It's New Years Eve, Have You Discovered Your Destiny? Series

It’s New Years Eve. Another year is almost over. As the clock strikes midnight this evening we will be in 2018.

Our preaching theme for 2017, has been Discover your destiny, discovering our destiny. This morning will be the last sermon in the series and I want to ask you a few questions:

Have you discovered your destiny?

If you are still struggling to discover your destiny have you been looking in the right place?

When thinking about your destiny what kind of questions have you asked?

Do you ask “What do I want to be?” or “What does God want me to be?”

Do you ask “What should I do with my life?” or “What does God want me to do with my life?

Do you ask “What are my hopes, my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future?” or “What is God’s will, God’s purpose, God’s plans, God’s destiny for my future?”

Your destiny, my destiny, starts with God’s will and purpose for our lives. It’s not about what I want my destiny to be. It’s not about what you want your destiny to be. It’s all about seeking the destiny God has planned for us.

God’s will is the starting point, the middle, the end and everything in-between.

Remember Jeremiah 29:11-13, For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”

Your destiny, my destiny, is not based on what we might plan or desire, it is based on God’s plan for us. The only way we can fully discover God’s plan for us, God’s destiny for us, is for us to willingly submit our lives to Him, to His control.

We live in a self-centred world, popular opinion would say each of us can control our own destiny, and yes God has given each of us free will, and yes we can make choices, make mistakes... We can choose to follow a path of personal fulfilment, personal happiness, but God’s purpose for your life and mine is far bigger than our self-fulfilment or happiness.

If you want to know why you are here you need to begin with God, you were created for His plan, His purpose, His destiny for you. God’s purpose, is bigger than our wants or desires, it’s bigger than family, friends, ambitions, careers, or dreams.

Without God, we have no purpose, without God life is meaningless, with God there is purpose, there is meaning, there is an eternal destiny. Job 12:10, “For the life of every living thing is in His hand, and the breath of every human being.”

You and I are in God’s hand, we are in His care, we discover our destiny by being in relationship with Him. It is not fate, or chance, or luck, or coincidence, or evolution that gives you breath. You are alive because God created you.

Psalm 139:13-16, You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

Every detail, every tiny part of your DNA was encoded by God - the colour of your skin, the colour of your eyes, the natural colour of your hair, every feature designed by God. God determined your natural talents, even the uniqueness of your personality.

Before you were born, God ordained a destiny for you. God made you for a reason, He decided when you would be born and how long you will live. God designed you to be in relationship with Him. God says He has a plan for you, you are special, you are precious, you are loved.

With God your life has purpose and significance. With God your life has value and worth. With God your destiny is secure and certain. Listen to the words of Isaiah 44:6-8, This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: “I am the First and the Last; there is no other God. Who is like me? Let him step forward and prove to you his power. Let him do as I have done since ancient times when I established a people and explained its future. Do not tremble; do not be afraid.Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago? You are my witnesses—is there any other God? No! There is no other Rock—not one!”