Destined In Life

INTRO.- What’s your destiny in life? Did you know when you graduated from high school what your destiny was? What you would become? And where you would be now? You may have had an idea you would live in Arkansas, but did you know what you’d do for a living? And if you’d follow the faith in which you were raised?

ILL.- There was a frog that absolutely knew his destiny was to turn in to a handsome young prince. But for confirmation, he decided to visit a fortune teller. The fortune teller brought the frog in and gazed into her crystal ball. She said, “Oh, I see something. You are going to meet a beautiful young woman.” The frog got very nervous, “Yes, I knew it. I’m going to become a prince.”

The fortune teller continued, “From the moment she sets eyes on you she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you. She will be compelled to get close to you and you’ll fascinate her." The frog was very excited. He asked, “Where am I? At a singles club?” The fortune teller answered, “No, Biology class.”

ILL.- There once was an oyster whose story I tell, Who found that sand had got under his shell; Just one little grain, but it gave him much pain, For oysters have feelings although they’re so plain. Now, did he berate the working of Fate Which had led him to such a deplorable state? Did he curse out the Government, call for an election? No; as he lay on the shelf, he said to himself, "If I cannot remove it, I’ll try to improve it."

So the years rolled by as the years always do, And he came to his ultimate destiny -- stew. And this small grain of sand which had bothered him so, Was a beautiful pearl, all richly aglow. Now this tale has a moral -- for isn’t it grand What an oyster can do with a morsel of sand; What couldn’t we do if we’d only begin With all of the things that get under our skin.

That’s kind of like the old lemonade story. If someone hands you a lemon you make lemonade out of it.

Sometimes life does hand you a lemon. What do you do? Some people allow it to get them down. Some look to the Lord and try to overcome it by His grace and help. When life goes wrong, (and it will) the Lord is the only one who can make things right! He can make lemonade out of lemons! And sometimes, we’re that lemon!

ILL.- Jesse “The Body” Ventura (ex-pro wrestler) and Minnesota’s former governor said on December 2002, "God has a plan and a destiny for each one of us. I wasn’t always a believer, but through my wife and a couple of close friends, in the last couple of years, I have come to believe in God and that He has a plan and a destiny for my life. I challenge you to find your destiny. It’s the most important thing for each of you to find."

PROP.- In this text, in a sense, we see the destiny of every Christian. God’s basic will for us is revealed in this text.

1- The destiny of spreading the gospel

2- The destiny of encouraging others

3- The destiny of experiencing trials

I. THE DESTINY OF SPREADING THE GOSPEL

1So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ.

God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ.

I Cor. 3:8-10 "The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building." "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds."

We are fellow workers in the Lord’s work. We may not preach or teach but we still labor together. WE’RE IN THIS THING TOGETHER, THIS CAUSE, THE CHURCH, AND THE SPREADING OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE.

This is why we need to support one another’s work for Christ.

ILL.- We applaud one another for their work in the church: singing, playing instruments, preparing communion, serving communion, giving communion devotions, getting supplies, working in the nursery, teaching SS, working in children’s church and toddler’s church, working in VBS, etc.

WE APPLAUD PEOPLE WHO SERVE IN THESE VARIOUS WAYS! But these things are done WITHIN the church services and we need to do some things OUTSIDE the church services as well! Mainly, advertise and evangelize! Advertise the church and evangelize people for Christ!