Riverside Community Church
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We are in a series of messages entitled –Beginnings –Start a new Journey
If you want to change this new year, we need to do it God’s way.
Week 1 Reorder Make God the top priority in every priority of our lives
Week 2 God Talk Listen and get a word from God Himself
Week 3 Blame Stop blaming others for who you are, what you did
Own your own stuff and you’ll be able to move forward
Week 4 is the conclusion called ‘Pansies grow in Gardens”
We want to talk to you about your destiny, your life and your purpose
If you want to start a new journey you need to know your destiny/purpose
Lets go back to beginnings, to Genesis and get some more God talk.
Genesis 1:26 (NIV)
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
The Utopia Experience
God evaluated His own handy work. We are told on at least 6 occasions that when God examines His creation that He awards Himself an A+ for creativity. He determines that what He has done is good and then even goes one step further on Day 6 and says it is very good.
Take a moment if you will and think about God’s accomplishment. He had created paradise on earth. There is no harsh weather. No fear of earthquake, tornados, or tidal waves. -There was no strife in the animal kingdom. No death. No sickness.
No tears. Perfection at its most perfect. Unrivaled in beauty. Everything in perfect condition. Pristine. No pollution. No wars. No politics. No poverty.
It was heaven on earth. Utopia is an understatement.
And so it was that on Day 6, surrounded by this postcard like environment, that God creates man and as His masterpiece takes shape and form …… God speaks.
The first sound Adam ever hears is God Almighty speaking destiny over his life. The first words that cause the ear drum to vibrate and send nerve signals for the brain to translate from sound to thought was God giving him marching orders.
God has issued Adam’s call. The dossier for his life has been delivered.
In a simple statement, God puts Adam and consequently Eve on the path to purpose. “Be fruitful and multiply; Purpose. Fill the earth and subdue it; Purpose.
“Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This was the job description. This was the vision statement. This was the mandate of their lives! And this word came in utopia. The Garden of Eden.
But as you know from Genesis Chapter 3 Bad invades the good. Utopia is interrupted and order is shattered by chaos. Their conscious decision to make bad choices drags them kicking and screaming out of the paradise into an environment where there is now strife, hardship, sweat, blood, tears, and even death.
It is as you read the rest of the story in Genesis 4 and beyond that you discover the Beginning lessons for today.
Utopia Lost
*****Bad choices changed environment, but did not change the call.
Adam and Eve made a choice. They chose to disobey and justify their clear disobedience. They know the will of God and yet they willing go against it! Their choice changed their environment. Utopia is lost. Paradise is forfeited. However, for all of the bad choices and the disobedience their call didn’t change!
Jesus calls his followers to himself, he also calls them to purpose and destiny. Your utopia is lost too in the strife and difficulties of life but your call has not changed.
What is my purpose and my destiny my calling? Let me start naming you some which apply to everyone here:
You are called to: Salvation, Eternal life, heaven eventually, to be salt, to be light,
to be a witness, to do good, to be a do gooder.
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
You are called to: to love God, to love others, to have a spiritual gift and to use that spiritual gift.
And here’s the kicker, the just me purpose, the my personal destiny portion, I believe each one has a unique calling to use their life, to reach their destiny, to impact others and to honor God. God has a plan for your life, personally.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. DESTINY
Here are some points to ponder
1) The consequences didn’t change the call. The call is consistent!
Many of you think because you have made some bad choices that you have also forfeited the call that God placed on your life. However, just because the environment has changed doesn’t mean the mandate on your life has changed.
2) Purpose is seldom fulfilled in Paradise!
Adam and Eve didn’t fulfill their call in utopia! They fulfilled their call in exile.
The truth is that it is from the exiled place that you must press on and fulfill your call anyway. You are going to have to learn to hang on to the call, answer the call, and fulfill the call in the harsh place of life.
Quit waiting for everything to feel or look like a garden before you answer the call. Sometimes you just have to get busy in the briar patch!
Some of you are waiting for the pain to stop before you answer the call of God on your life. Pain plays a vital role in your path to purpose. Quit waiting on the garden and fulfill your purpose in the grind!
For every person, there is a place in their life where weakness exists. And it’s for that very reason that in every person, a platform exists. An opportunity exists. An opportunity to amplify the greatness of God in a way that your strength alone will never be able to. Your greatest weakness may actually be God’s greatest platform for showing His power and glory in your life. God’s power is the perfect counterpart to your weakness. He’s looking for the imperfect person. And the imperfect person is a person whose weakness provides God an opportunity to make their life unexplainable.
God has called each one of you to a destiny, a purpose, answer the call,
Say yes to God in this and start a new journey.
