What is Destiny Fellowship?
“Reaching the World One Heart at a Time”
John 15:7-17 NLT
Destiny is a vision that God chose to birth in a man. He was looking for a vessel that was hungry to see things happen that would bring people to their realization of their need for the Savior in their life.
As Jesus said in John 15; “You didn’t choose ME. I chose you. I appointed (ordained, anointed) you to go & produce fruit that will last…
God given vision is not always the easiest road to travel. Or you could say it like the well known book in the bookstores titled “The Road Less Traveled”.
We have committed our lives here at Destiny to the ultimate task of living in the “Great Commission”, to go & WIN SOULS & MAKE DISCIPLES!
But are there not a thousand books, tapes & ministries out there that talk about how this is to be done?
Well here is the most important aspect of that thought; how do I do it in the ministry that God has connected me too?
In this series that God has burned into my heart we will be looking at the various principles that God has set in Destiny Fellowship to be the most effective that we can be at winning souls & making disciples.
You see we must forever settle in our heart that the only thing that is really going to last is what we do for the Kingdom of God.
So lets start today looking at the overview of what we are about; Winning Souls & Making Disciples!
I. Winning Souls…
Proverbs 11:30 KJV The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; & he
that winneth souls is wise.
Luke 15:7 NLT In the same way, heaven will be happier over one
lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who
are righteous & haven’t strayed away!
These are just a couple of references that show us that we are on the right track.
We see by all the campaigns that are going on among different ministries in regards to how do we get back to seeing true, born-again experiences that people actually get saved & go on to serve the Lord; we know that the drive behind it is that we believe Jesus is getting ready to come again!
There are various formats that people are using to endeavor to get this job done before HE does return.
We know of some that use a seeker friendly type approach to entice people to come into the church & find out the wonderful plan God has for their life & would they like to accept Him so they can enjoy it!
We know that there is a message out there that is trying to assure people that Jesus did everything & that all they have to do is accept that & their place in heaven is secured! Don’t be quick to overlook the words of Jesus himself; Luke 9:23-24 NLT “Then He said to the crowd, if any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, & follow ME. If you try keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for ME, you will find true life.” You see Jesus expects that if HE was willing to lay down His Life for what we could not, we should at least live our lives for why HE did it!
What is happening here is the message of the grace of God being taken out of context. But many are following it. It requires very little if any lifestyle changes!
There are those that use a very legalistic approach of rules, dress codes, & religious control to make it happen.
But the bottom line is where does Destiny fit into all of this stuff?????
I have learned early & throughout my walk with God that relationships are the most important aspect of winning & discipling people.
Let me clarify this statement so everyone knows exactly what the heart of this ministry is.
How long does it take to build a relationship in the stages of evangelism?
• I believe that getting to a place of finding out if a person has a Christian background or any regard for the things of God does not take 6 months or a year. It can be accomplished in a few minutes of conversation.
• Now in the area of discipling someone that will not happen as quickly because it takes different amounts of time to walk people through the things they face in their life!
So can I find out where a person stands in relationship to spiritual things in the first couple of times that I meet them? Absolutely!
Am I going to expect them to have victory in every area of their life the next week; casting out devils & laying hands on the sick or even witnessing?
Not realistically. It happens at different levels of time for every person. We are not clones & therefore cannot expect everyone to do it just like you every time!
The key is am I doing something to win souls or am I just inviting people to church & hoping that the pastor will do the rest?
Not everyone is going to go out looking for people to witness to one on one. But everyone can leave a tract in a restroom, doctor’s waiting room, with your tips, in your bills, at the gas station in the credit card slot, etc.! Everyone can do something to spread the good news to a lost world.
II. Make Disciples…
Ephesians 4:11-16 NLT He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelist, & the pastors & teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do HIS work & build up the church, the body of Christ, until we come into such unity in our faith & knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature & full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.
Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us different or because someone has cleverly lied to us & made the lie sound like the truth. Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more & more in every way like Christ, who is the head of HIS body, the church.
Under HIS direction, the body is fitted together perfectly.
As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy & growing & full of love!
Can anybody find a better description of discipleship anywhere? Glory to God! HIS whole purpose is to grow believers to a place they can become fruitful for the purpose of this gospel!
Win Souls & Make Disciples!
Look at what Peter said in 1 Peter 2:1-3 NLT So get rid of all malicious behavior & deceit. Don’t just pretend to be good!
Be done with hypocrisy & jealousy & backstabbing. You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.
Let me make this clear, it is not the responsibility for the teacher to make the disciple want to eat!
It is our job to make sure that they truly get a genuine salvation experience so that they realize the need to get to know Jesus in very way possible.
But they have a responsibility to come to you craving the word of God & then you can feed them & lead them in that new found relationship with Christ!
We have all the resources that we could want for to take people into a great relationship with Christ & their fellow believers!
Remember, the vision is there to serve the people, not the people serving the vision!
This vision builds healthy people, who in turn build healthy families, who in turn build healthy churches!
We have the Journey for New Believers. This takes them to the Cross, through the Cross, & to walking with the Cross!
Cell Groups – this is where relationships really begin to be formed with other members of the body of Christ. This is why this is the very heartbeat of Destiny Fellowship. People will begin to look forward to their cell group every week.
I have heard people who were having a rough week, “I knew if I can just get to my cell family I knew I would receive new strength to go on for Jesus in my life”!
Then we have Discovery for those who have seen the vision of walking with the Cross.
Discovery 1 – Finding the Rock
Discovery 2 – Staying on Course
Discovery 3 – Reaching the Summit
Then there is further training available for those who God is calling into the five-fold ministry that we read about in Ephesians 4.
You see, God has equipped us to do what HE has commissioned us to do. WIN SOULS & MAKE DISCIPLES! The local church was God’s idea for Winning & Discipling Believers!
We must begin to realize & believe in our church like God does! He has given us everything we need to accomplish the task that is set before us. We will go into more detail on some of this over the next couple of weeks.
Today I trust you have seen God’s Heart in the vision of Destiny Fellowship.
I want to open these altars today for every person to come & bring their heart to God as a living sacrifice & present it to God a fresh & new to HIM!
If God has brought you to connect here to Destiny, then in presenting your heart to HIM today let HIM know that you will pour yourself into this vision & the leadership HE has placed here & become a contribution, as HE said in Ephesians 4:16 …As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy & growing & full of love!
You didn’t choose ME. I chose you. I appointed you to go & produce fruit that will last…
Come & make that sold-out heart commitment today! HE is worth it!
