It Was On Purpose | Pastor Stephen Chandler

acts 26 verse nights and you guys ready to read this is they're there for King Agrippa I'm gonna name my dog King Agrippa I don't currently have a dog I had a dog but then I had kids so I got rid of my dog but one day we're gonna get another dog and I'm a name on King Agrippa just because I want a Roman King to obey all of my commands this is Paul speaking the king of Griffith and therefore King Agrippa I was not come on say it say it say it like you're talking to your kids I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision but declared first to those in Damascus in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should that they should that they should turn to God and do works befitting repent and somebody next to you and say work it out Paul said this is what I preached repent turn to God and then act like a Christian really yeah like act like it do works befitting your repentance for these reasons the Jew sees me in the temple they try to kill me just because I told him to act like a Christian little rough there for having obtained help from God to this day I stand witnessed both to the small and great say no other things than those which the prophet and Moses said would come that Christ would suffer and that he would be the first to rise from the dead and will proclaim light to the Jewish people and to destiny Church or at least that's what my translation says father God we're grateful we're thankful God because you're in this room right now how do we know it's because you promised you said wherever two or three gathered in your name there you will be also and God you would not have shown up if not to heal us to speak us to catapult us forward the purpose to play in the destiny that you have was so God we pray that you would do what only you can do in this moment God if there are any sick among us God as we sit here and hear your word God that there would be supernatural healing that takes place God those that are battling with depression and discouragement God that joy would now overwhelm them that there would be a peace that surpasses all understanding that would guard their heart and guard their mind God those that are blind God that you would give us vision for our lives God will be ever so careful to give you all the glory all the honor and all the praise in Jesus name we pray somebody shot amen and amen before you sit down high five two people tell somebody it was on purpose it was on purpose it was on it was on purpose I am experiencing the joys of being a father of children that can finally walk I have a two and a half year old named Zoey I have a one-year-old named Roman his birthday is actually today and we are getting ready you know it's so funny how people will celebrate your birthday it's like congratulations you live 12 more months what an accomplishment we're so proud of you I should get a gift just for putting up with him for 12 months but I'm in that fun season of parenting where my kids can finally walk and now I can send them on missions not unimportant missions but vital missions world-changing missions missions like Zozo can you go get daddy the TV controls good missions missions that keep me from having to get out of my comfortable position in the sofa but I can now send one of my offspring for the purpose that they were created to bring the TV controls to Daddy well I'll give Zoey your mom's cell phone said hey mom's upstairs she's left her phone key okay can you take take mom's cell phone upstairs and she feels like it's the most thing she's ever been asked to do and I said Zoe makes sure not jobs daddy I won't drop it take it straight to mommy daddy I will and she she gets that cellphone and she goes marching off on her journey and she climbs Mount Everest which are the staircases in our house for her short little legs and and I'll see her running upstairs and I'm here to say mommy mommy mommy daddy daddy said to give you this and her mom and say thank you so much and then she'll come back down the stairs she's like daddy daddy daddy daddy I did it I did that's a good job Zoey and should go and I said you know how this works here's a gummy bear Zoey but don't tell your mom cuz you're not a lot of sweets this late and she said daddy daddy can I have another one and I said yes you can have another one you she's a great negotiator already I talked about Zoey because Roman he doesn't really go on the missions that I send him I'll ask him to do something and you know no no no no that's not what I'm here for not yet but it's so funny I literally I sent my missions my kids are like five missions every hour theirs can you take your bottle and put it on the sink can you do this can you do that and about four out of five times they nail it but about that fifth time something happens so you'll be on our way to take something to our mom or whatever it may be and she'll notice that her brother RORO Roman is what his name is what we call him RORO because we're not very creative so we just want was over a row but she'll notice that RORO has grabbed her stuff mickey and listen to me nobody I mean nobody touches those stuff Mickey mission over that that's why that's mine so don't worry about it he's pixelated he's gonna drop that thing in about 30 seconds it'll be no no that's my this mind me I said I know but that's okay she gets distracted from her mission Oh she'll be on her way for what I sent her to do and then she'll notice something that's a little bit more attractive than what she's doing sure she'll notice that that I have some some old fruit loops under the sofa that I didn't know we're there and and now that's got my attention or there's something shiny or there's something better or or she'll fall every so often they'll go on a mission and she'll tripping or fall Romano trip and fall or whatever maybe in there on the ground and they'll start crying and daddy daddy daddy I hurt myself and I'll come and I'll pick him up and I'll dust off their knees and I'm like cells are you okay she's like Daddy no I'm not okay and I'm like so you're okay she's like no okay as I see you are okay because if you weren't okay you wouldn't be able to tell me that you're not okay but because you're able to say that you're not okay it means that you're okay she said daddy daddy holding me daddy hold me daddy hold me I said no no I can't hold you because there's a mission now now you fell but that doesn't mean the missions over you need to dust yourself off and you need to keep going I wonder how many people God has given you a mission and somehow you've got diverted and distracted from it because somebody grabs your mickey you you were going after what God had for you but then you saw somebody get the answer to your prayer no no no no no that's not your job that's my job I was praying for that job no no no that's not your girlfriend that's my girlfriend it was pretty no no no and because you saw something out of the corner of your eye it diverted you from the mission that God puts you on or maybe you tripped and fell maybe you fell into some type of pain maybe a loved one got sick and passed away maybe you lost your job maybe there was some type of major mistake that you made or whatever it may be but but you found yourself with your knees a little bruised and and you've got fixated on that season in life and you've forgotten the mission that God has placed you on look at somebody next you tone there is a mission one of the most inspirational verses for me is in this Acts chapter 26 verse 19 where Paul was standing on his death sentence trial see the Apostle Paul was arrested for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and the punishment of that was death and it was his time in the court of law come on all my folks who grew up watching law and order you know when it gets to the place that you you you have to defend yourself it's either convinced that jury that you're innocent or you're you know the music you're out of there and he has his opportunity to convince them not to kill him now if I was in that situation I would have said come on guys come on come on come on come on let's talk about this let's talk about this do we wanna kill this pretty face just because I was telling people about Jesus he didn't say that though he didn't say he didn't do it he didn't say this was unreasonable matter of fact he didn't try to defend himself at all you know what he said he said I'm so proud I stayed locked on the mission that heaven sent for me he said king of King Agrippa wasn't even a Christian and he was still bragging he said I was not disobedient to the reason why heaven invaded my life I've discovered a lot of us are obedient to different missions and different visions it's just not necessarily the vision that heaven has for a life some of us are living lives obedient to the vision that our parents set for us he said they had a vision for me to be a doctor or a lawyer or engineer they had a vision for me to work here or have this or have that and I have not been disobedient to the vision that they sent for me some of us have been obedient to the vision that tragedy has sent over our lives but I had a season in my life that hurts so bad that it defined my identity in that moment from that moment I realized that I was damaged goods and I've been acting like it ever since from that moment I realized that I was rejected and that person that individual that walked out of my life wanted nothing to do with me and because of that instead of treating it like a sad situation or a tragedy I've taken that tragedy and I've carried it every single day of my life so now I don't even wait for people to reject me I reject them before they have the opportunity to reject me because I'm living a life obedient to a tragedy some of us live lives obedient to the vision that we've set for ourselves we have this goal and this vision of building this career or building this family are building this net worth listen to me there's a vision to be obedient to but it doesn't come from here on earth God has a plan and a purpose and a destiny your life and it's only when you get about that vision that you're gonna find fulfillment that you're gonna find joy that you're gonna find your purpose I say this over and over and over again if God's only plan for your life was to make it into heaven he would have killed you the second you accepted him into your life kill sounds graphic let's say transport can you imagine how awkward church would be if you get to the end of the service and hey if there's anyone who's never surrendered life to Christ we'd love to pray and we begin to pray and somebody says God I surrender their seats just empty husband's looking around like what happened well you should have got saved too she go she go it doesn't happen that way no you give your life to Christ he forgives you of your sins your eternity in heaven is secure and he leaves you right there where you are why because there's something he's placed you on earth to accomplish he said I can't take you yet because there's a purpose that I have for you here that nobody else can accomplish except for you now some of you say well that sounds good this is good or whatever maybe the only problem is I've made too many mistakes in my life I've taken detours God God God may have had a plan for me at one point but but after that abortion I'm sure that I can no longer be used by God after that divorce after that bankruptcy after I mess this up I'm just sure I'm damaged goods and there's nothing that he can do with me now I'd like to submit to you that when God had a plan for your life he knew about the detour y'all remember the guy by the name of Jonah this is a guy by the name of Joni who's a prophet and there was this nation called Nineveh that wasn't following God and God says I don't want them to go to hell I want them to have a saving knowledge of me Jonah go and tell Nineveh that I love them and I have a plan for their life Jonah said cool and he got on a boat and he went the opposite direction this is church churches replaced me to be honest have you ever been in a situation where you felt like God was telling you to do something and you went in the complete am I the only one that said you know you just felt God you need to forgive that person and instead of forgive me you got more mad and got more Vetter you ever got sick man that's not your spouse that's not the person you're supposed to marry you need to break up with them he said cool guys six more months yep I got it I got it I'm not the only one like you can't hear Lord is that you like in the phone's breaking up he's like now you heard me but Jonah went one of those the phone's breaking up and he gets on a boat and he goes the opposite way and if you know this story God sends a storm and it looks like the boat is about to be broken in half here's the only problem Jonah wasn't in the boat by himself there was a whole lot of people that were gonna drown because of Jonah's disobedience we have to understand that when we run away from God's plan for a life we're not the only people that are really experiencing the pain and the suffering event there are people in your boat that are going to be affected by your rebellion some of you are affected by other people's rebellion because you're in the wrong boat I'm obeying God undo what God's called me to do but I've kept people close to me that have made a decision in their heart that they are their own God and that they're not gonna serve God listen to me there's a storm that is heading for them and it's gonna hit you just because you won't let them go I can't let them go man that's my cousin man we came up from way back when we went the middle school together that's my brother like what you want me to do are you kidding me or whatever it may be listen Jim here's the funny thing so if you know the story and this and I'm in a message but I'm just preaching ISM have fun they took Jonah and they threw him overboard it was Jonah's idea not then they said we know we'll go down with you and Joe's like no no it's my fault you just don't me overboard and I'm good and when they film overboard God had prepared a whale that swallow Jonah and left Jonah in there for three days and so Jonah said okay okay okay dying in a whale is not as bad as surrendering my life to Christ God I give up I give up I give up and the whale barf Jonah up on the beach and he went and do what God called him to do sometimes by babying or coddling our people keeping people in our lives that are living lives that are rebellious to God we feel like we are protecting them from pain can I tell you what you're actually doing you're protecting them from the grace of God because when you throw them overboard God has prepared a whale of grace that is going to bring them to a place where they're ready to submit and this surrender to Him so watch this by holding on to them you're actually hindering God's plan for their life but that has nothing to do with my message that was just sigh enjoy all that to say God planned on your detour when he planned out your life and he says when you get back on track I'll be right here waiting for you and I have a plan and a purpose and a destiny for you but you will never realize that until you've had a collision with heaven do you know you can be a Christian and have never had a collision with heaven the Bible says that Saul Saul was his name before God called him and changed his name to Paul Saul was the most religious person in his country he will talk about religious I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands but if I was a gambling man I wouldn't bet on everybody in this room beer would have a list all 66 books of the Bible I don't know if I could do it in order I'd make it to like Genesis and then I'd be good but as Saul as a Pharisee in order for him to get that honor of being a Pharisee he had to memorize the first five books of the Bible word-for-word by the age of 13 I'll talk about Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy everything that was kind of cool right I got the first five coming up should I keep going Joshua judges Ruth okay that's all I got he memorized every word but yet never met the god of the word and it says he's riding on his horse and he's heading to a city called Damascus and he had making it on as his purpose of killing Christians people that said the way that you're doing things is wrong that Jesus is actually the only way in heaven and as he was riding this horse the Bible says that the heavens cracked open and that God knocked him off of the horse that he was riding and he said Saul Saul why are you persecuting why are you working against me a couple things first of all this when God calls you by your name twice it's like when your mama uses your middle name anybody grew up in a house like that my name is Steve and if my mom said Steven it was like but it's no big deal I just need you get me a TV remote or something like that but when I heard Steven Rodney Chandler I knew but you better move you got two options you either run to me or you run away from me but what you're not gonna do is stand there and act like you didn't hear what I said he said Saul Saul said why are you working against me and in that moment Saul realized everything that I've been running after it's not why God placed me here on earth I'd like to humbly submit to you that maybe everything that you've thought was a purpose of life well it may not be bad it may not be why God placed you it's awesome to raise awesome children but mom I'd like to submit to you that raising godly kids may not be the only reason God put you here on earth it's awesome to build a great business to build wealth so that your children and your grandchildren and your great grandchildren could you imagine what it would be like that nobody in your family ever has to worry about how am I gonna pay for this again they can go to whatever college they want to go to they can start whatever business they want to do they can do whatever God's laid on their heart and not have to worry about money there's nothing wrong with that that's awesome but I'd like to submit to you that I dare say there's more to your life in that there's more than God has for you I'm gonna give you just three thoughts three thoughts and we'll finish this up next week but I want to give you just three thoughts of how do I know when I've had that collision with heaven how do I know when my life has forever been marked by eternity the first way or the first thing you know is this I know that of how to collision with heaven when my position changes so we find in this story Sall starts writing in some damascus on a horse and after an encounter with god he finds himself on his face in the sand I had never been in an argument with somebody and you were convinced you were right I have that experience every argument I have of my wife I'm just convinced I'm right you're wrong and I'm just waiting for the Holy Spirit to move on your heart and to reveal to you that I am right and you were wrong we were having an argument this week it was a big something heavy or anything yeah we were just arguing over a movie and was a certain actor in that movie and and I am a movie buff and I was explaining to my wife that this actor wasn't a movie don't even watch good movies so how would you know what actor was in this movie I'm telling you just take my word for you he was in this movie he slayed he played this role then this happened I'm telling you he was in the movie she says no he was this we were going back and forth and she said fine I'm just gonna go to somebody with more authority than you I said who they said Google all right let's check this out and she Google's it and just like I thought she Google's it and Google reveals that I was right just not in that situation I've been right other times in my life but in that moment I was not right I mean I was right because technically the person I was talking about they were an actor so I was partially right I'm fishing right now have you ever been so certain that you're right only to find out that you're not I find sometimes in life we can be so certain that we're doing it right I'm so certain that I'm being the man that I'm supposed to be that I maximize in my life that I'm doing this right I'm doing that right it's not until you have a run-in with God that you realize oh my gosh not that I've been doing it completely wrong but there's so much more to it than I saw in the first place I've discovered that people who are so convinced that they're completely right are people that have not truly had an encounter with God can I just go a little bit further it's very difficult to preach to people who have no intention of making any adjustments in their life I'm fine as a husband I don't need your help my finances are good don't need your help there my life is good okay fine why are you here oh that was gonna mean let me back off for that no really the Bible says this they were not yet fashion informed into who we will be that you may not be bad now but there's a better version of you that God is looking to pull out of you in Philippians chapter 3 verse Tobi's says this Paul Paul the st. Paul who got knocked off his high horse he said I don't mean to say that I'm perfect he said hey I'm not perfect I haven't learned all that I should even yet but watch this I keep working towards the day when I finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be paul said listen to me there's a version of me that jesus died on the cross for and i'm not yet that version but guess what boo boo I'm not gonna stay the version I am right now I am gonna work harder and harder and harder but until I kick hold of who God called me to be but I find that before we have that encounter with God where we realized that there's a 2.0 and a 3.0 and a 4.0 and a 5.0 of us it's funny how there's like 10 versions of iPhone but we're converts and staying in version 1 of ourselves and we say dumb stuff like this is who I am deal with it no no that's who you were but God says there's more that I'm desiring to form and a fashion in you the only problem is to allow God to for me into a new person I have to admit that I made some mistakes but I'm not perfect but I don't have it all together and because we don't want to do this watch that we double down on the mistakes that we made and we say dumb stuff like well I do I have to do I did the best that I could nobody's concerned or talking down or trying to judge you all we're saying is that God has for you he has more for you the second thing you'll know when you've had an encounter with heaven is when my vision changes not only did God knocks all off of his high horse but he struck him blind in that moment now this is what strikes me why in the world would God take somebody's vision I feel like God is the God that was to give vision why would he take vision and I've discovered that in orders sometimes for God to give us vision for one thing he has to take our vision for something else is it Paul you spend too much time looking at things around you that you're missing out on what I'm actually trying to show you I've discovered that tragedy is not the source of depression it's not a natural equation that if I go through a tragedy I'm automatically going to battle with depression then I'm automatically going to be discouraged or automatically going to be hopeless or whatever maybe do you know what the source of depression is the fact that I can't see a way out because there's other people that went through this same tragedy and they didn't fall into depression because they can see yes my mom passed away but I can still see hope I can still see freedom I can still see my life moving forward it's not that I went through a tragedy it's that I can't see a way past this addiction I can't see a way past this divorce I can't see a way past this or past that and God says sometimes I have to get your attention off of what you were fixated on also what you put your hope in to help you realize that that was never going to get you in the first place that horse was never going to get you to your destiny that degree was never going to get you to your destiny that relationship was never going to get you to the destiny that promotion was never going to get you to the destiny and you're saying God why did you take that God why did you take that why why why why why God if you loved me you wouldn't have taken it from my life he said I took it because you were fixated on something that would have never gotten you there the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 18 it says so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal can everyone reverse for you second Kings chapter 6 for 16 this is a prophet by the name of Elijah and there surrounded by hundreds of thousands of their enemies and Elisha's servant is wigging out he is like this how are we gonna go we're gonna die let's make our peace with God this is this is over he likes to answer he said do not fear don't be skirt for those who are with us are more than those who are with them have you ever been in this situation where you just thought this is the one that's gonna take me out it may not be death but maybe you messed up on a project at work and you're like I'm out I might as well jump on that LinkedIn and just go ahead start calling up some friends and figure out what it is this is the end of me I'm done and you're so fixated on the problem and he likes to prayed and he said Lord the Bible is so funny Elijah is there called his servant is freaking out I mean I gotta be going Bali or Dali or I really should've come upon his dumb mountain to pray why we and he'll I should just ignored him he's like God can you open this Joker's eyes that he can see what's really going on the Bible says his eyes were open and he saw an army of the Lord Chariots of Fire man I'm praying for that person who just got that cancer diagnosis and all you have is a flashback of sitting in that doctor's office and I'm saying it's cancer chemo and you didn't hear much else but what you didn't see is the king of kings and the Lord of lords standing in that room right next saying I know what that's what they say but I'm right here and I speak a better word over them maybe you lost your job and all you can hear them say is we don't have room for you there's cutbacks and performance and this and that what you did not see is the king of kings and the Lord of lords standing in that room with you saying this job was only a tool that I was using to provide for you this job was not your provider I am your provider and I have another tool that's gonna provide for you better than this ever my prayer for you is that God would blind you to the problems around you and that he would open your eyes that you can see that greater is He that is with you than anything that can be against you can you imagine how confident we'd be how bold we be I dare say how cocky we would be if we realize that those obstructions those barriers those things that seem impossible are under the finger of creator god who is my god and my Lord and my Savior and the last thing is this when you've had an encounter with God your purpose changes the Bible says that Saul was on his way to Damascus to arrest and to kill Christians God knocked him off of his horse he blinded him he spokes woman he said I have a better plan for your life now watch this he said now go to Damascus and I'm going to show you what I've called you to do you would think that if he was going to Damascus and it was his plan when God brought his plan his plan would be a different City God says no no no I want you to go to the day same destination that you were headed for but this time for a different purpose originally you were going to destroy now I want you to go build up I'll talk about me so I don't have to talk about you when I was growing in my faith I intentionally even though I would say subconsciously only gave God partial control of my life god I declare you as my Lord and Savior I believe that you died on the cross for my sins because I don't want to go to hell but I have no intention of letting you control my life because I thought that God was going to send me to Timbuktu to be a missionary and I've learned that Timbuktu doesn't have chick-fil-a and I can't imagine having any type of joy in any place that does not have chick-fil-a so God's plan for my life was to destroy it so God I'll give you this part so I don't burn but I'll keep this part how arrogant is that that I can do better with my life and the creator of my life can do with it but the truth be told as we do it all the time as a gun owner now I'm not gonna give you full control because I thought that I would never get to live out any of the dreams that I had for my life listen to me those dreams that you have for your children for your business for your career you didn't make that uh you're not that smart God gave you those dreams but not for the reason you've made it about maybe you're in hearing your entrepreneur and you have a dream with building a business in which you're able to provide for your children's children's church and it money is never concerned and you can hire employees and provide for them and all that other kind of stuff guess what that's God's plan but that's not his why he said the financial blessings will come but that's just a byproduct of walking in my purpose he said the reason why I want you to build such a great company it's because when you do people are gonna start coming to you and saying hey can you mentor me hey can you teach me hey how did you do this how did you do that and when they come here's what I want you to say don't tell them it's because you're that smart don't tell them because you found some niche in the market that nobody else knew about don't tell them that you took risk when nobody else would take risks don't tell them that you read the market and you read the economy because it wasn't any of that to tell them that the king of kings and the Lord of lords was on your side tell them that you took your business and you laid it in the hands of Jesus and you said God do with it as you will and I'll tell you how he opened doors that no man can shut and he shut doors on problems I want you to build that business but not for your glory but for my glory some of you in here and all you can think about is man I want to be married I want to be married guess what if you want to be married God wants you married but not for the same reason you want to be married you won't be married because you're looking for a Bonnie to your Clyde you like man I need someone whose rider died I need somebody I can build this family with I need somebody that we can build a great life maybe you want to try to make up for your parents mistakes or whatever it may be you're just like I'm look Gus says listen to me I want you married but not for that reason and they will be the Bonnie to your Clyde y'all be bad don't worry about you I'll be off the chain and you'll be able to great a big family and yes you will be able to break some of the generational curses that you passed down from but that's not what I want it for I want it for because as you guys come together as one and the joy of the Lord begins to come a part of your house people are gonna start coming in and they're gonna say how did it work for you and it didn't work for me what is it did you find your soul mate or whatever it may be and you're gonna be able to respond and say no no I have found my soul mate that chick is crazy and I am crazier it wasn't that we were all put together it was that the king of kings and the Lord of lords dwelled and rested in the middle of our marriage and honestly while we tried to break it apart it's God that kept it together it's God that softened my heart it's God that allowed us to build what you see and here's why that's an encouragement to you because it was based on my upbringing in my heart and my ability I would say you can't do it but because it's not based on Who I am but it's based on who he is what he's done for me he can do for you here is your mission if you choose to accept it to be a city on a hill to be a declaration to this world that this is what life looks like when you don't make it up on your own when you're not self-reliant but when you're God reliant Paul said I was not disobedient so the reason why God left me on earth he left me here to be a herald he left me here to be a witness he left me here to tell people the same God that I've encountered he desires to encounter you and he's not gonna ruin your life he's not gonna send units in book two unless you want to go there what he's gonna do is turn you into more than you can ever ask think or imagine father God we're grateful God we're thankful that God even when we take detours even when we get off track you still have a plan a purpose and a destiny for our lives thank God in this moment we throw away our plans we reject our dreams and our vision and God we surrender and we submit to you God we say that we open our hearts to you God we throw away all fear and we say have your way in right where you are they're icicles in your head bad if you're in here and you know one of two things you know either I've never truly surrendered my life to Christ maybe you're like Saul and you grew up in church and you all the Bible verses and you can preach it maybe even led worship but you've never surrendered or maybe you're like me and you gave God just enough to avoid hell but you never gave him truly control of your life which by the way there's no 50/50 you're either in or you're out but if you're in here and you say I'm still controlling things and if I were to be honest I'm tired tired of making it up on my own I'm tired of running a brick wall in this moment I am ready to give God a chance I don't care if you consider yourself a Christian or not but if you just say hey I know I'm not fully surrendered but I want to be right where you're sitting your chair can you pray this pray with me here's a spiritual prayer say Lord Jesus I give up I surrender I give you full control of my life thank you for dying on the cross so that every detour every mistake every sin can be forgiven be my Lord be my controller be my Savior and be my friend in Jesus name Amen amen and amen come on church can you celebrate for every single person

Channel: Union Church

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Length: 37min 57sec (2277 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 15 2019