Rev. Scott Thompson- “Change of Plans”

Plans give comfort. Direction gives life. We opened Proverbs 16 and traced a hopeful thread through stories, Scripture, and real-life encounters: we devise our way, but God lovingly directs our steps. That isn’t a poetic shrug at disappointment—it’s a steady promise that redirects can become doorways to mercy, mission, and joy.

We share a raw testimony of ambitions rerouted by grace, then step into a gripping account of a young man bent on revenge who was stopped by a cardboard box of New Testaments and the piercing line from Romans 12:17: repay no one evil for evil. From there, we widen the frame. Elijah and Ahab, Peter and Cornelius, Philip and the Ethiopian—none of these meetings were accidents. Missionary sparks like Hudson Taylor’s began with a simple tract. We add street-level moments from a Sam’s parking lot to a late-night diner, where short conversations turned into eternal pivots, and one tragic obituary reminds us why urgency matters.

To ground the theme biblically, we walk through Balaam and Balak in Numbers 22. Flattery and reward meet the immovable boundary of God’s word: you cannot curse what God has blessed. Then a broken organ in 1818 becomes the unlikely birthplace of Silent Night, a reminder that failed plans can fuel timeless praise. As headlines swirl—conflicts, alliances, and fragile ceasefires—we center on God’s sovereignty. History’s strongest hands still open and close around his will.

This conversation is for anyone standing at a crossroads: the parent praying for a prodigal, the student chasing a dream, the worker weighing promotion against conviction, the believer whose calendar is full but heart is tired. Come be reminded that surrender isn’t passive—it’s active trust. Commit your works to the Lord, carry the gospel into ordinary places, and expect divine appointments. If your plans are changing, it may be because love just walked in. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs direction today, and tell us: where did God interrupt you for good?

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Purpose of the Podcast
• 2:20 Opening Prayer and Scripture Reading
• 4:43 Theme Introduced: A Change of Plans
• 6:30 Personal Testimony of Redirected Life
• 10:30 The Gideon Story: Vengeance Interrupted by Scripture
• 15:30 Providence Not Chance: Meetings That Matter
• 19:20 Missionary Moments and Divine Appointments
• 24:00 Urgency in Witnessing: Stories from Sam’s
• 30:30 Biblical Case Study: Balaam, Balak, and God’s Word

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to Foundations of Truth Podcast, where we are laying strong foundations for a holy life. Here we return to timeless truth, building our lives on the solid rock of Scripture with preaching. Join us as we grow in wisdom, faith, and understanding. Rooted in Christ the cornerstone. Now on to the next sermon. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_01: 2:00

Thank you, Lord Jesus. Minister by your power and your touch, Lord. In Jesus' name. Hallelujah, Lord. You're in control. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah. Well, you know I won't hold you long tonight. But um say what God's laid on my heart for the service. And uh turn with me to Proverbs chapter 16. Proverbs 16. Thankful for the Lord again tonight. Thankful for another opportunity to preach. We preached in Bernice on Sunday night and went over there and helped them out. Brother Fettner had went to Brother Saul's uh wait also and that night. And so we went over there and helped them out.

unknown: 2:54

Amen.

SPEAKER_01: 2:56

Need to pray for Bernice and pray for uh Quigley. Um don't hear much about Quigley anymore. And don't know they don't even have a pastor anymore. It's in right now. We don't know. Um pray the Lord and somehow spark a fire over there and want them to come fellowship with us. I don't know. But if not, we're here. Amen. Praise the Lord. And we can fellowship with our neighboring churches in Treeport and Pine Prairie. Amen. You're uh down that way, go see Brother Barry Goldrow. Amen there at Christian Tabernacle and Pine Prairie. Haven't seen him in a while, and great uh great man and uh Amen, great church down there also and uh Proverbs 16 Verse 1, and then we'll go to verse 9. The preparations of the heart and man the preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Verse 9. A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directed his steps. A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directed his steps. Help us pray tonight, God. We thank you, Lord Jesus. I pray you move in a mighty way, God. Anoint us with the Holy Ghost in these next few minutes. Lord, give us what we need in this service. Thank you for everybody here, Lord. We thank you, Lord, your control. Lord, you're directing our steps tonight. Help us, Lord. Give us anoint us. Give us ears to hear the gospel tonight. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Just for a few moments tonight, I want to preach on a change of plans. A change of plans. And we see here that uh the preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. We know that it talks about verse two all the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigh the spirits. Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established. Amen. The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. In verse 9, we read, A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. Aren't you glad God gets in the business of changing plans? Amen. The man's heart deviseth his way. We all have plans in life, and uh and and uh for us that weren't saved and didn't grow up in church, you know, we wanted to do all these things, you know. I wanted to get into the music industry, doing a being a DJ and things like that. I went to college and didn't really uh know what I wanted to do. I took radio TV film, you know, thought I could get in the radio TV film business and all that, and then I got saved. Amen. A few years later down the road, you know, and praise God, God changed my path. You know, I got into the rock and roll crowd, and then I got into the bodybuilding crowd, then I got into going to college, and then one night, you know, my accident, and uh here I am tonight. Got saved. God changed his plan. He's in the changing plan business. Amen. The man's heart devises his way, but the Lord directed his steps. A change of plan in somebody's life makes a difference. You know, I had no idea I'd married someone from California. And Darnell didn't know, probably have no idea she'd come down to Louisiana. Amen. And you the person that you met, you had no idea that you were going to meet them and marry them. Amen. Praise God. God changes plans in our lives. I was reading uh and about a man had read a book, uh magazine and Gideon magazine. He read a story about this man named Christopher Jones. He was told his remarkably blunt and candid story. He said that while he was finishing up in college, he sat under a professor who had political views that were at great variance with his own. In fact, the two men developed an animosity toward each other, and the professor gave Christopher a fellow ingredient even though the student knew the material and was very competent in the course of study he was pursuing. Christopher said that he was absolutely enraged, and that as time went by his rage settled down into a deep abiding anger. For weeks I staked out his office and car, following from a distance to get an idea of his schedule and route. I even drew up several plans on a piece of paper. The day finally came when he decided to carry out his plan. Brother Curtis's intention was to ambush the professor and beat him up, not to kill him, but to bloody up him bloody him up some. Christopher waited in the car in a park near the professor's office, and as he waited for the professor to emerge, he noticed a man walking through the park with a cardboard box under his arm. He came alongside the car and spoke through the window to Christopher, offering him a little copy of the New Testament that he was passing out. Here, read this, said the man. Christopher had about twenty minutes before the professor was due. So he started to read in Matthew. He skimmed through the genealogy in chapter one and went straight to the reading about the birth of Jesus. The story had gripped him and he lost all track of time. All he could do was continue reading through the story of our Lord's birth, through the baptism of Jesus, the temptation of the Savior, through the launching of his ministry. He kept reading in Matthew 5, 6 and 7, the Sermon on the Mount. Christopher sank back into a seat in total absorption. And then he did something strange. He turned on into the little book at random and started reading Romans chapter 12. And suddenly he read the words in Romans chapter 12, verse 17. Repay no one evil for evil. Amen. Romans the King James. Let me see, I don't think that was King James, but we know the gist of the verse and what that means. Romans 12 and verse 7. Let me find that for you real quick. I should have marked it in my Bible. I didn't pay attention to that. Romans 12 and verse 7. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Amen. Which means repay no one evil for evil. And that struck Christopher's heart there. He got saved, and he was like he was waking up from a dream coming to himself, coming to his senses. He was enraged, but then he was able to suddenly see things clearly for the first time. And that day in the nick of time, Christopher Jones found Jesus as a Savior, all because of a man with a cardboard box under his arm who handed him a New Testament. Amen. When he was sitting in that car and said, Here, read this. A change of plans. Amen, Sister Sarah. That man had it all in his mind that he was going to beat that man up, Brother Dave. But thank God this man came by. And that's what the gospel is all about. We've got all these big plans and dreams in our lives, but suddenly Jesus comes in on the scene. Amen and changes everything. Amen. When Jesus walks in, that song of Joseph Haberdank, when Jesus walks in, he walked in and changes it all. Amen, Sister Caleb, Brother Adam. Aren't you glad he walked in and changed y'all's story? Changed the way that you were looking at things. Changed the way you were looking at life. Amen. He changes it all. God, amen, came in, amen, and changed it all. The plans have been changed. That's what Joseph and Mary. Their lives were changed. I mean, those things, you look back at the Christmas story, and they're about to be changed. You know, the Joseph was going to put her away for divorcement because of this thing, but the angel came and talked to him and told him, This is of God, this is a holy thing. Amen. And hallelujah. Their lives were changed from that moment on. Amen. I'm waiting for my folks to show up. I feel like Brother Tracy was talking about how brother uh uh uh Don um Rich was always saying, I'm waiting for my folks to show up. I feel like right now, y'all help me preach tonight. I'm waiting for my folks to show up. Amen. You're here, but I'm waiting for the God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost to help me here tonight. Amen. Hallelujah. And I'm by no means, I'm no brother Don Rich, but praise God. I need God's help and praise the Lord. Frank Borum, he said, it was not by chance that Elijah and Ahab met on the grassy slopes of Carmel. Amen. Hallelujah. It was not by chance that Herod and John met on the highways of Galilee. It was not by chance that Pilate and Jesus met in the judgment hall at Jerusalem. It was not by chance that Peter and Cornelius met, amen, praise God in Syria at that time. Amen, Philip. It was not by chance, amen, that Philip and the Ethiopian met on the sandy road of Gaza. It is not by chance, amen. Nero and Paul, amen, that met up, hallelujah, praise the Lord. It was not by chance. You ever heard the story of Stanley? Amen and Livingstone. Amen. Hallelujah. Stanley was the one that went down to Africa to find, amen, Dr. Livingstone. Amen. He went to find him and looked for him. And he found him finally. Amen. They thought Dr. Livingstone, Sister Teresa, was dead. They thought he was missing, but amen. Stanley goes down and he says, Dr. Livingstone, I presume. Amen. You've heard that before. Amen. He found him. It was not by chance, but it was God. Amen. It was not by chance. Amen. Praise the Lord. You can look down through the history of time. You can see all those missionaries that went, Brother Hudson Taylor. Amen. That started the China Inland Missions. Amen. You know what? His parents were gone, and he went to his dad's library, Sister Emily, and he found a track. And that's what led Amen, Hudson Taylor, to go to the Chinese people. Amen. It was not by chance, but it was God's plan. He didn't have any plan. Amen. Praise the Lord. Go to China, but God stepped in. Amen. You read on and on about different missionaries. Amen. They went and gave their lives for the gospel. It is not by chance that they went, but it was by the plans of God. Amen. The Lord directing thy step, directing their steps, amen, to reach out with the missions to reach out. Amen. Praise the Lord. And it's not by chance if you meet all these people in your lives that you're trying to get them to come to Christ. Get them to be born again. Amen. Don't you wish everybody you talked to got saved? Amen. Y'all know the story I talked about in Chop, that biker. And I went back and looked. I was on my Facebook feed one day, Sister Barbara, and up pops obituary from Griffin Funeral Home. Amen, Sister Rebecca of Chop. I went back and looked. I got it on the uh where uh I post about my witnessing encounter sometimes on the Everyday Club that we do with Bazugan. April of 2022. And Chop was a biker, solitaris. Elsa El Salitares. You've seen those bikers with the black uh jackets, and you see the Christian bikers too, they have the black jackets. But I witnessed him, I gave him a track, uh, Easter track that time, and talked to him for a minute. And then again, March of 2024, Waffle House. Amen. I gave him a rock and roll the rock and roll trivia track that we came up with for the kids' concert that time. And uh and uh I invited him to church and talked to him and then an obituary popped up a couple weeks ago. My feet chop was dead. Forty-three years old. Amen. It's not by chance that I talked to him, and I don't I don't know, but he probably didn't have time to pray. I found out he was stabbed to death by his girlfriend. I don't know, but he may not have time to pray, but he wasn't living right. Amen. Found out uh he died being stabbed. Amen. But you never know who you're gonna you've only got certain opportunities to reach out and witness to somebody. So you got to make the best of every opportunity to reach out to somebody that's lost. Amen. It's not by chance you run into somebody at the store, amen, in Walmart, wherever, to give them the gospel, to show them that they gotta be born again. Amen. And you know, I wish uh I did have one time I worked at Sam's and um I would go out and put out tracks on the vehicles to the Isle of Debris, I mean the Isle of Capri would come and pick up people there. And uh whether brother uh uh uh we used to listen to uh follow our preacher, brother Danny Stevenson used to call it the one day that Isle of Capri is gonna become the Isle of Debris. And that's why I said that, but I don't know if that it's probably not there anymore. And they used to come and pick people up to go to the casino. They pick people up in Monroe and take them down to Vicksburg so they can gamble their money away. So I would go out there and I would put out chick tracks and tracks on those vehicles when I worked at Sam's, and that's in the 1900s back in the 90s, and I would put tracks on their vehicles and uh hoping, you know, praying that they pray and get saved. And one of the security guards that worked there at Sam, her name was Michelle. And I pray she's still saved, but she was uh wondering what I was doing. I said, I'm going out here to put out tracks on the vehicles, amen, because people uh you need Jesus, and you know, and uh and and so she follows me out there to see what I'm doing. And then a few minutes later, you know, I'm here leading her to the Lord right there in the Sam's parking lot. Not by chance. I pray she's still saved. Amen. I pray she's going on. You never know. I don't have no touch touch. Oh, another Sam's, you think about Sam's gonna work at Sam's uh Todd Poole. There was a manager there, and uh, they uh ended up and some of the managers were let go, and he was one of them. And he came up to me later when I saw him in public. He said, Because of you and others and witnessing to me, I got saved. Not pinning nothing on me. Nothing. It's all the glory to God. My brother Shaw did not want anybody, amen, to see him getting the glory, but God getting the glory. It's all the glory. I'm just sharing this because not by chance, uh, amen. You know, I've met these people. There was a lady that worked there named Tracy that was going through things and I didn't know, and uh, and you know, she's going through a divorce. And the only thing I did I said, I'll be praying for you. Another guy named Terrence. I'll tell you about him in a second. Amen. I'll tell you about everything. We don't have that long, but I'll tell you about Tracy. Tracy was a mess. And I uh she worked there at Sam's there, and I worked in it, and I was witnessing people, people saw my testimony. I got to share my testimony on Christian TV back then, Sister Barbara, and people come on, and I knew I was working one time and I knew it was coming on. I told them I'm fixing to be on that television. But I was witnessing, I was sharing my testimony, and some of them heard my testimony at Sam's. And they haven't had to sing one time. But Tracy was going through divorce, and we were talking and stuff, and I told her to be praying for her, and um, she eventually uh uh I I uh I went to this one little church um over there in Monroe, and she came a few times and she ended up getting saved, and then she was going to um the church of God there behind Sam's and she got baptized that night, and her husband came, and the marriage got put back together. She got saved. Not by chance. I worked at Sam's back then. Amen. Not by chance, God is placing you if you're obedient to the gospel, if you're listening to his voice, because that's what he said here, there in Romans chapter 16. Amen. He said, not Romans, Proverbs chapter 16. We were in Romans, but he says here the preparation of the heart and man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord, and then a man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. Amen. If you're obedient to the power of God, to the Holy Ghost, if you're obedient to the Spirit, you will win souls. The Bible says he that wineth souls is wise. It says that in the same chapter here. If you go down and read, amen, chapter uh 16, amen. He goes on. He says that uh he that wineth souls is wise, uh, amen. Praise God. No, that's Proverbs 11. He that wineth souls is wise. Uh Proverbs 11, Amen. Hallelujah. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that wineth souls is wise. Amen. Praise God. He that wineth souls, so God will direct your steps, God will lead you to somebody. Amen. And I appreciate amen the Lord and his faithfulness to give us but a change of plans. Numbers chapter 22. We know the story about Balaam. And how that the children of Israel, verse 1, and the children of Israel set forward and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side of Jordan by Jericho, and Balak, the son of Zippor, saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, and Moab was sore afraid of the people. And because there were many, Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak, thou Balak, son of Zippor, was king of the Moabites at that time. He sent messengers therefore into Balam, the son of Beor, to Tithor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there's a people come out from Egypt. Behold, they cover the face of the earth. That's a lot of people. They cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me. Come now, therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people, for they are mighty for me. Peradventure I shall prevail, that he may he we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land. For I wot that he whom thou bless is blessed, and he whom thou curseth is cursed. And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand, and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak. And he said unto them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the Lord shall speak unto me, and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam. And God came unto Balam and said, What men are these with thee? And Balaam said unto God, Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent me unto sent unto me, saying, Behold, there's a people come out of Egypt which covereth the face of the earth. Come now, curse me them. Perventure I shall be able to overcome them and drive them out. And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them, and thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed. God stepped in. God stepped in to change the plan, didn't he? He wanted Balak one of them cursed. And Balaam rose up in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, Get ye into your land, for the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you. And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went into Balak and said, Balaam refuses to come with us. Hallelujah. And Balak sent yet again princes more and more honorable than they. And they came to Balaam and said to him, Thou, thus saith Balak, the son of Zippor, let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me. For Mofi with great honor. He was going to he was throwing in the stakes, he was giving him more things. Amen. Great honor, and I will do whatsoever thou say unto me. Come, therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people. And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, if Balak would cut, give me this house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord for my God, the word of the Lord, my God, to do less or more. Amen. God stepped in and changed the plan. Praise the Lord. God changed the plan of Balak and Amen and hallelujah. And he just stepped in. Balaam, he figured out he cannot do what God blessed. He cannot curse Brother Adam, what God blessed. Brother DJ, he cannot go against the word of God. Amen. You can't go against the word of God. And tonight, your plans, you're planning on doing something, but God's gonna come in, amen, and change your plans. God's gonna come in, amen. You feel like uh you've got uh amen all this to do, amen. But God's gonna give you something better to do. God's gonna turn you away, amen. From that plan, God's gonna stop you in the path that you're on tonight, amen, and tell you, amen, not walk this way, but walk this way. Don't go this way, but go that way. Amen. Aren't you glad God stepped in? Amen and changed your plans tonight. Amen. Hallelujah. I didn't know I was gonna be in Sterlington, amen. Going to church here and living here in Sterlington, Amen. I didn't know that amen years back, but thank God when you follow the plan of God, when you know you're in the will of God, everything's gonna work out. Amen. How do you know that, Brother Scott? Amen. It's in the will of God, amen, for you to live godly, it's in the will of God for you to pursue after righteousness, it's in the will of God for you to pursue after holiness, amen. Praise God to pursue everything that God has for you, for he will direct thy path, he will show you and give you what you need. And a change of plans changes letting go and grabbing hold. Letting go and grabbing hold. Amen. Grabbing hold of God. One man said that man proposes and God disposes. Amen. Man plans, but God walks in and changes those plans, Sister Barbara. Hallelujah. Aren't you glad that he is in the plan changing business? Hallelujah. Amen. I read about in Austria at one time there was Christmas Eve in Oberndorf, Austria. In 1818, Joseph Moore, the vicar in the church, had written a new song for the Christmas Eve service. And the organist Frank Gruber, Franz Gruber, I'm sorry, Franz Gruber, had set it to music, but the organ in the village broke down. So Gruber grabbed a guitar and accompanied Moore in the first reedition of Silent Night, 1818. But the story doesn't end there when the man came and fixed the organ. Gruber tested it out by playing a new song. The repairman liked the song so much that he took a copy of it back to his village. And there, four daughters of the village glovemaker learned the song and began singing in concerts all over the region because of that faulty organ. God came in and changed the plan, didn't he? And that's where we got silent night. Amen. 1818. Started in Austria. And now what we do, we sing it every Christmas. Hayden's gonna be singing it tonight because he started listening to Christmas music already. Praise God. That's for Braylon. Hallelujah. But God stepped in and changed the plan for the whole world. Changed the plan for you and me, Brother DJ. Changed the plan. The whole world, the world today. They don't know it, but there's gonna be a change of plans pretty soon. You see, the world is shaking and quaking. Um they uh they've got a they're working on peace in the Middle East right now, their ceasefire. Uh what does the Bible say when they say peace is peace and then sudden destruction? Uh Russia and China and North Korea are together. Um China even has their own military that's uh manless, drones and robots and things like that. It's all coming down to a change of plans for this crazy world. Although they want to destroy and they want the plan of man is to take over the world and and and and Alexander the Great and um uh he marched off the map. He wanted he had conquered all those countries, and he finally can't have any more countries to conquer. Napoleon, Hitler, but God stepped in and changed the plans. Amen. What's your plans tonight? I know we get caught so close. And we got to work and pay the bills and things. I wish I had more time and do things more and win the laws more and I want to do that. God will open the doors if we seek his face. I've got to pursue all these things. And most of all, Lord, I've got to pursue you. Amen. God direct yourself tonight. This offering. God, we thank you, Lord, for this service. Thank you for everybody here. Lord, those tonight, God, that know that their plans have been changed because of you. And Lord, we ask you to give us what we need in this altar service. Help us tonight, Lord. We pursue righteousness. We pursue you, Lord. We want to be more like you. Help us in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all come to this altar and ask the Lord to help us. Give us what we need and uh, amen. And seek the face of the Lord. Amen. It's all between you and God now.

unknown: 31:10

Amen.

SPEAKER_03: 31:30

Thank you for joining us today on Foundations of Truth. We hope today's message has strengthened your faith and helped you grow in understanding. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode and share this podcast with others who seek the truth. Until next time, stay grounded in God's word and walk in his light. God bless you.

SPEAKER_02: 31:56

You took my place.