Intro: There was a man, Jack Wugman walking down the beach one day. He saw an unusual glass bottle. He bent over and picked up the bottle. His life would be forever changed. There was a note inside from a man named Singer. You know of him. He invented and perfected the sewing machine.
Singer penned a note,
WHOEVER FINDS THIS BOTTLE SHALL INHERIT MY WHOLE ESTATE.
The judge validated the note, and Jack inherited millions of dollars from a man he never met.
What if Jack never picked up the bottle?
My God has a plan for you!
Today, do I believe everyone in this room has a bottle floating out there with a million dollar inheritance, no. But I do believe that there are Divine appointments God has set for each of our lives.
Divine Appointments
Habakkuk 2:3
I. Naaman—2 Kings 5:11 God’s Ways Are Not Our Ways-Naaman had it all figured out the way God would heal him. Then God asked him to do something completely different then he thought. With your Divine appointments this year, God will get you out of your comfort zones to receive your blessing.
Ill) years ago I was in the line at Hardee’s when I felt impressed to go over to a table where two women were talking and say, If you drink the living water you will never thirst again. Immediately they started raising their hands, praising the Lord. They were reading about the Holy Spirit and were discussing how they might visit a Pentecostal church. This was their confirmation.
II. David-1 Sam. 17:23 God may use one thing to open the door to another—David had been sent by Jesse to bring food to the battlefield for his brothers. Now David could have said, no way, this is beneath me to be an errand boy.
But if David had never brought the food, he would have never met Goliath, which would be God’s opportunity for advancement and increase.
Ill) a great Jensen Franklin story is the time he was invited to play his saxophone on T.B.N. and the speaker cancelled. He was asked if he could preach so he filled in. The phone lines lit up, he was invited back to preach again, and his ministry exploded.
III. Elisha—2 Kings 2:12-13 and Elisha saw it—with
Divine appointments, God will make you pass many tests in order to reach your Divine appointment.
Ill) years ago my roommate Randy Helms told me that he would someday be the Youth Pastor at Carpenters Home—which at that time was one of the largest churches in America. He asked if he could help the Youth Pastor, and they said, he could set up chairs for the service. He did that for a while, then a little more. When the Youth Pastor moved on, he had worked so hard with the Youth, they interviewed him and gave him the position.
IV. Jesus- John 4:4—I must needs go through Samaria-
Many times God will direct people to go to a certain place, you may not even know why you are going there, but God will give you the reason later.
Ill) Oral Roberts gets off plane, instead of going to the terminal he walks to the end of the runway through a field, then passes into a neighborhood. God directs him to knock on the door of a certain house, when the lady opened the door she asked, are you the man of God who has come to pray for my husband. Oral Roberts went to the back room, prayed for the man, who was instantly healed.
Close: in my life there have been many divine appointments. I would like to close with one that means so much to me. My roommate Randy Helms and Steve Miller were coming through Montgomery in 1985, they both were on staff at Cathedral of the Cross in B-ham. They called me up and asked if I wanted to meet them at Country’s barbeque—they told me a position was open at the church and said I should come on staff. My first day on the job I met a second grade school teacher named Lauri Wolfe. I called home and told my parents, I’ve met her. They said, who. I said, my wife. 7 months later we were married, and March 1st will be our 24 anniversary. I believe in Divine appointments.
This year you will have Divine appointments. But if you aren’t looking for them, you will pass them by. God doesn’t always give an earthquake or thunder, sometimes it is a still small voice.
You can miss your divine appointments if you don’t train your spirit for them.
Over the years I will tell Lauri riding up the road, you see those deer, she will say no. Then I realized that my eyes are trained to see deer that she doesn’t see because they blend in. You need to get up every morning saying, I am looking for my Divine Appointments. If you will start looking for them, you will begin to see them more and more.
