Text: Philippians 3:4,5 and 12
Prayer:
Review of last week’s teaching.
Let me clear the air regarding what we should be looking for in having DESTINY for our lives. There are two types.
Man’s Viewpoint
As a child we may have been told we were never going to amount to much in life. Maybe we were too tall, too short, too fat or too skinny. For whatever reason, our parents may have looked at us and said, “Good Luck! You’ll learn about life the same way I did when I was your age…”
There was just not much to look forward to.
Or maybe we were pushed from those who expected too much from us. Many people have been faced with this form well meaning parents, and have become over achievers.
The only thing that is important to us to charge ahead in life and don’t get left behind.
This is the great American way to success. We hear the world telling us to, “Go for it.”
We should ask ourselves, “Go for what?”
God’s Viewpoint
The Lord has preordained you to be prosperous in His ways, and in His timing.
Divine Destiny is not a final destination of where we are told or we think we should be. There is only one ultimate with everyone and that is to be with the Lord.
Aside from that thought that should be obvious, let me say that your destiny is not about your attaining one thing.
Rather, it is about being moment by moment aligned with the perfected and preordained will of God. Let me explain.
We are wrong to believe that the ultimate destiny for your life is to own 3000 square foot home on the posh side of town, belong to the country club, and be on the front cover of People Magazine.
It is not only about the final achievement for our lives.
We know this to be true in that many sports and Hollywood celebrities have destroyed their careers with this thinking.
Divine Destiny is not about achievement. My career, my health, my family, my friends, my possessions do not drive my Divine Destiny with God. These things that we allow to drive our personal destiny will eventually bring exhaustion to us.
Because we always think there is more to achieve.
And this is because we do not understand the Divine Destiny that God has foreordained for us.
The ultimate Destiny God has for you is not in your hands.
Rather, that kind of Destiny God has for you in His hands.
He will unfold these plans for your life before you, show you them, and offer them to you. It is your choice to choose His Divine Destiny instead of the world’s destiny of achievement.
We have two questions we need to answer:
1. What am I ultimately called to do?
2. What is God’s Divine Destiny for this time in my life?
A young mother may have an Ultimate Destiny to serve God on a foreign mission field.
But in the meantime she has a greater Destiny that is Divine and called of God to take care for her children.
To nurture those children in the admonition of the Lord.
I ask you, which destiny is more important for that mother to concern herself with? The answer is obvious.
That mother may one day become the greatest woman of Calcutta, India, since Mother Theresa.
But that is nothing more than an Ultimate Destiny.
She cannot afford to become distracted with the potential she has waiting for her in the future (the Ultimate Destiny) while she is committed to her Divine Destiny. The nurturing and raising of her child is the only Destiny that is important.
Matt 6:34
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
We have to make sure that we do not get carried away with the hype and drama of a future calling that we know God has for our destiny.
You have been conditioned by the Lord to live in this moment, and to excel in the Divine Destiny you are living in.
God knows what He is doing to shape us into becoming what He has for us in the future.
Why is all of this information so important?
Because there are a lot of Christians that are missing out on what God is wanting for their life right here and right now.
The New Testament Church is spinning it’s wheels because there are so many “geeked Christians” that are suffering in the “wanna bees”. They wanna be an evangelist, or they wanna be a prophet. But what they don’t wanna do, is to live in their Divine Destiny.
Which is to say, serving God in the here and now.
God doesn’t want us focused on what we are going to do someday, rather He wants us focused on what He has called us to do right this moment. Our Divine Destiny.
What this exposes for us is one of the most common failures in any church. That is when there are well meaning individuals reaching for their success, I mean destiny…???
They have their own axe to grind. They are primarily good well meaning people with good well meaning ideas, but the problem is they have their ideas on how things should be done.
This creates a problem in which they do not mold themselves with the Divine Destiny of the church.
The New Age religion tells people to create their own destiny, and that drive from with in.
Anthony Robbins is the one seen on television that has made millions in hyping people to succeed at doing there own thing with achievement.
The New Age movement is not of God. Beware of false prophets. They are deceiving millions of people each day.
To further study this lie from the New Age, you should consider the story of the great patriarch, Joseph…
Divine Destiny is not about being driven for more, it is about being a functional part of the plan and purpose of God.
For instance your Divine Destiny is not about having more success in your career or on the job.
More likely your first priority for a Divine Destiny is being more successful in your marriage and family.
Read Jeremiah 29:11 thru 14(a)
This is all about your Divine Destiny. The Bible does not tell us to find your destiny, rather it tells us to find Jesus. I am not trying to get any of you anywhere but to the face of Jesus.
Read Philippians 3:7 thru 11
Hebrew 12:2 tells us that Jesus is the author and finisher of my faith. He has my whole life from the beginning to the end. He is my all and all.
There was the story of the young boy who asked his father to let him drive the car. It became an obsession with him, and was becoming a nuisance to the father. The father tired of his son’s request and decided to do something about it.
He took the key to the car door off of his key ring and then threw the keys to his son.
The 10 year old boy ran all through the house bragging to his older sister how he was going to finally be able to drive the car. Jingling the keys he made quite a scene until he realized he wasn’t going anywhere without his father.
We cannot go anywhere with our Divine Destiny without the Lord Jesus Christ. Because even Jesus had to be prepared to fulfill His own Divine Destiny. We are no different.
We have to make our commitment to walk only in the path of the Destiny the Lord has designed for us.
We men are more in need of this teaching, because we can get such a tunnel vision of what we are achieving.
We are so task oriented. More so than most women.
The people of God had come to this time when they had built their “paneled” homes but the temple is not completed.
Read Haggai 1:5 & 6;
And then the Lord reminds them they need to understand what they are really suppose to be doing. Finish the Temple!
And they did finish it. We go on down to chapter 2 and we find the Lord reminding them of where they have come from.
Read verse 15 thru 19.
The Lord has reminded them that once they accounted for the Divine Destiny for their lives, they were blessed.
The point is this. If you are looking for your Divine Destiny to be fulfilled, then you must first take care of the things that God has already made you responsible to.
First things first, saith the Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob!
Read Hebrews 12:2
“Author” in the Greek means the “cause” of my faith. Derived from the Greek word “ag’-o”, as in “a long time ag-o”. Jesus (a long time ag-o) has caused everything in your life to happen.
“Finisher” in the Greek means that Jesus is the one who is responsible for the “perfecting” and the completing of the final Destiny of our lives.
