fail while driving through Richmond and they

were very thankful because they had many quick turns to make to get where they

wanted to go.

Don’t you wish some kind of divine GPS for your life? A divine guidance system that

would help you to make all the right decisions in life?

Today, we need to plan ahead. Someone said if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. We need to plan out our lives so as to make right turns and decisions and not go off

course. We need to map out a plan for the future so that we will see many good days.

The scripture is our divine GPS for mapping our lives in order to experience many good days. What does this divine GPS tell us to

do?

1- Seek the Lord2- Follow the Lord 3- Trust the Lord

SEEK THE LORDIsaiah 55:6 NET Seek the LORD while he makes himself available; call to him while

he is nearby!Seek the Lord while He may be found. Will

there ever be a time when we can’t find Him? That’s possible, because He’s calling

the shots. I know that right now anybody can still seek Him and find Him. The door is

open for now.

And we all need to seek the Lord every day and in all things. This should be obvious

people, but it’s not. We’re stubborn people and want to do things for ourselves, but

occasionally, we get into something that we can’t handle. That’s when we realize we need a greater power or strength than

ourselves. We often have to be knocked down before we will ever look up.

A father in IL has two daughters and both have small children, but one daughter

abuses drugs. And she just can’t seem to stop. And she’s a big headache to her dad

who keeps trying to bail her out of trouble, if and when he can.

In fact, this girl was picked up and put in jail on Dec. 23rd for possession and use of drugs. What do you do in a situation like

that? I don’t know exactly but I have a pretty good idea.

Her dad said that Christmas was awful and his parents who are in their 80‘s are heartsick over this granddaughter.

Steve Shepherd has known this father for about 10 years and he was a member of the church where Steve preached. But he hasn’t been going to church on a regular basis for many years, probably 6 years or

more.

They have kept in touch via email and whenever he tells Steve about this

problem/prodigal daughter who is a mother of two small children he always points him

to the Lord and tells him that he will pray for him.

All Steve knows is this family keeps having trouble and he’s convinced that only as we

seek the Lord constantly, fervently, and daily will we ever be able to overcome life’s

difficulties and see good days.

Matthew 6:33 NET But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these

things will be given to you as well.If we would put the Lord’s kingdom first in our lives many of our problems would be

cured and we would see good days. What’s the Lord’s kingdom? His church. And

church is not always a priority to many people. It’s like, “I’ll come if I have the time

or I don’t have something else to do.”

Steve Shepherd’s older brother used to be that way. He’d remember him telling Steve many years ago when he was probably in

his 30‘s that going to more than one church service was for old people who didn’t have anything else to do. But now that he’s 68 years old church has become more of a

priority to him.

In fact, Steve’s brother Larry and his wife, Sharon, toured the Holy land last year for nearly two weeks in Israel and they were

even baptized in the Jordan River. Apparently, many people do this even if

they’ve been baptized previously. They say it’s quite a spiritual experience for them. WELL, PRAISE THE LORD! Any time we do anything that leads us to a closer walk

with the Lord is good!

Isn’t a shame that we often wait until we’re senior citizens before we realize how

important the things of God are? Seek first the kingdom of God

AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. John 5:30 NET I can do nothing on my own initiative. Just as I hear, I judge, and my

judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent

me.

If Jesus sought only to please His Father what should we do? And when you seek to

please God how can you go wrong?

Our divine GPS says that we must seek the Lord always and in all things in order to see

good days.

FOLLOW THE LORD

We need to follow the Lord in life, that is, in the way He lived out His life on earth. What

did He do that we should do?

1 Peter 2:21 NET For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps.

Our divine GPS says we should follow in His steps. If we truly believe Him and

believe in Him then we should do our best to follow in His steps. We should follow Him in His devotion and service. How devoted

was Christ to His Father? Mark 1:35 NET Then Jesus got up early in the morning when it was still very dark,

departed, and went out to a deserted place, and there he spent time in prayer.

Jesus rose early so he could get away from people and spend time in prayer, talking to

His heavenly Father. We need to do the same.

But it’s hard to spend time in prayer when the kids are running through the house,

playing, or the TV is blaring. So how do you get away to spend some private time with the Lord in prayer? You do it either early or late. And I personally prefer preparing FOR my day rather than FOLLOWING my day in

prayer.

-Someone said that prayer should be the key of the morning and the bolt at night. - Hem in the day with prayer and it will be less likely to ravel out before night. - He stands best who kneels most. (or lives the best)

Matthew 14:23 NET And after he sent the crowds away, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he

was there alone. We need to get alone in prayer.

Luke 5:15 NET But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds were gathering together to hear him and to be

healed of their illnesses. 16 Yet Jesus himself frequently withdrew to the

wilderness and prayed.Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and

prayed. Why did Jesus do this? It must have been the pressures or the stress of

the day or the stress of dealing with people.

Someone said, “When it’s hardest to pray, we ought to pray hardest.” Because of life’s

difficulties we need to pray.Luke 6:12 NET Now it was during this time

that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God.

Have you ever done this? How can we not spend more time in prayer when we

consider Jesus own example?

We should follow His example in seeking the lost.

Luke 19:10 NET For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The main reason that Jesus left heaven for earth was to save us. He bore our sins in

His body on the tree. He became sin for us. Obviously, we can’t do this for people, but we can point them to Him who can save them! And that’s the way we can follow in His steps. We need and must point people

to Christ!

Aren’t we interested in taking people with us to heaven? Our kids and grandkids and

others? If so, we must point them to Christ as best we can and whenever we can. I

personally don’t want to wait until I’m on my deathbed to say some things to my kids,

like, “Honey, you need the Lord. You need to seek the Lord always in life. He alone will

save and give you the promise of eternal life.” Too late could be too late. We need to

point them to Christ early and often.

Acts 10:38 NET with respect to Jesus from Nazareth, that God anointed him with the

Holy Spirit and with power. He went around doing good and healing all who were

oppressed by the devil, because God was with him.

We should follow Christ in doing good.

Quadriplegic, Joni Eareckson writes a daily devotion. Once she wrote about “What

makes God Happy.” Surely, this is something that we all should

want to do?! She wrote: We make God happy when we showcase Jesus in our

lives. We make God happy when we reflect to

those around us, as well as to the heavenly hosts, any attribute, any character quality of

Jesus.

When, by God’s grace, we remain patient, resist temptation, offer a smile, bless a

child, sit silent, meet a need, sing a hymn, repeat a scripture, praise the Father, give

the gospel, work faithfully, feed the starving, help a neighbor, we are making God happy.

Our divine GPS says to follow in His steps. And when we do, we’ll be blessed and see

good days.

TRUST THE LORD

Proverbs 3:5 NET Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. 6 Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will make your paths

straight.

Our divine GPS says we should trust the Lord for everything. We should trust Him for

our salvation. Are you worried? You shouldn’t be. If you are worried then it’s

because you’re either looking at your sin or your own goodness and neither look is a

good thing.

You can’t save yourself so don’t even consider your own goodness or good deeds as something that will impress God. It won’t.

We won’t. And at the same, stop concentrating on your sins and start looking at the One who bore your sins in His body

on the tree!

He alone is the Savior! It’s all a matter of who He is and what He did for us and we

must learn to trust Him fully! If we don’t get in the door by His grace, there will be no

getting in the door of heaven at all!

Our divine GPS says we must trust Him for provision in life. He’s done pretty good thus

far, has He not? We have what we need and much more!

A lady has an interesting testimony. In some ways, it’s downright shocking. The lady is

one of the activity directors at the Craighead Nursing Center. This activity

director was once a drug addict. It’s obvious now, however, that she’s a Christian. She is quick to speak of the Lord Jesus. And she

said that after many years of drug addiction she is finally on the road to recovery.

When asked how she was able to overcome and she said she entered a

Christian based recovery center and that’s also how she found Jesus.

Here’s something that you won’t hear every day. She came from a very wealthy family in MASS, very wealthy, she said. She told me that she always had whatever she wanted,

but she believed that the Lord wanted her to give more to His cause.

So what did she do? She contacted her Jewish stockbroker and sold every bit of stock she had and then gave the money away. And that’s not the end of the story.

She said she never knew what it was to live from paycheck to paycheck but she does

now. She believes that the Lord wanted her to experience this in life in order to surrender her life fully to the Lord.

How is she living? The Lord has provided the job that she now has and even a

second job in order to make it. She fully believes that the Lord has and will provide

for her. SHE IS WALKING BY FAITH.

How’s that for a testimony to Christ?Our divine GPS says we must trust the Lord

in life when it comes to material provision and everything else. And the more we learn to trust Him, the more we’ll see good days.

Remember the old song, “Happy Days Are Here Again”? That original song came out in

1929 and is best remembered as the campaign song for Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) successful 1932

Presidential campaign.

Happy days are here again,The skies above are clear again

Let us sing a song of cheer again --Happy days are here again

And the thought of the song sounds great, doesn’t it?

And many people may well think, “Ah ha, happy days are here again.”

And I say, “Oh really? Are you sure about that?”

Brothers and sisters, there is only one way for us to see happy days again in life, in this life, and that’s in a relationship with Jesus

Christ.

Only as we week Him in all things, and follow in His steps, and trust in Him will we see many good days, many happy days.