Do you have the sense that you are destined for greatness?
I don’t know how many believe this
But the fact remains that we are all destined for greatness
It does not matter who you are, you have the potential for greatness –
Let’s talk today about how to get there.
First we need to be honest about our starting point
If we do not start on the right path and head in the correct direction we are going to end up at the wrong place.
When we talk about becoming great, we need to begin by:
Getting Out of Our Own Way
We are our own greatest hindrance
We have a great destiny in store for us if only we do not stop it from coming
Honest Self Evaluation
We do not begin great:
We have a certain:
Intellectual capacity and ability
Physicality
How did we get this way?
Can anyone become the next 100m track superstar or Einstein?
The capacity or potential to achieve, do what we can do comes not from anything that we did.
We were born a certain way in this life-time…so even if we thought we were smarter or stronger, we did nothing to deserve it or make ourselves that way.
So where does the vanity and pride come from?
We need to realize that we are not great now!
Now there are many that use the abilities that we have been given to achieve things in this life some for good some for bad.
BUT by comparison to greatness of our destiny, even that which we have achieved now, pales by comparison?
How does God regard our state in life?
God’s perspective of us should be ours
By comparison to God
Isaiah 40:15 nations are as a drop in a bucket; the small dust on the scales;
Isaiah 40:17 All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
That being said God wants to work with you – so He begins by drawing us towards Him so that He can direct us towards the greatness that we can achieve!
Notice who God chooses to work with:
Who does He call
1 Corinthians 1:26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
Perhaps we are holding on to that notion that we are one of those, but the more likely scenario is what follows:
1 Corinthians 1:27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
1 Corinthians 1:28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
do we think of ourselves as that way?
But here is the key; here is why God has called us
1 Corinthians 1:29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
1 Corinthians 1:30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
1 Corinthians 1:31 that, as it is written, “HE WHO GLORIES, LET HIM GLORY IN THE LORD.”
When we fully comprehend all of this, we can begin to get out of our own way.
He knows that we cannot achieve this by our own power
Not by our might
Zechariah 4:6 So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.
we have the power to transform within us
through it we are destined for greatness
God can begin directing us so that we can fulfill our great potential.
Humility
Being / submissive
Bad Example
1 Samuel 15:1 Samuel also said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the LORD.
1 Samuel 15:2 Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt.
1 Samuel 15:3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ “
If you do not understand why God said to do this, all the better for the point that we are making here.
1 Samuel 15:4 So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah.
1 Samuel 15:5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.
1 Samuel 15:6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
1 Samuel 15:7 And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
1 Samuel 15:8 He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
1 Samuel 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Saul knew better – he set himself up higher than God
1 Samuel 15:10 Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,
1 Samuel 15:11 “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night.
1 Samuel 15:12 So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.”
1 Samuel 15:13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD.”
1 Samuel 15:14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
1 Samuel 15:15 And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
1 Samuel 15:16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak on.”
1 Samuel 15:17 So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel?
1 Samuel 15:18 Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’
1 Samuel 15:19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”
1 Samuel 15:20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
1 Samuel 15:21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”
1 Samuel 15:22 So Samuel said: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.”
Jesus Christ Example
Not my way, but yours
Not my will
Luke 22:41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed,
Luke 22:42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
Transitional verse
Psalms 25:9 The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way.
Psalms 25:12 Who is the man that fears the LORD? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses.
Respects and has the right perspective
Being teachable
Do you know better
Just coming into the church or having been in the church for 40 or more years
You can have all the potential ability in the world, but if you cannot be taught you will not be able to grow to the fullest
If you have 10 talents do you want to grow 10 more or do we stifle our growth and get stuck with far fewer than we think we should have
The Unteachable Person
“I know”
Do not Listen or hear
Only want to tell everything they know
Indicative of the end time
Revelation 3:16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
Revelation 3:17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, You children of Israel, For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land.
Hosea 4:2 By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed.
Hosea 4:3 Therefore the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the beasts of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.
Hosea 4:4 “Now let no man contend, or rebuke another; For your people are like those who contend with the priest.
Hosea 4:5 Therefore you shall stumble in the day; The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; And I will destroy your mother.
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
Hosea 4:7 “The more they increased, The more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame.
How long have we been going to church
Isaiah 28:9 “Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? [It’s not the baby] Isaiah 28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.”
This requires more and more understanding
Isaiah 30:10 Who say to the seers, “Do not see,” And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
Isaiah 30:11 Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us.”
Isaiah 30:12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise this word, And trust in oppression and perversity, And rely on them,
Can we learn anything new? What’s our attitude
Proverbs 8:32 “Now therefore, listen to me, my children, For blessed are those who keep my ways.
Proverbs 8:33 Hear instruction and be wise, And do not disdain it.
Proverbs 8:34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors.
Proverbs 8:35 For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the LORD;
We will be judged by ALL the words in the Bible
John 12:47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
John 12:48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him— the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.
Are we willing to be taught by all of them
Do we hear the Word of God, do we live by it. Are you willing to bet your life on it…because we do.
Example of Peter
Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
Matthew 16:14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
Matthew 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 16:20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
Matthew 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
Matthew 16:22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
Matthew 16:23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Being malleable
Peter was also an example of this
Walked on water, but lacked faith to continue
Denied Christ
Cut the ear off of Malchus, the servant of the high priest
After receiving the holy spirit
He gave a powerful sermon
Affirmed Jesus Christ and stood up for Him to the point of martyrdom
Became a servant of Jesus Christ
Jeremiah 18:2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.”
Jeremiah 18:3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.
Jeremiah 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
Jeremiah 18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
Jeremiah 18:6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the LORD. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
If we look at ourselves and are teachable and willing to change God can work with us to help us achieve the greatness we are destined to have
Through God that we can become this finished product
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
What does God give you?
Have you ever thought about all the things God gives us and does for us?
Grace, calling, repentance, righteousness, salvation, faith, His Son, wisdom, understanding
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father
What we can become
Philippians 3:21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
Conclusion
We know our destiny…so there is no doubt that we ARE destined for greatness
We have been given the opportunity for success
We can overcome and be victorious
visualize and see this and become the person that God wants you to be