Pastor Leon Seaton

You Control Your Destiny - Part I

God has an exciting plan for your life, but because you have free will, it requires your full cooperation to make it happen! This is the United States of America. As a citizen of this great country you can go any where you want to go, do anything you want to do and become whatever you want to become. It is a marvelous opportunity, but no one is going to hand you everything on a silver platter! You have to do the work yourself!

You can become the President of the United States if you desire! You can be a great school teacher or farm a lot of land… or you can become a homeless bum. It’s your choice.

Of course, this has a modifier. God may call you to do a special work. Always remember that this life is just a prelude for your life in heaven. What you go through here prepares you for your work in heaven. Heaven is more than sitting around on the clouds playing a harp!

The good news is that if God calls you to a special work you will really want to do it… but you still have to work to make it happen.

To do great things we have to step out in faith. When we do, God meets us half-way and helps us accomplish His goal.

For some of us that may mean learning to cook. For others it may mean learning to teach a Sunday school class. Many of us were taught that if we sold out to God, He would send us to Africa as a missionary. Generally that isn’t true!

 Three things control your destiny:

1.    Faith

2.    Vision

3.    Persistence

TODAY WE WILL FOCUS ON FAITH:

1. Faith is not wishful thinking – it is applying what God has taught us. If you want to win the Olympic medal in high diving you start by learning to swim, then you start diving. This is followed by a lot of practice…

2. Faith is not magic. You can fast and pray for a week about paying your income taxes. However, God is not going to get an income tax form and fill it out and write a check. That is your responsibility.  But He will help you. During my first pastorate we ran out of money. I filled out my income tax forms but did not have the $92 to mail in. On April 15^th --the day the taxes had to be mailed--a businessman handed me a $100 bill because God impressed him to do that.

God has a wonderful plan for your life.

Jeremiah 29:11, “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.”

John 10:10.  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

God wants you well:  1 Peter 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.”

God will provide us abundant prosperity!

Deuteronomy 28:11, “The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity--in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground--in the land He swore to your forefathers to give you.”

-              This chapter opens by telling us that we must follow God completely and totally… loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And walking in obedience!

-              Philippians 4:19, “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

If you read the rest of the Bible you know that we are soldiers in the army of the Lord. As long as we are on planet earth there will be battles to fight. For instance, Joseph was mightily used by God. But God spent several years preparing him for this work. The training was very rough… Joseph was tested to the maximum!

His dad was Jacob; his mother was Rachel. He had a little brother named Benjamin.

Unfortunately his dad had another wife named Leah. The girl’s dad tricked Jacob into marrying both girls. Ultimately Leah had 6 sons, her servant bore two sons to Jacob; Rachel’s servant bore 2 sons, finally God gave Rachel two sons.

Jacob learned a lot through the years, but he really messed up in his old age because he played favorites with his children. Rachel’s children were favored because she was Jacob’s first love. After both women died Jacob made a coat of many colors for his favorite son, Joseph. This made the other sons intensely jealous.

When Joseph was 17 years old he really messed up. (This was about 1,730 years before Jesus was born.) He told his older brothers about a vision that he had that someday they would bow down to him. Dumb thing to do!

They were so angry that they faked his death and sold him into slavery. 23 years later, after spending years in prison Joseph was elevated to the number two position in Egypt because all during his trials he stayed close to God and never complained. He was man enough to learn from every circumstance!

You know the story. First he was a slave to Potiphar… Potiphar’s wife lied about him and Joseph was tossed into prison for obeying God! That hardly seems fair!

Only when Pharaoh had a very disturbing dream that only Joseph could interpret was he taken out of prison.

The question is this: Why did God allow him to suffer?

The answer is easy: He needed to be trained. Most of us need to go through the school of hard knocks.

For some stupid reason Oklahoma joined many other states in allowing gambling as a way to help finance schools. Yes, it brings in money, but the gambling habit destroys many lives – people of all levels of income have been caught stealing money to support their gambling habit. Also many people have had their lives destroyed by the instant wealth and gratification that follows…so they overspend and sometimes wind up in greater debt or losing their marriages.

The only way to live a successful life is to be a faith-filled child of the living God. Getting saved only starts us on the journey. We have to learn to live by faith and walk in faithfulness.

If you want to be successful and make heaven your home be very careful about where you place your faith!

1.     God – for your eternal salvation and direction for life. Learn all you can, but trust your walk with God. He will lead you and guide you!

2.     Self – each of us was created by God. (There are no illegitimate children but there are some illegitimate parents. God can correct those mistakes.)

3.     Friends – Pick your friends carefully, then nurture the relationships! You will have very few true close personal friends in life. Someone has said that if you want to see what you are becoming look closely at your friends (from Pastor Steve’s sermon at Lisa Wehrenberg’s funeral)

4.     Family – personal family and church family. Your family is your most important asset. Develop it to the best of your ability. Make family a priority in your prayer life. Look at your family members to see how you can minister to them.

a.     Jesus – initially His family could not grasp the idea that He was the Son of God. They thought He was crazy! He did not reject them, and eventually He won them over.

b.    If they are not serving God – model God’s love! But be sure that you always forgive them no matter what is going on.

 Unforgiveness will destroy your faith:

Matthew 5:21-24.  "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

WHAT NOT TO HAVE FAITH IN:

1. Satan. Satan is a liar and deceiver. Never believe him. If he puts you down he is lying, if he promises you short cuts like he did Adam and Eve, his purpose is to destroy you! Don’t read his garbage (porn, gossip magazines) and don’t do his drugs! Live a holy life!
2. Money. The love of money is the root of all evil! You will never have enough money to satisfy… never enough wealth to make you happy, never enough “stuff” to get ahead of all the promises on TV to make you happy. Happiness is an inside job! People are destroyed by gambling – some people have stooped to stealing money to gamble…and the wealth some have won has destroyed their finances and marriages.
3. Power – Jesse Duplantis states that God is seeking for people that can be superior to power, not controlled by power. Jesus had all power in heaven and on earth…but He only used it to help other people! He healed the sick, raised the dead and fed the hungry. But He felt every pain possible as He hung on the cross! He put up with every conceivable insult possible and never complained.
4. Your beauty/good looks – it goes away!  When you marry someone who has heart-stopping beauty just remember that in 50 years you will still be married to them… and they may be fat or wrinkled by then. That beautiful blonde hair will be gray! Their figure may sag; their hearing may not be so good. They may take out their teeth at night!  And you may not be so pretty either!

HAVE FAITH IN GOD!

Mark 11:22-24  "Have faith in God," Jesus answered.  "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

Next week we will look at Vision and Persistence!

 Sunday, September 27, 2009