GOD AS THE PRESERVER OF DESTINY

Jer 1:5, Ex 2:1-10, Lev 18:1-4

This sermon is centered on one of the characteristics of God – God, as the Preserver of Destiny. God is the creator of the universe and the controller of all things. Destiny is your divine decree, your fate, fortune, your lot, your portion and the future destined for a person or thing, the predetermined events, future events for a person. Destiny is a life time event. It does not end until lifetime.

To preserve is to keep safe from danger or harm, to protect from delay or nullification, to maintain or sustain, to keep up, to care for, to defend, to guard, to retain or to conserve. The person performing all these functions is the preserver of destiny and is no other one than the Almighty God, the only true God. Every child of God is a child of destiny and the preserver wants your destiny to be fulfilled. God is the custodian and preserver of destiny.

Does anybody dispute that he has a destiny? In Jer 1:5a, God said “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart”. The same that applied to Jeremiah applies to you and I. God knows your beginning and your end. He knows your destiny and He is the preserver of it.

Moses ( Ex 2:1-10) will be used as the first study case

Moses was born during the oppression of Israelites in Egypt by Amram and Jochebed (Ex 2:1-10). It was the time King Pharaoh ordered all male children born by the Israelites to be killed by the Hebrew midwives. As far as King Pharaoh was concerned, Moses was not to live according to Pharaoh’s decree. but, because God is a preserver of destiny and He had a specific assignment for Moses He ensured that he must be preserved. When the King discovered the Hebrew midwives were not killing the male children, he devised another method. Despite the new method, this boy - Moses was still spared.

This boy of destiny was hidden by his mother for 3 months but when she could not longer hide him, she made an Egyptian boat with papyrus and coated it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in it and hid it among reeds near River Nile. The boy’s sister named Miriam, aged seven years, followed her mother Jochebed to see what would befall the baby.

For destiny to be fulfilled it was the same time Pharaoh’s daughter who went to bathe and she discovered the boat in which the baby boy was put. This boy – Moses- was then handed over by Pharaoh’s daughter inadvertently to her actual mother to be nursed and nurtured. She also employed her as a nurse! When the boy grew up, Pharaoh’s daughter took him back and named him Moses meaning – for I drew Him out of water.

Because God is the Almighty and is a preserver of destiny, Moses who was supposed to have been killed according to Pharaoh’s decree, was actually brought up and nurtured in Pharaoh’s palace! What an irony! This is to show that whatever God has purported to do, He will surely do no matter the circumstances and situation. Can you imagine somebody paying a mother for taking care of her own son? Because the destiny preserver had planned to preserve Moses, so it was.

God made Pharaoh’s daughter to have pity for the crying baby even though she knew it was one of the Hebrew children whom her father would have loved to kill. God used Miriam too at age seven to make the destiny fulfilled by giving her wisdom to ask Pharaoh’s daughter if she could get a nurse for her to nurse the baby boy. God also gave Jochebed - Moses’ mother - the grace to be cool headed, self controlled and to live above emotions. She was able to bridle her tongue and God granted her the grace to be very prayerful. God preserved Moses so that he could be the deliverer and law giver of Israel. And he did as planned by God.

God called him from the burning bush to deliver Israel and he led them for forty years through the wilderness. He received the Ten Commandments from God and God was always speaking with him. It was the rod in his hand the Lord employed, as he asked him to stretch it out to ‘part and dry’ the red sea for the Israelites to walk through.

Despite the circumstances surrounding his birth, God the preserver of destiny preserved him. Are you worried about the future or the events around you and in your country, government’s pronouncements that you think you may not be favoured? Do not worry; the destiny preserver is there to make sure you are fulfilled. The one who said he knew you before you were born is still there to protect, keep, maintain and sustain you.

Another example to study is Joseph. Gen 37-50

Joseph , son of Jacob and Rachel, the last born of the twelve children of Jacob was the most loved of the children. This made his brothers to hate him. Joseph had two dreams which he translated to his father and brothers, a situation that further aggravated the brothers’ hatred for him. But the dream was in line with God’s destiny for him.

His eleven brothers except one, Benjamin - his motherly born- sold him to the Midianite merchants out of envy, hatred and jealousy. But little did they know that what was intended to be evil would turn out to be favourable for Joseph. His brothers believed they would not see him again but the preserver of destiny knew that he, Joseph, would eventually, in due time, be the one to rescue them.

Joseph was sold by the Midianite merchants to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s guards in Egypt. Of course, for God’s destiny to be fulfilled in his life, God had to plant him in Egypt.

A Hebrew boy in Egypt, as a slave, Joseph was taken out of the dungeon to come and interpret Pharaoh’s dream, a dream which nobody else could interpret. God gave him a discerning spirit and this made Pharaoh to put him in charge of many things and made people to be subordinate to Joseph.

God made Joseph to forget all his troubles and made him fruitful. During the seven years of famine in other lands and Canaan, his brothers came to Egypt in search of grain. His brothers who thought they would never meet him again came in contact with him. Because the destiny preserver kept him in Egypt for such a purpose, he was able to assist them, save their lives and settle them in Goshen even with his father Jacob.

Gen 50:18-20 says “his brothers then came and threw themselves down before him, we are your slaves”. They said in v19-20, “but Joseph said to them, don’t be afraid, am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good and accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives”.

Despite Joseph’s brothers’ evil plan and Potiphar’s wife’s plot to implicate him, the Lord was with Joseph; prospered him, showed him kindness, granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warders. He made him fulfilled, and granted him success in everything he did.

Your God, my God is a covenant keeping God. He is a destiny preserver. Is anybody planning evil against you? Are you being hated because you are blessed or loved? Don’t worry, the Lord who preserved Joseph is still alive to defend, protect and make sure He preserves you with your destiny

Jonah in (Jonah 1 – 4) also is a testimony to destiny preserved.

God’s plan for Jonah was to deliver the message of salvation to the people of Nineveh. But Jonah thought he could run away from God and he tried to. God allowed a fish to swallow him and while in the belly of the fish, he realised he could not run away from God. God, the preserver of destiny allowed him to be vomited on the land and he eventually went to deliver the message in Nineveh and the people were saved. Even if your flesh is warring against your spirit, God the controller and preserver of destiny will always give you a way out to make sure your destiny is fulfilled.

You are a child of destiny. Your destiny will be preserved and fulfilled in Jesus name.

Prayer:

Father in heaven, I thank you for giving me a destiny and for preserving it. May I be able to walk with you so that my destiny will be fulfilled in Jesus name I pray. Amen.

CHASTISEMENT—THE WAY THE LORD CORRECTS AND REINVESTS IN HIS CHILDREN

Text: Heb. 12:5-11, Prov. 3:11-12, Prov: 23:13-14, Rev. 13:19

Chastisement simply means correction, discipline, punishment. To chastise is to correct or discipline or punish or reprimand. The Bible says in Heb.12:6 “For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes”. Heb.12:8 says “Now, if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all of God’s children share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true son”. Prov.13:11-12 says “ My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent His rebuke because the Lord disciplines those He loves as a father, the son He delights in”. Rev.3:19 says “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent”.

God chastises you so as to prevent you from perishing with the world. His uses it as a refining process to bring out the best in you, and at the same time controls the heat so that you won’t be consumed. God’s goal for chastising is not to destroy but to develop you and get the best out of you. It is to drive you to repentance and get you to rely on Him for His grace. It is one of the ways God demonstrates that He loves you and that you are special to Him because He has invested so much in you. He has a lot of stake in you. So any time you are not on the path of righteousness, He chastises you.

The Bible encourages parents to correct and rebuke so as to deliver children form destruction. Prov.23:13-14 says “Do not with hold discipline from a child, if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with rod and save his soul from death”. Prov. 29:17 says “Discipline your son and he will give you peace, He will bring delight to your soul”. Spoiling a child with wealth is pampering, it is not love. It is better to bring a child up in the way of righteousness and if a child errs, correct him or him in love with spiritual word.

Prov.22:15 says “Foolishness bound up in the heart of a child, the rod of correction will drive it far from him”. Teach your child the way he should go and teach him or her kingdom values. In 2^nd Tim.4:2 teachers of the world are admonished to preach the word and use it to reprove, rebuke and extort. At times the truth may be bitter to you, it is to make you change for better and restitute your ways and be in the right standby with God. It may be difficult to accept correction, but no matter how the truth hurts, you must be willing to listen and make amends. Truth may be bitter to you, it is for your own good and it is profitable for your body, soul and spirit.

What Leads to Chastisement?

• If one is not on the path of righteousness
• If one is not spiritually productive
• If one falls below God’s expectation. God has His own standard and anybody that falls below the standard will be chastised.
• If one is living in sins
• If one is unfaithful to His word.

Advantages of Chastisement

• It drives out foolishness from the heart. Prov.22:15
• So that you might be partakers of His Holiness. Heb.12:10
• You learn from others who had been chastised. Act 5:5-10
• You are treated as son by God. Heb.12:17
• You are purified and the best is made of you
• It prevents you from destruction and Hell fire. Prov.23;17
• Brethren, when you are being chastised count it all joy. It is out of love. It is for you own good.

How does God Chastise?

Let us consider some examples of those whom God has chastised in the scriptures; David, Jonah, Nebuchadnezzar and Paul.

In 2^nd Samuel 11:1-17, 12:16, King David was chastised for committing adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife. He realized God was not pleased with him, later he wrote many Psalms to appease God, sought His face and to praise Him. David would not have known he could be a great psalmist and a good praise singer. His chastisement led to this discovery.

In Jonah chapters 1-4, God chastised Jonah by allowing the fish to swallow him for three days and three nights when he was running away from God and did not want to deliver the message of salvation to the people of Nineveh. But after being chastised, he cried to God and God allowed him to be vomited and he went to deliver the message. He became a carrier of good message.

In David 4:31-34, King Nebuchadnezzar’s accomplishment made him become proud and since God detests the proud, he was chastised by God. God withdrew his royal authority and made him to live with wild animals and ate grass like cattle for seven years. After humbling himself God restored him, and made him greater than what he was. He became more refined and greater after chastisement.

In 1^st Cor.9:16-23, Saul the persecutor of early Christians was chastised for persecuting the Christians. He lost his sight. God later changed his name to Paul, restored his sight and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. He became an apostle, a soul winner and wrote many letters of encouragement to Christians to hold on to their faith. If Paul was not chastised perhaps he would have died as Saul the persecutor and not as Apostle Paul the soul winner.

In Rev.3:16, God warned the church in Laodicea that He would spit them out of His mouth if they are lukewarm to His service and work. He wanted them to be hot for Him. The message is for you and I too.

When you are being chastised, do not be unrepentant, count it all joy, it is to bring the best out of you. Chastisement really brought out the best in David, Jonah, Nebuchadnezzar and Paul.

Prayer

Father in heaven, grant me the grace to live up to your standard and expectation. However any time I am due for chastisement, grant me the grace to endure it and come out refined and renewed .in Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN.