This morning’s message is the introduction to a series entitled, “Divine Destiny”. I have never taught on this before. But if this new series is what I believe it will be, it could be the most irritating teaching some of you have ever heard. But don’t let that keep any of you from coming out.
Seriously, my hope is to put all of us on a more defined and determined track for where God is taking us.
I believe that the Lord would have us all on the “straight and narrow”. My goal with this teaching is not for us to “get smarter”, rather “get changed”.
Whether you realize it or not, each of us are heading in a direction that will take us somewhere.
Or perhaps anywhere. We are all heading from where we are to where the Lord would have us to be.
And…maybe by the end of this morning you and I might understand what I just said…???
Listen…some people have a life that they consider to be very meaningful.
While there may be others who would like for their life to become more meaningful.
Can we agree on that?
By now many of you know me a little better than you did a few months ago. And, you know that I am usually not the kind of guy that is willing to accept mediocrity.
I do not believe God wants mediocrity for this church.
I would suggest to you (this morning) that rather than any of us just going anywhere with our lives, that we first determine to point ourselves to where it is exactly that the Lord is calling us to. Let me try to explain.
I have a friend in Evansville named John. Let’s just say John is a little different. John is easily bored and has always been a very determined guy. John loves to challenge himself to keep from becoming bored.
John decided he was bored with life and he decided to learn how to fly. John is a lot of fun, but when he started to take flying lessons things changed.
His wife and family became concerned.
Oddly enough, John’s friends kept their distance.
You see, not many people wanted to fly with John.
I was one of them. I was concerned for his safety.
When John passed his first solo flight, everybody was happy for him. But from then on, all of John’s plane flights were solo flights. No one would go just anywhere with John. Nobody trusted him with his new hobby.
Anyways, John wanted me to know more about his new hobby. He showed me an instrument out of his plane that was a portable hand held GPS (global positioning) device.
This was an impressive instrument in that it could tell you the exact direction you were going in.
Later that day I thought about all of the traveling I do.
So I thought to myself:
“Wouldn’t it be great if I could always know exactly where I am, and where I was going?”
My friend, in the spiritual sense, I believe the Lord wants me to know that. The Lord wants me to be focused and directed to exactly where He is taking me.
I believe the Lord has a specific purpose and a specific destiny for my life and your life.
Hopefully, God has positioned you and I exactly where He wants us to be, and He now is pointing us exactly where He wants us to go. God is always precise.
Sound difficult to understand? Let me show you the perfect Biblical example of this in,
Text: Luke 9:51 thru 53
Prayer:
This is an interesting moment in the life of Jesus.
Think about it. Jesus is walking through this life healing people, teaching people, raising the dead, casting out demons and even ministering to little children.
Everything Jesus is doing is important. The Savior has a very busy schedule everyday and everywhere He goes. Jesus had places to go, people to meet and things to do. And then suddenly, something happens to Him.
Jesus, in just that moment, was called to Jerusalem.
Jesus lived every moment of His life knowing the specific purpose and the specific destiny for His life.
He knows there can be no other greater reason for His coming to earth, but to ultimately GO TO JERUSALEM.
When it came to accomplishing His Father’s will for His life, Jesus didn’t need (my friend’s) hand held GPS.
I want what Jesus had. I want to know where I am, where I need to be and where I am going.
We all need to:
· Be like Jesus.
· Know exactly where we are going in our life.
· “Steadfastly set our face towards Jerusalem.”
Jesus had a calling on His life and He was faithful and steadfast to that calling.
There was no changing His mind where He was going. Nothing else mattered to Jesus, except -
GOING TO JERUSALEM.
My friend, Jesus had resolve.
Jesus had determination that He would not waiver or be distracted from what He was suppose to be doing.
Jesus knew He had to go to Calvary and die on the cross for our sins. Jesus had a DIVINE DESTINY. A DIVINE APPOINTMENT to take on the sins of the world.
My friend you have a DIVINE DESTINY.
Your heart should be pointed towards Jerusalem, and your eyes should be set on the Cross of Calvary.
There can be nothing that will ever distract you from going there.
We cannot waiver with what the Lord has given us.
We cannot falter or change from what He has told us to do, or where He is sending us.
There was nothing that would ever stop Jesus from going to Calvary. No one could have stopped Him. Jesus was steadfast and faithful to the calling on His life.
We must be steadfast and faithful to ourselves and to where the Lord is taking us. Our positioning is important.
If you are faithful to the call of God, nothing and nobody will ever take your eyes off of where you are going. No one will ever stop you!
It is not just a matter of I can’t give up. Rather, it is
I won’t give up. I am going to see:
· Jesus conquer sin in this town.
· Jesus rescue souls.
· The captive set free from alcohol, drugs, pornography, obsenity, lethargy and complacency.
· The blind and the lame healed.
· The lives of families restored and the sick and elderly have hope for a better tomorrow.
Question: Why is it that so many folks have hard time being steadfast and faithful to the Lord?
1. One reason is something I have noticed in almost every area of life. Life has become complex.
We have many things pulling us in different directions.
There are so many choices we all must make.
You may disagree with me, but it only makes sense that the more choices any of us are faced with, the more likely we will (on occasions) make a bad choice.
There are lots of temptations facing all of us nowadays.
I don’t remember this being the case when I was younger. I can’t help but be concerned about what distractions we face each day.
What distractions lie waiting for our children? How complicated will life be for our children’s children?
2. Another reason is that in this world we see very little loyalty in life. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about friendship, a job, or a marriage. That concerns me.
Few people see a need for loyalty to anything.
We live in a very fickled day and time.
This lack of loyalty has found it’s way in many people’s faith. While the world is interested in having more faith, it doesn’t have much interest in what faith is all about.
A man/woman of faith is a man/woman of faithfulness.
Jesus was faithful to the call on His life.
He was not going to abandon the cross.
Nor will He ever abandon you. We cannot abandon the cross or what God has called us to do. Can we?
Some of us need to begin to search out exactly what it is the Lord is wanting from us, and then stick to it.
Proverbs 11:27
“He who EARNESTLY SEEKS good finds favor…”
The catch here is that we have to “earnestly seek” Him. God expects for us to have a natural desire to seek Him, and to find Him. Whatever the cost may be.
But listen. God will not make you seek His will and His direction for your life. Command verses Demands.
He won’t force you to do anything. I would suggest that we earnestly seek our DIVINE DESTINY with God.
Close:
Psalms 73:25-28 -
25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Any of us can make the mistake of getting side tracked from where the Lord is taking us. You may not:
· Have the fire for the Lord you once had.
· Be living your life for the Lord like you need to.
I can assure you I know what you are going through.
I can’t tell you how many times I have failed the Lord by not doing what He had originally called me to do.
I have had my fire for God flicker down to not much more than a pile of ashes.
Regardless, our DESTINY was determined long ago.
Ephesians 1:4-5
4 …He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself…
In the responsive reading we read Psalms 89:6
For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?
You see there is no other destiny for you but the Lord.
There is no where else to go, but to GO TO JERUSALEM.
Everyone here has a DESTINY for salvation. You may need to make a decision to receive Jesus as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life.
And there are those who have a DESTINY to become a part of this family of God.
I am not just talking about membership, you need to make that move to join our family of fellowship.
