“God’s Calendar” Part One
Broadcast #1604
July 2, 2023
Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1604 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text
— Brother Phil Enlow: I don’t know…once again, I’ve had some random thoughts and I’m just gonna have to ask the Lord to pull together, and they’re very much in sequence with things that we’ve been talking about. But I believe it relates a whole lot to what we’ve been singing about this morning, and the day that’s coming and wanting the Lord, and, you know, anticipating His coming.
You know, most of us who have phones, many of us who have phones, particularly, have what we call a calendar. And if you don’t, maybe you’ve got one on the wall at home where you can put down things that are gonna happen on a certain day. And, some people are more addicted to that than others. I’m not, at all. I have just about enough to remember that I don’t have to worry about keeping my calendar app open. I think I’ve got one somewhere.
But how many of you realize, how many of you know that God has a calendar? And He absolutely is in charge. I mean, we know the account of how the Lord used Daniel and then revealed Himself to Nebuchadnezzar, the great emperor of his day. And by the time God was through making Himself known to Nebuchadnezzar, he said, the Lord rules, “…in the army of heaven…none can stay his hand, or say…” what are You doing? (KJV).
And over and over, you look in the Prophets, particularly Isaiah. Over and over he’s exposing the sin of Israelites who were actually using, worshiping idols! The insanity of it, and yet there he was saying, you’re worshiping these things that people carve, and then they take a trunk of a tree, divide it into three parts. They use part to warm themselves, part of it to cook their supper, part of it to carve an idol and then they bow down and worship it, expect it to somehow help them.
And He says, one of the things that He continually says is that, can your idols tell what’s coming? I mean, I’ve known from the beginning. I’ve planned. I’m gonna say this and it’s gonna happen. And, I’m in charge, folks. I have got a schedule.
And I’ll tell you, we need to see the big picture, but I believe God wants to begin to focus us down into the more personal picture. But I know when Paul was preaching in Athens…you know, many times he would go out first of all and he would talk to Jews. He would go to synagogues if he were going to a certain town, that would be where he’d start. Let the Jews know that the promise of the prophets had come and give them an opportunity with the Gospel.
But now he’s in Athens and there is no synagogue. And he goes to the place where people congregate, and the reason they congregate is to debate philosophical ideas. I mean, that’s the whole reason some of them got up in the morning was to go and have a great debate.
And so he takes the opportunity, notices that there is one idol, one statue that’s dedicated to the Unknown God. They figure they’re gonna cover all their bases. And so Paul seizes on the opportunity and says, I’m gonna tell you about Him. And in Acts chapter 17, he says in verse 24, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” (NIV). It’s kind of comprehensive, isn’t it?
“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, We are his offspring.”
So here’s a picture of a God who absolutely…number one, He’s sovereign. He is the one who raises up nations and puts them down. Folks, we cannot look at our country, this isn’t about our country, particularly, but…and say, well, we’re here, God has established us. Yeah, God can do the other end of it, too. God has a calendar.
And I’ll tell you, we’ve sung about it, “Oh, Lord, come.” Do you believe God has a date already marked out. Now He hasn’t told us. Hadn’t even told His Son. Think about that. Didn’t He say that nobody knows, not even the Son? But there’s gonna come a day when God says, all right, today is the day! This is my calendar. This is a secret calendar that God has. He absolutely knows the end from the beginning.
It’s an amazing thing that…how many of you realize history’s already been written? That’s just…that just boggles our mind. History has already been written. We know how it comes out. I’ll tell you, you sign on with Jesus and just surrender your life into His hands and His purpose, we can be a part of something that will not end when this world ends.
You know, we’re rapidly coming to the conclusion of an age, and we’re seeing things unfold. How many of you remember a verse we’ve noted a few times in Daniel? The Lord revealed tremendous things to Daniel, didn’t explain them all, because Daniel himself wondered, what about this, what about that? He said, close up the words, close up the book, it’s gonna be revealed at the proper time.
But there was one occasion when the Lord sent, I believe it was Gabriel, to him and he said, I’m gonna show you some things that are written in the Book of Truth! And what he began to open to him was a detailed history, before it happened, of what was gonna happen to the Persian empire. The Greeks were gonna come in.
Then a great king, whom we know as Alexander, was gonna conquer the world and then four of his generals were gonna split up his empire and then be at war with each other. And he goes in great detail about things that were gonna unfold that hadn’t happened yet. But he’s reading them from a book!
I’ll tell you, we’ve got an amazing God, who knows the end from the beginning. How many times have we talked about the fact that He has, “…chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.” (KJV). He was able to look forward in time and to see you and to see me.
And what is happening in our world today is not surprising to God. God has the calendar! He had the calendar the day Russia invaded the Ukraine. He had the calendar for every…He has the calendar for every detail.
And we are seeing the unfolding, or the maturing, if you will, of two different harvests. There is a harvest of those who have heard His voice and said, no, we’re gonna walk in our own ways. We don’t want to hear from You anymore. We’re going our own way, and God is allowing that to unfold.
I mean, you think about…now, somebody could say, well if God’s already scheduled everything and He knows what’s gonna happen, why are so many terrible things happening? What kind of God is He? I’ll tell you, He’s a God who looks for responsibility in us. There is a judgment coming and God is not gonna pre-dispose every one of us to do whatever…we’re not just robots. There is gonna be a foundation for judgment one day. People are going to be judged based upon what they did and how they responded.
We know from the Word of God that God, “…is not slack…” as Peter says, “…concerning His promise.” He’s not saying, oh I forgot, I’ve got to get this going. It was on My calendar back here and I forgot about it. Every detail of God’s calendar is absolutely unfolding as He has foreseen. And I’ll tell you, there’s a harvest of evil that is maturing.
There’s a harvest of righteousness that’s maturing too. That’s what God is doing in us. He’s preparing us for that day and whatever He means to accomplish between now and that day, He is absolutely unfolding. God has every one of our lives in His perfect control. Now…praise God, there’s so much to this and I just pray that God will, like I say, guide my heart and my mind to expound upon it. But, I’ll tell you, there’s…there is coming a day though when God’s gonna say, it’s enough.
I guess I started to quote from Peter, saying, why is He waiting? Why is He putting up with all this? And He’s not…the Scripture says He’s “…not willing that any should perish.” What’s God’s focus in this world? Is He just raising up a bunch of people so He can kill them? The purpose is to raise up a family with whom He can share eternal life and God is not willing that one of them should perish!
He knows from the foundation of the world every one who will humble their hearts and give them to His Son, to save, to rescue out of a broken world that’s headed for destruction. And so, God is not going to finish the job and go to that day on His calendar until everything has been fulfilled.
And boy, there’s going to come a time…you know, I thought about naming this “Times and Seasons.” I don’t know, “God’s Calendar” would be another good title. We’ll see. But there is coming a fulness of time, there’s coming a time when every purpose under heaven is going to absolutely come together, and it will be right.
And we won’t be able to say, oh, You forgot this, God. If You’ll go back and look on Your calendar, You missed that. He’s not missing anything. There will come a day when absolutely everything will unfold exactly as He has predicted.
And, you know, we could look at this and say, well that’s the big picture. That’s just…you know, we know on a grand scale that God has already written history. We know how it’s coming out. We know how it was in Noah’s day, for example. You know, chapter 6 of Noah, of Genesis, rather, in the story of Noah, begins with the fact that God was distressed by the fact that the whole world, other than Noah, had reached a point where every imagination of the heart was, what?
“…Only evil continually.” Now you think, okay it’s time for judgment. Guess what? He waited 120 years, didn’t He? God was still unfolding purposes. Boy, that generation had no excuse when the time for judgment came. And I don’t believe this one will either. It’ll be interesting to see how God unfolds it, because He hasn’t told me, other than a general picture. When He’s coming, folks, it’s over. But thank God for all that He’s done.
But I started to say that we can see that it’s on a grand scale, we can see this as far as the big events, the raising up of nations, the putting down of nations, the end of the age. But how many of you know that applies to us as individuals? Do you know that you’re on God’s calendar? Have you ever thought about that? God has a schedule of salvation and every purpose that He means to fulfill in our lives.
You know, what was said this morning…what if His purpose involves you doing something out of your comfort zone and using gifts God has given you to bless the Body of Christ? We’re not talking about something public necessarily, but I just thought I’d throw that in, because that was mentioned so clearly this morning.
But think about what David wrote in Psalm 139. He was talking about the greatness of God and how He even saw David’s unformed parts. He saw the material that would go into David’s body, when it was still just dust and dirt out in the world! He saw, somehow, how all those elements were gonna migrate together, wind up in his mother, and he was gonna wind up in her womb as part of his physical makeup. And he said, You saw all that. I’ll tell you what, what an amazing God.
But the thing that brought me to that passage was this. All of the days of my life were written for me…I’m not quoting it exactly. But every day, every day of my life was already written “…in your book before one of them came to be.” (NIV). Wow! I’ll tell you, I want to just trust my life into His hands. Don’t you? Is that a good place to be right now? I want to be in harmony with His calendar.
But here’s David…you know, we think about a biography of somebody. Now, from our point of view, we exist in time, and you can’t write somebody’s biography until they’re dead, if you’re gonna include their whole life. And here’s God saying, you’re living…here’s your life, you’re a baby, but I’ve already written your biography. I know exactly every choice you’re ever gonna make. I know what I’m gonna do in your life and I know how it’s coming out.
How else could God say something like He said through Paul? “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate…whom he did predestinate…he also called: and whom he called…he also justified: and whom he justified…he also glorified.” (KJV). Anybody here glorified today? No, there’s gonna be a shining, amazing…you know, when God’s through with us, people here would not be able to look at us. We’d be way too bright. Only God can do that.
But, oh…I’ll tell you, He’s got a calendar date circled in red, He knows exactly the course of every individual life. And part of what drew me to this was the fact that God has times and seasons that unfold in our lives, and we’ve noted some of this in the life of Jesus. Jesus came at exactly the right moment in history. God brought everything together. He revealed Himself to Mary. He had already revealed Himself to Elizabeth, in terms of John the Baptist coming. And so, here’s Jesus coming in fulfillment of prophecy, and we see the events of His life unfold.
You know, I’ve used this illustration before. The prophets didn’t understand what they were prophesying, but they, no doubt, out of their comfort zone, by the way, were willing to yield themselves to words that originated in heaven that had creative power in them. And those words were like guided missiles. And their job was not to figure out all the details, their job was to launch them! They spoke a creative word that was just as real as when Jesus, the Son of God, uttered the words, “Let there be light, and there was light.” (NIV).
There was an immediate response to that word, but these words were designed to go out into history to land at a particular place. And I’ll tell you, every word uttered by the prophets hit the target exactly, the very day and the hour and the moment on God’s schedule, they landed. And so you watch Jesus going through a season of life, like we said, where He’s just living a seemingly normal life and then the time comes.
How many times do you read in the New Testament how He came in the fulness of time, exactly on God’s calendar, according to God’s calendar and God’s schedule, there He was revealed to Israel. And all the things that the prophets had prophesied began to fall into place. Every missile landed. Every one came to pass just exactly as the Father had planned.
He doesn’t have to look at His calendar, He knows it. It’s so built into His being, He knows everything all at once. How in the world? We just can’t even conceive of such a thing. But we can trust Him, can’t we? When He makes Himself known to us, not as some big Boss in the sky who just wants to make us miserable, but as Somebody who wants to share His love with every one of us. I want to be part of that.
But part of what drew me to this in the first place was thinking about the things that we go through in our lives. How many of you know that the Christian life is not just some, well…you’re supposed to do this and do this, and not do that, and so forth, and you come to a place and, okay, now we’re living ‘the Christian life.’ And it just kind of settles into a certain sameness.
Anybody ever found it to be that way? No, there are times, there are seasons in God’s plan in our lives. There are times when we…when it’s tough. There are times when it’s difficult, there’s pain, there are all kinds of things that happen in our lives, and there are other times that are just happy times.
Now, I’m trying to find a scripture here that we all know. But listen to the wisdom that God gave Solomon in chapter 3. “There is a time for everything.” Think about that in terms of our personal lives. There’s a time for everything. Your time for this may not be somebody else’s. God has your name on His calendar and He knows what you need and where you need to be at right now. Does that make sense?
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away…” Need to do a lot of throwing away, some of us.
( laughter ).
“…A time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak…” You know, some of us don’t have a problem being silent and some of us can’t shut up.
( laughter ).
But anyway, there’s a time for all these purposes, isn’t there? “…A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” I mean, we see that pattern in our lives. We aren’t up 24 hours a day, most of us, none of us. We know there’s a time we’ve got to sleep, there’s a time we’ve got to eat, there’s a time we’ve got to work, time for play.
And you know, do you think God has a purpose for every life here? Do you think we’re just digits in His plan, or are we individual sons and daughters, who have been brought to the kingdom for a time such as this? We have a reason for being alive right now. And God is at work in every one of our lives.
You know, one illustration that I’ve thought of and I am certainly no craftsman, but I know there are certain kinds of crafts that happen in stages. And there are stages of pounding and shaping, and there are times when that thing goes into the fire, aren’t there? And in some crafts you pull the thing out of the fire and you work on it some more and then you put it back in the fire. Anybody feel like you’ve been on that yo-yo? But you know, God…does God know what He’s doing? Does He know how to shape us, how to prepare us? Does He know exactly what He’s doing every single day?
