RELEASING RELEASING YOUR DESTINYYOUR DESTINY

PART TWOPART TWO

CLIMBING THE CLIMBING THE LADDERLADDER

Then Jacob departed from Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and spent to a certain place and spent the night there, because the night there, because the sun had set; and he the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of took one of the stones of the place and put it under the place and put it under his head, and lay down in his head, and lay down in that place.that place.

Genesis 28:10Genesis 28:10

He had a dream, and He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels and behold, the angels of God were ascending of God were ascending and descending on it.and descending on it.

Genesis 28:12Genesis 28:12

And behold, the Lord And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, stood above it and said, "I am the Lord, the God "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; and the God of Isaac; the land on which you the land on which you lie, I will give it to you lie, I will give it to you and to your and to your descendants. descendants.

Genesis 28:13 Genesis 28:13

"Your descendants will also "Your descendants will also be like the dust of the be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the out to the west and to the east and to the north and east and to the north and to the south; and in you to the south; and in you and in your descendants and in your descendants shall all the families of shall all the families of the earth be blessed. the earth be blessed.

Genesis 28:14Genesis 28:14

Many of us have heard of the four spiritual laws.

They were a simple presentation of the Gospel used by Campus Crusade.

I used them in tract form when I went to share the Gospel with people.

The First Law was:

“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!”

That Plan is our destiny.

There are a few things that I wish the Four Spiritual Laws had pointed out though.

You see there are at least four other plans that compete with God’s Wonderful plan…..

First of all – YOU have a plan for your life and usually think it is wonderful!

Secondly – Your intimate relationships have a plan for your life and also think it is wonderful.

Thirdly – The World has a plan for your life and definitely thinks it is wonderful.

And fourthly – the Devil has a plan for your life and knows it is not wonderful but wants you to think it is.

God’s plan for our lives can use the other four.

But the other four without God will always end up off the path.

Some will take us a little off path,

Some will lead us to utter ruin…..

Like we spoke of last week, “Our Plan” has at its foundation a God breathed vision.

Like Jacob, we have dreams and passions that call to us…..

They are set in our soul from before our birth.

They are meant to lead us to a meeting with God.

Actually, like Jacob’s life has shown us much more than a meeting…..

A Wrestling Match!

Even Jesus experienced this in his moving to fulfill his destiny.

Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me."

Matthew 26:38

And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will."

Matthew 26:39

Even Jesus went through to agony to give his will to God.

And if it is so with the Son of God it will be even more so with us.

Until Our Plan becomes His Plan, the dreams and passions of our souls will cause us and everyone in our lives trouble.

But if we, like Jacob, will allow it to speak to us, this trouble can to show us the Path to God.

The World’s Plan as the Bible presents it is not for our good.

The Bible says “God so loved the world that He gave his only Son”

John 3:16

Later in the scriptures he talks about Christians not loving the “World”

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:15

This sounds like a contradiction but is not. The word “world” refers to two different things.

The “World” that He loves and calls us to love describes the people in the world.

The “World” that He does not love and commands us not to love is the world system and the values it is based on.

It is described in the next verse in First John:

For all that is in

the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the

world. 1 John 2:16

We see three principles that underlie the whole system of the world that is not under God.

The Lust of the Flesh

The Lust of the Eyes

The Pride of Life

These three principles are the root motivations of all sin.

They are the foundation of all human activity when it is ruled by the Kingdom of Darkness.

The World’s plan is under the reign of the Devil.

We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

1 John 5:19

The Devil has no intent for good towards us.

His greatest desire is to imprison us and destroy anything that resembles God’s plan in our lives.

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8

BUTHe will do everything he can do to make you believe that he is for you and that God is against you.

We are told to intentionally fight against the Devil by resisting all of his plans both in his direct assault on us and in every other assult through

and in every other assault through the world, our relationships and our own hearts.

But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

1 Peter 5:9

With these thoughts in mind I want to consider a great temptation for all of us concerning our destinies…..

Jacob dreamed of a ladder to heaven….

Since then people have talked about “Climbing the Ladder” of success.

It has become almost a mantra of acceptability in every area of life.

For the “World,” where you are on the “ladder” defines everything about you.

In our generation perhaps our greatest temptation to forsake our destiny will be to view our lives through the lens of the World’s value system which the ladder represents.

As someone once said of himself, “I’m not even on the bottom rung of the ladder of success…..

I would love to think I am a Top end carnivore like a lion

But I don’t even rank as a slightly ferocious kitty cat.

I am really a paramecium (what amoebas eat) on the bottom end of the food chain.”

The Ladder of Success can seem like the ladder to heaven

If offers you fame, money, popularity, self-esteem or basically anything you want.

But set out to climb it and you soon find out that there is a terrible cost to be paid.

By Lust, Greed and Pride the ladder of success cripples and destroys all who climb its rungs.

And this is because Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life are the prime motivators to climb.

What effect does the ladder of success have on us?

What effect does the ladder of success have on us?

Like a Universal pyramid scheme

The Ladder of Success always has winners and losers.

It rewards a few with unimaginable rewards.

And leaves many Bankrupt.

How can we recognize when we are starting to climb the ladder?

The single most important indicator to show us we have begun to climb the ladder

Is the answer to one essential question….

Where do you derive your identity, value and sense of security?

Do you ever feel that you are inferior?

Or Superior?

Do you believe you are worth only what everyone else tells you you are worth?

Or that you have to do something that is not really you to succeed?

That you have to be someone that you are not on the inside to gain approval?

That you have to compromise godly values to get ahead?

Do you ever feel unthankful for your unchangebles?

Do you ever feel jealous of others?

Do you believe that you are only worth what you produce?

How smart you are?

How Famous you are?

Where you are located on the authority ladder?

How many women or men are attracted to you …. Or not?

How much money you have?

How many friends you have?

All of these and many more related to them are the very subtle ways the World sends it messages and we receive them.

Any answer except, I derive my identity, value and security from God

Who loved me so much that He gave His only Son Jesus to show me how much I am loved,

Is the answer that says you are climbing the world’s ladder.

So you say, “I understand this but I want to make my mark on the world.”

So why should I not climb it?

You might say, “It seems that doing things God’s way just doesn’t seem to work….”

Let’s seriously consider if the World’s way works first?

Name the richest man or woman on Earth.

What does their money ultimately do for them?

It may do all kinds of things but the one thing it cannot do is what the Beatles said many years ago…..

It cannot buy them love.

Anyone who loves someone will have to do it if they were the poorest person or the richest person on Earth…..

Or it won’t be love

What about the most beautiful,Handsome, famous, or powerful person on earth?

A debilitating disease or accident can end it all in a moment.

And what they will have left is what all of us can have.

The knowledge that before we had it all God loved us

And when we lost it all God still loved us.

The whole world system is based on the lie that says, I will be loved, esteemed, valued, praised….

For some quality that I have….

Rather than the relationship I have with the one who loves me more than life itself….

It is a lie!

Ask Howard Hughes, one time the wealthiest and perhaps most powerful man on the planet.

He died insane and in total isolation. Used by so many but loved perhaps only by God.

There are thousands of stories that are the same….

All we need do is look into the infallible word of History and we will see the truth.

The problem with the world’s ladder is it is all about me…..

But what about the ladder that Jacob saw?

Did you notice that God never asked Jacob to climb that ladder?

It was not a ladder for Jacob to climb up…..

It was the ladder for God to climb down.

Jacob’s destiny was a work that God himself planned before he was born.

The ladder of his generations would be the way God would finally step into time.

"Your descendants will also "Your descendants will also be like the dust of the be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the out to the west and to the east and to the north and east and to the north and to the south; and in you to the south; and in you and in your descendants and in your descendants shall all the families of the shall all the families of the earth be blessed. earth be blessed.

Genesis 28:14Genesis 28:14

A virgin from Jacob’s family line would conceive and bear a son.

His name would be called Emmanuel.

Meaning God with us.

Jacob’s DNA would be the ladder for the saviour to come to earth,

And remain with us forever.

We don’t climb the ladder to him.

We would never make it.

He climbed down the ladder to us.

To show us that he loved each one of us…..

Not because of anything we are, do, accomplish…

Or what others think of us….

But simply that He loves us because He made us.

He made us with a destiny

And whatever the details of that destiny may be in the specifics for each of us,

It is at the heart, to become like Jesus

And like Jacob to become a new ladder from Heaven….

That He might climb down and touch the lives of those whose lives we touch.

What brings true success is knowing Jesus’ love for us and following his lead.

And giving His love to others.