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Everyone wants to know what their future holds. Two people that you can be sure are in your future are you and Jesus. Pastor Marshal wraps up the Future Family series by talking about the future version of ourselves. What will the future you be like? Will they be more or less like Jesus? The seeds we sow today will bear fruit in the future. What kind of seed are you sowing?
Future Family 4 – Future You from Redemption Church on Vimeo.
Future Family 4 – Future You
Sermon Notes by Marshal Blessing
Redemption Church Plano Texas
Welcome
Over the past few weeks we’ve been talking about your Future Family.
You all have a future. You all have a family. You all have a future family.
So far, we have talked about your future marriage and your future children. If you missed any of the previous sermons I encourage you to check them out; the videos are posted on our website.
Now, you may think that a message about a future marriage or future kids doesn’t really apply to you, but I challenge you to watch them anyway. There is some good teaching there. Pay attention and listen for what God’s Word is saying to you.
For whatever reason you may not see a marriage or children in your future, but today I want to talk to you about someone who is definitely in your future… Jesus. He is definitely in your future… amen.
I hope He is in your present.
But I also want to talk to you about the Future You. You are in your future. Right? I hope so.
You have a future. __ You have an eternal future. Amen. Do you realize that?
Your future isn’t just important to you. It is important to the people around you. You will have an impact on your future family, for better or for worse. You have the potential to do great things in your future.
Praise God!
You may not believe that, but it is true. You may not feel like you are a very important of influential person, but God works with the humble and the meek to accomplish great things. The Bible is full of stories of people who should have been nobodies, but who had an incredible impact on history.
Let’s just look at one example. Who knows the story of Rahab?
Seemed like a nobody. Not someone you want to get in “Which Bible woman are you” quiz.
Yet she is mentioned in four books of the Bible.
Woman in the Old Testament; first mentioned in Joshua – less than nobody – she was doomed
Woman, prostitute, living in Jericho – but then met two Israelite spies
Joshua 2:8 NIV Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof
Joshua 2:9 NIV and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.
Joshua 2:11 NIV When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.
Joshua 2:12 NIV Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign
Joshua 2:13 NIV that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death.
Rahab saved her family. There’s a whole sermon here – don’t cut ties with your family:
you might save them or they might save you.
More importantly, Rahab saved her future. Next time Rahab mentioned is in Matthew, New Testament!
Matthew 1:5-6a NIV Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of King David.
Rahab was King David’s Great-great Grandmother. She was the g-g grandmother of the King of Israel.
And why is this mentioned in the book of Matthew? It’s giving the genealogy of Jesus.
Rahab was an ancestor of Jesus! In a way she played a part in saving all of us.
Pretty good for a nobody with no future.?
Future You
So, what about you? Who are you?
Where will you be in 10 years?
We don’t know where we’ll be in 10 years. We don’t know what the future holds.
Think back – 10 years ago, where were you? Could you have guessed where you would be today?
For some of us, maybe… on some of the big details.
Picture of Marshal from 10 yrs Ago
I found this picture of myself from ten years ago. Back then I had no idea I would be where I am today…
Sometimes we wish we could go back in time and warn ourselves to make different decisions, because where we are today is the result of the decisions and actions we took in the past.
In the same way, what we are doing in the present will affect where we are in the future.
In an ultimate sense, your future is up to you. In the end you will either be with God, or you won’t.
You make that determination.
In the near term, you have some control over your future. I realize there are unexpected situations;
we are influenced by chance and circumstance; in this world you will have problems.
But the things you do today will have either a positive or negative impact on your future and others.
Future Harvest
Today, we are reaping the fruit of seeds that were sown in the past. Likewise, the seeds we sow today will bear fruit in the future.
What seeds are you sowing?
Are you planting fruit that will bless you and others in the future? Education, work, family time?
Fruit of the Spirit?
Or are you planting thorns and weeds? Bitterness, resentment, anger.
In my experience, in real life, people rarely plant weeds on purpose. Sometimes they plant plants that aren’t right for that environment or don’t do what they expect them too – wisteria – but they don’t plant weeds. Instead, the weeds just tend to show up – or we bring them in unintentionally.
One thing people do plant are landmines. Then they just sit there, until someone sets them off, and they do incredible damage. The goal is to protect the person planting them. But the result is that in the future they hurt someone, and the planter has no idea who.
So, what are you planting today? Are you investing in the future? Or are you threatening the future to protect the present?
The thing is, we’re always planting something. We can’t really take a break. If we say, “I’m not planting anything today,” then the weeds grow. The weeds are like sin. They’re always kind-of there. We have to work to remove them. If we don’t, then they’ll take over.
If we have weeds of land-mines planted we need to work to remove them. Confess and repent.
Then sow something good.
To put it another way, C. S. Lewis said that every day in the decisions we make we are becoming more like the person we will be in eternity. Either we are becoming better, we are becoming more like Jesus, or we are becoming worse. A decision to not try to become more like Jesus is a decision to be less like Him.
Galatians 6:7 NIV Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Galatians 6:8 NIV The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Galatians 6:9 NIV Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:10 NIV Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
There is your future family…
We don’t know who our future family is. All people could be part of the family of believers through Jesus Christ.
Let us not become weary in well doing, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
That’s easier said than done. The truth is, we often do not reap the fruit of the seeds we sow.
At the same time, we often reap the fruit of seeds we didn’t plant.
Funny thing about planting and reaping, it seems like usually only one – the planter or the reaper – is aware of the work…
There is something Christ-like in planting good seeds that you know you will never reap.
But being able to see the benefit of planting these seeds requires vision.
Future Vision
We need to have a vision for the future.
People love the idea of seeing the future – fortune tellers. No one know what the future holds.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
It is good to have a vision for your future. Some people make 5yr and 10yr plans.
Proverbs 19:21 NIV Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
I have heard it said, “A person without a vision is a person without a future.
And a person without a future will always return to their past.”
To put it another way, we tend to live life looking out the rear window. We can only see where we’ve been. If we want to direct where we are going, we need to face forward.
Future Vision
You need a vision for the future. I don’t have a prophetic vision for anyone today.
But I do have a vision to share with you.
We don’t really know what our future holds, except for one thing: God.
We need a vision for our future. We need a vision of God.
Who He is. How good He is. How much He loves us. What we are working toward. Who He calls us to be.
If you keep that vision in mind, you will tend to plant the right seeds. Doing so, requires faith.
Faith in the Future ***MUSICIAN***
We need to have faith that the good seeds we plant will bear good fruit. We need to have faith in our future that rests in Jesus Christ. What is faith?
Hebrews 11:1 NIV Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
I told you Rahab was mentioned in other books of the Bible.
One of the places is Hebrews 11, the “Faith chapter,” where it recounts some the act of faith of some of the forefathers of Christianity throughout the Bible. Rahab gets mentioned.
Hebrews 11:31 NIV By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
Who did she have faith in? She trusted the spies, but she had faith in their God.
“For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”
She had faith that He could save her. She had faith that her future rested in His hands. Ours does too.
After this long list of people who had faith in God, Hebrews chapter 11 concludes this way:
Hebrews 11:39 NIV These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.
Hebrews 11:40 NIV God had planned something better for us that only together with us would they be made perfect.
What is that something better? Jesus! We have received the Savior who was promised and so now with us and especially with Jesus, these forefathers who trusted in God can be made perfect.
Faith in the Future
We need to have faith in our future with Jesus. That no matter what we face He will be with us, and ultimately we will be with Him and will be like Him.
But we need to act on that faith today. Planting good seeds in our life, in the lives of people around us.
Working to become the people He calls us to be. Working to become more like Him. We need that faith today and every day.
You have an opportunity to act on that faith right now. These altars are open, come and talk to God.
future you