Discover your calling: Let God define you and your dreams
We continue in our series on Discovering Your Destiny and today our focus is on letting God define you and your dreams
My first question for us this morning is: Do we really allow God to define us and our dreams?
Let me be a little more specific:
Are you really seeking to be the person God has called you to be?
Are your dreams and plans aligned with God’s will and purpose for your life?
Listen to these words from the Hymn writer Edwin Hatch:
Breathe on me, breath of God;
Fill me with life anew,
That I may love what thou dost love,
And do what thou wouldst do.
Have you ever sung those words?
These are words that are easy for us to sing without perhaps really meaning what we are actually singing.
If you have sung those words, did you sing them only because the people around you were singing them or did you sing them as a prayer from your heart?
Breathe on ME, breath of God; Fill ME with life anew, That I MAY love what you love,
And DO what God would do.
Let me ask you again: Are you really seeking to be the person God has called you to be? Are your dreams and plans aligned with God’s will and purpose for your life?
In the 30 years that I have been a Christian, I have met a number of people in a number of churches who seem very sincere in their prayers asking God to reveal His will and purpose to them.
But, and you knew there was going to be a but; but when God did reveal His will and purpose to them they were not that happy about it. God’s will and purpose was different from what they wanted it to be.
Some of them were willing to be obedient to God, others chose to do it their own way and sadly things didn’t turn out how they had hoped they would.
God calls us as disciples of Jesus to follow His ways, to be obedient to His will, to trust that He knows more than we know, to believe that His will is perfect and all His ways are just and true.
If we really want to be the people that God has called us to be we must make a conscious decision to follow Jesus and accept God’s will and purpose for us.
God has a plan for each of our lives, we often quote Jeremiah 29:11, “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.”
Do you trust God’s plan and purpose for you?
Is that trust evident in how you live your daily life?
Is your life more aligned and influenced with the things of the world than with God’s plan and purpose for your life?
Is it obvious to other people that you care about following God’s plan and purpose for you?
I’m talking about something more than coming to church on a Sunday.
I’m talking about something more than raising your hands while singing a few worship songs.
I’m talking about something more than walking around with a smile on your face and occasionally dropping God into a conversation.
I’m talking about allowing the Holy Spirit to lead you, to lead me into the destiny God has for us.
Following the plan and purpose God has for you while you are alive on this planet.
Making it obvious to God, making it obvious to others, making it obvious to yourself, that you are living life as as born-again, sin-forgiven, spirit-filled and obedient disciple of Jesus.
Ephesians 2:10 reminds us, "God has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago."
Do you dream of doing the good things God has planned for you?
Living as a child of the living God, allowing Him to work in you and through you to accomplish His plans and purpose requires something from us, it requires real commitment. We need to be whole-hearted not half-hearted.
Romans 5:2-4 reminds us, Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. God has been faithful to a promise He made through the prophet Joel in Old Testament times. Joel lived about 400 years before Jesus.
Look at the words of Joel 2:28-32
I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your old men will dream dreams,
and your young men will see visions.
In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on servants—men and women alike.
And I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth—blood and fire and columns of smoke.
The sun will become dark,
and the moon will turn blood red
before that great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.
But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved.
God’s promise through Joel is a promise of spiritual blessing. This prophecy speaks of the Holy Spirit being poured out on all people. But “all people” does not mean every human without exception. Joel is clear, “everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.” (Joel 2:32).
What does to call on the name of the Lord really mean? It means repenting from our sins and turning to Jesus. It means asking God to forgive us and trusting in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
As The Apostle Peter tells us in Acts 2:38 “Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
The only way to receive the promise of the Holy Spirit is to repent and accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour so that we can receive forgiveness for our sins.
So the all people that Joel is speaking of refers specifically to every type of person in every nation, young or old, male or female who have given their lives to Jesus because “everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.” (Joel 2:32).
Friends, there is an explicit and painful truth hiding in plain sight here...
If everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved...
Then the opposite of this statement is also true, everyone who does not call on the Name of the Lord will not be saved.
Painful but true. Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
Without Christ, there is no hope. In Christ there is hope, there is the promised assurance of salvation to all who turn to Jesus.
Jesus has commanded us to go and make disciples of all the nations. That is why it is so important we tell other people about Jesus, why it is so important we share our faith with others.
There are those who do not call on the name of Jesus because they do not understand their need need for Him.
The Apostle Paul writing to the church in Romans chapter 10 explains, For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with Himself.
Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God... all who believe in Jesus are made right with God.
“The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.”
And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.”
For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him?
And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him?
And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?
And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”
But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?”
So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
As disciples of Jesus, God has a plan of salvation that involves making Himself known to the people of this world through us.
Without Christ, there is no hope. But in Christ there is hope, there is the promised assurance of salvation to all who turn to Jesus, this is the good news of the Gospel.
Friends, we live in a dark sinful world where people are struggling, addicted to drugs, alcohol, sexual sin.
We live in a dark sinful world where there is abuse, hatred, war and terrorism.
Jesus is the only light that can dispel the darkness of this sin sick world.
Jesus is the way out of the darkness of sin.
Jesus is the answer to every need.
Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only life, the only way of salvation and “everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord Jesus will be saved.”
What a joy! What a hope! Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord Jesus will be saved.
What a promise! Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord Jesus will be saved.
God promised a day would come when His people would be filled with His Spirit; when they were full of God, God Himself would give His people dreams and visions.
This happened at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came and Peter reminded the people of the promise of God: This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: In the last days, God says, ‘I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.’ (Acts 2:16-17).
When God pours Himself on us by His Spirit, He stirs up in us dreams and visions of His power, mercy, truth, holiness and greatness. When God pours Himself into us, our life is changed, our life is transformed because we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
This is not a promise only for the spiritual elite, the Holy Spirit is poured out on all of God’s people – men and women, young and old, if you have repented and turned to Jesus as Lord and Saviour, if you are a disciple of Jesus this promise is for you.
The Holy Spirit helps you to follow the will and purposes God has for you.
The Holy Spirit helps you to be the person God has called you to be.
If you are in Christ, you have been filled with the Spirit of God.
Friends we are living in the last days, because every day is one day closer to the return of Jesus. As I draw to a close I have a few very important questions for you:
What do you dream of happening in your own life?
Has God given you a vision of what He can do in your life?
Do you dream of renewed strength?
Do you dream of a deeper faith?
Do you dream of a closer walk with God?
Has God given you a vision of what He can do in your family?
Has God given you a vision of what He can do in this community?
Do you dream of seeing people you share your faith with coming to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour?
Has God given you a vision of what He can do in this church for His honour and His Glory?
My final question this morning is: Will you allow God to define you and your dreams?
May each of us be enabled by the Holy Spirit to share the truth of the Gospel with others.
Let’s pray.
The Audio for this sermon is available here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/let-god-define-your-dreams-series-discover-your-destiny/id1016102507?i=1000385493366&mt=2
