The Best Things About Here & Now - Steve Parrish
Acts 17:26–28 (ESV) And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’…
Stonehenge: Wiltshire, England, iImported rock, circular pattern, sophisticated locking joints speaks of intelligent design! But what was its purpose, its destiny:? Crematorium? Installation site for Danish Kings? Druid Worship? Astrological calendar for determining eclipses and solar events? Communication platform for interacting with aliens? 800,000 tourists visit annually, but destiny has been lost because the time/place became disconnected from the creator’s purpose.
You/Us: We are here now. We are complex! The systems of the human body include circulatory, digestive & excretory, endocrine (hormone), integumentary/exocrine (skin, hair, nails, sweat), immune and lymphatic, muscular, nervous, renal and urinary (kidneys filter blood), reproductive, respiratory, skeletal, hematopoietic (creates cells that travel in blood),
What about our Purpose/Destiny:
don’t reduce purpose to what you do - teacher, doctor, athlete…
Psalm 139:13–16 (ESV) For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Isaiah 49:1 (ESV) …The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.
Psalm 57:2 (ESV) I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
Psalm 138:8 (ESV) The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Disconnected from the Creator and His Purpose, you may become an amazing tourist attraction, but you’ll never experience DESTINY.
God wants to use your HERE & NOW :
to reveal Himself and His purposes in your life.
to invite your participation.
to begin unlocking DESTINY.
HERE & NOW for Jacob:
at odds with parents, fleeing His brother, alone, travelling to a new place
not prepared (Gen 28:11) uses stone for pillow
he dreamed:
Numbers 12:6 (ESV) And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.
Job 33:15–18 (ESV) In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds, then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings, that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man; he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.
Daniel 2:47 (ESV) The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”
Daniel 2:47 (ESV) The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”
revelation
(Gen 28:12) a ladder or staircase to heaven with angels coming and going
DESTINY REVEALED: Genesis 28:13–19 (ESV) And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
Live In The Here & Now
DESTINY doesn’t start off glorious,
DESTINY STARTS as a HERE/NOW moment.
DESTINY understands this is always the time, this is always the place
amplified in the US: gather with His people!
location and proximity matters!
invite others - this is not just about you!
distance always disconnects from the flow of Destiny
Lean In
posture determines outcome!
enjoy the party, but remember, He is the prize!
Jeremiah 29:11–14 (ESV) For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord…
Luke 11:9–13 (ESV) And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Walk In What You Already Know
don’t be chasing the next revelation, walk in the current one
destiny is experienced one step at a time, not by chasing new paths
Philippians 3:14–16 (ESV) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Acts 17:26–28 (ESV) And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’