- Part Three -
DESTINY OF RESPONSIBILITY
Text: Luke 16:10 thru 12
Prayer:
Many of us have seen people who want everything life has to offer. They want it now! We live in a fast pace society with an instantaneous lifestyle that says they must have everything now.
The prophesy from the Old Testament was from:
Daniel 12:4
“…many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase."
Our stern warning from the New Testament was from Paul in:
Eph 4:14-15
“…that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine,…may grow up in all things into Him.”
As we draw closer to the return of Christ, we will see more and more people with less and less patience. This way of life has invaded every area of society, including Christianity.
I have often seen this way of thinking with younger Christians.
Before coming here, I have met some who claim they want to serve the Lord in full time ministry. They want to go to the foreign mission field or become a dynamic evangelist, but they don’t think they need any formal training.
All of us need the Lord’s timing to season us for what He has for us. I don’t want to lag behind with what He has for me, but I sure don’t want to get in front of Him either.
Sometimes, there are those who do succeed and get what they want without the timing and blessings of God. As a result these people will often loose everything they have overnight.
This can happen suddenly and/or tragically. Let me explain.
I personally know of a very successful business man in California that worked very hard for his successes.
He was well known throughout the United States for the designs and the innovation that made him a very rich man.
I know for a fact that one of his creations was patented and placed in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC.
This man had a son who he wanted to take over the company. The successful business man wanted to retire.
As with so many other successful businesses, the son (of this man) was never entrusted with smaller responsibilities.
The son had been pampered and given anything he wanted in life. This young man was not accustomed to the responsibility of success. He began to drink, do drugs and he eventually destroyed his father’s once successful company.
Approximately two years after the son took over the business, the family and the company had to file for bankruptcy.
The son did not have the character or the wisdom to handle the responsibility given to him.
This story of failure is an example of what can happen to any of us if we are not careful and responsible with the things of God.
If we are not accountable with the smaller things of God first, we can easily fail when trying to take on the larger responsibilities of the plan of God.
You may have things that you desire of the Lord in your life, and yet the Lord wants you to succeed at the smaller things He has already entrusted you with.
This is all part of the Divine Destiny for your life.
Jesus says that we are to learn how to deal honestly with the smaller things before He will give to us the larger blessings He has planned for you and I.
In verse 11 and 12, Jesus speaks of the “true riches” that will one day belong to you. You do not have those “true riches” at this moment, but the Lord has them in store for you.
God is waiting for the right moment when He knows you are capable of handling them without failing.
Your destiny is filled with the riches of the Lord’s blessings. They are yours for the asking when and if you become responsible enough for them.
Did you know that God has big plans for your destiny.
Beyond anything you can imagine. That is why it is important for to understand where you are right here and right now.
Do not become discouraged with where you are right now with what He has given you. You may think what you have is small and insignificant, but God knows better.
The things God has entrusted you with right now are important steps in the destiny He has planned for you.
The godly things in your life (right now) are key elements in what He has planned and ordained for you and your future.
What you do with what He has given you now will determine what He will be entrusting you with later.
I believe that the Lord is watching carefully to see what you do with what you have, before He moves you on to what you will have (in the next step of your destiny).
The destiny for your life right now is for you to be more responsible with God’s “true riches” He has given you.
He has His very best planned for your life.
Your destiny from God is for you to have much.
God wants to open the windows of heaven and pour into your life more than you can imagine or ever dream of.
Listen carefully. What ever your destiny is, God will first give you smaller versions of it. This is so you will learn to be responsible for the little things before He gives you the larger and more important things. We cannot rush ahead of the growing plan of God and the destiny for your life.
This is not pie in the sky, mumbo jumbo. Find someone you know who is responsible and successful and ask them what it was really like when they once had to sweep floors or clean toilets for a living. They always remember these things much more so than they remember the successes in their life.
Enduring difficulty is something that many people (nowadays) want to bypass. Most people want overnight success for anything and everything they can get out of life.
It simply doesn’t work that way.
Not many years ago it was widely known that if you wanted to find someone who was reliable and responsible, you just needed to find a god fearing Christian.
Unfortunately, that was many years ago.
We need to be the most reliable and responsible people any of our friends and relatives know.
James 5:12
But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your "Yes," be "Yes," and your "No," "No," lest you fall into judgment.
We have to become committed and faithful followers of Jesus and demonstrate it to our friends and relatives. We need to stop claiming we are Christians, and start proving we are Christians by the way we live our lives. Responsible and reliable.
Read Colossians 3:17 & 23
(Your destiny and is found in verse 24.)
We need to be demonstrating our responsibility in what ever we are doing. Don’t look for short cuts at work or in your home.
Do everything as heartily unto the Lord, and not unto men.
Responsibility involves your having focus and determination to fulfill your Divine Destiny.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 (Great Chapter on Destiny…)
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…
We have to be ready to do what ever and when ever the Lord leads us to the next step in His destiny for our lives.
Are you doing anything for the Lord with your life?
Are you trying to figure out what you are supposed to be doing?
Consider that passage. That is what the great Patriarch, Joseph, did. He was always ready for the next thing God had for him. Joseph didn’t get many “thank you’s” until near the end of his story when he saved the entire world from starvation.
Joseph always gave himself to the glory of the Lord.
Another example is the story of David and Goliath.
David had to get permission from King Saul before he fight Goliath. It is interesting what convinced King Saul that David was the little boy of the hour.
1 Samuel 17:37
"The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
Even as a boy, young David was living in his own destiny that meant he had to kill the lion and the bear before he would be ready to kill the giant.
One of David’s greatest test was having to be patient in taking care of a herd of sheep way out on the hillside (in the middle of nowhere.)
I Thessalonians 2:3 & 4 (NIV)
Young David did not kill the Giant to please King Saul, his father, or his brothers. He did as unto the Lord.
Nor can we do anything except as unto the Lord. We will never be disappointed by the response of others if our focus is pleasing the Lord who is testing your heart.
God is giving you and I series of tests to fulfill our destinies.
