Finding Your Gift and Destiny in God's Kingdom

Rev Peter Tsukahira
25-08-2019

Ephesians 2:10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Everybody has an assigned role and a gift and special calling from God.

In the Bible, there are many instances that people realised that their lives have been planned by God before they were born.

Eg. The prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 1:5 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Eg. King David.

Psalm 139:13 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
13 For You formed my [a]inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.

God designed him before he was born.

Psalm 139:16 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

What's revealed to King David is the revelation that God had planned his life before he lived those days. God always knew.

Eg. Hannah, the mother of Samuel. She was mocked by her family and she was unable to produce offsprings. Finally she made a promise to God to raise her son and he would belong to God and serve God alone. Immediately she got pregnant with Samuel. She handed him to Eli the priest. Samuel became the greatest of the judges of Israel.  When she made that vow, God stepped into the picture. She had several other children after that.

Eg. John the Baptist. The angel appeared to Zechariah of the nature and destiny of his unborn son. He was going to be the forerunner of the Messiah. 

Eg. The Apostle Paul.

Galatians 1:15 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased

Before he was a persecutor of the early believers and before he was inspired by God to write half of the New Testament, he was set apart by God.

Eg. Jesus Christ. He is the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. He and the Father are one. There's nothing accidental about Jesus.

There are many more examples in the Bible.

Conclusions:
1) God has at least two classes of servants. Some He handcrafts and creates and others like us who are stamped out in the factory in the industrial part of heaven.

2) What's true about these people in the Bible is also true about each one of us.

The God that we know in the Bible is a God of intense creativity. He never has to do the same things twice. He creates our universe and He moves in intense uniqueness.

The crown of God's creation is human beings. He made us in His image. We are completely unique. He already has a plan. He planned us before we were born. He made us to live forever. He designed us according to that plan. Because of His intense fatherly love, there is a design in His heart for each one of us. God's dream for us becomes flesh. But we come into an imperfect, sin darkened world. And the people who surround us, ie. our parents, out all their plans and expectations and hopes and ambitions and shattered dreams and difficulties on our little shoulders. In school, teachers take over. And our classmates teach us what it means to be popular and what it means to have friends. Then we have to survive in the society. They began to insert intense pressure on us on what it takes to succeed and how devastating it is to fail. We are looking at the survivors in the adult society. We can change so quickly and adapt so fast. That's the story of adult society in places all around the world. But in quieter moments, we ask, "Who am I? What about me?" It breaks the heart of God that everybody doesn't know Him. God has a good plan for everybody.

What about the people who ghot caught up in drugs and their lives shattered by war? God weeps over creation. He has provided a way by sending His own Son. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. But God is reaching out and trying to reveal the goodness of His plan to every single person because free people will seek the Word of God. For some of us, when we become aware, we go, "Yes!" and we make decision towards the direction of the call. Because Jesus said many are called but few are chosen. God calls to many and to all. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. His call and love go to all. But few are chosen. In the making of those choices, we cross more among the call to the chosen.

Ekklesia means out off and call. It means called out of darkness into life. In English, it translates into church. The church is the called out ones. You are among the chosen. You need to know the basics. Who is God? How to pray? God is a God of relationships. It delights Him to be in relationship with His people. It fills His heart with joy and He delights in prayer. He's bound by covenant that He's promised that He'll answer our prayers. You leant to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.

The first great discovery is "Who is God?"

The second great discovery is "Who does this God say that I am? Who am I to Him? And what's required of me?" He is our creator. He's the One who made you and designed you before you were born, before even you're in your mother's womb.

The next thing you'd want to do is to have a conversation with God about that. "When you made me, what's your plan for me?"

But He doesn't answer. Usually the problem is you are not ready to do what God wants you to do. It is actually more merciful for Him not to tell you. So how do you get God to tell you the eternal plan for your life?

Never go to God's house without a gift. You bring something precious and worthy to God. You get to be like Hannah before you bring your request to God. You make a promise to God. "Whatever You say to me, I will make it my business to get it done for You." You want His will and walk that eternal life. And God says, "Do this." And you go, "What?! That?! Not that!" Usually it is something so simple, lowly, humble and so unseen. Eg. "Go help a person." But you promised. If you start down this path, immediately things begin to happen. Everytime you go back to God after you'd done it, there's joy. And it becomes passion. Your passion becomes that jet fuel that gets you keep moving despite the difficult times.

The next thing you find is your gift. Every human being is designed by God with at least one gift. That gift will produce income and respect. Find your gift. Your gift is down that road. Your gift is holy and set aside for you by God.

Now you realise that there are people with similar gift.

This is the road of a disciple. You do it and do it and do it and every time you do it, it works. This delights the heart of your Father so much that occasionally, He reaches out His hand and touches the use of your gift with supernatural power. And that's called the anointing. Every child of God is gifted and every child of God should become anointed. And these little miracles change the world. It will be miracles in other people's lives. Fruits are the results of you using your gift and it impacts the lives of other people.

Every one of us needs to give an account of our life. What's going to be on your final exam? God is going to ask you, "What about My plan that I have for you before you were born?" And that's all that He's going to ask you. The God that we serve is our creator.

RELATED:
BLINK THEOLOGY (ROMANS 9-11)

THE CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP (I)

THE PATH TO DISCIPLESHIP (II)

THE POWER OF DISCIPLESHIP (III)

THE SHAPE OF THE MOVEMENT OF GOD AND THE FOUNDATIONAL NATURE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

FINDING YOUR GIFT AND DESTINY IN GOD'S KINGDOM