Destiny Decisions (1 of 2) Mike Connell 20.05.2007
...in Ephesians 2:10. Remember this verse, we've used this quite a lot. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them. So we see in this and other verses that long before you came into this world God designed a purpose for your life. It's your responsibility to discover that purpose. You were brought in here just to fill in your life with just busyness and activities. We're called to partner with God and be productive for Him. That doesn't mean we're all called to be preachers. It means God has a unique purpose for every person and we talked a little bit about destiny, have the idea of a destination, somewhere we're going. Destiny in this sense means literally the path that God is taking us towards, it's destination it's going to reach and the actual journey we take.
And so when we're talking about destiny we're talking about the journey as well as where it ends. Now we know for a believer that we're going to end up in heaven. God's plan is to bring heaven to earth see, so how we will live in heaven, how we will enjoy eternity really is dependent on what we do about bringing heaven to earth in this life. And so every one of us is called to make our life productive in some kind of way and achieving the destiny means you've got to discover what God's called you to do and to do it. The greatest tragedy in life is having no sense of purpose, or to live your life pleasing someone else. That's where many people live their lives. We have to be prepared to break free of an inner desire to please the people around us. You know, God has a plan and it isn't always what others agree with see? So it's a process and a journey, a great journey. I'm loving the journey, it's fantastic.
In 2 Timothy 4:7 Paul finishes the end of his course. He makes an incredible statement at the end of his life. Imagine getting to the end of his life, but when you see him come to the end of his life he makes a statement - but on the way he had all these things happen to him. He had dramatic things happen to him, but in the midst of them he had this thing inside him, I'm a man of destiny. I have a call and a purpose for my life. So the Bible tells us that there was a time when he got stoned - I'm not talking smoking the wacky backy. He was literally stoned and left for dead and much to everyone's surprise he stands up: I haven't finished my course yet. He ends up getting shipwrecked and he hangs on to a piece of wood for three days in the deep: I haven't finished my course yet. There's another time where they beat him. He gets up and he says I haven't finished my course yet.
When you have a look at Paul's life and all the adversities and obstacles and things he faced, inside him was this tremendous sense I have a course to fill and I haven't finished it yet, and nothing is going to stop me finishing the call God put on my life. When he gets to the end of his life he says now, I said I fought my fight and I have finished the course. What a great thing to get to the end of your life and be able to say, I discovered what God put me in the earth for and I never quit! I finished it! You want to be a finisher, not just a starter. I've seen heaps of starters, start so enthusiastic. We want to finish the race, want to finish and finish strong. So whatever's happened it's still your choice whether you finish strong. It's still your choice. How many know people that start things and never finish them? Don't let that be you.