{"id":879,"date":"2007-05-03T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-03T17:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimssermons.wordpress.com\/2007\/05\/03\/acts-1336-37-fulfilling-your-god-given-potential"},"modified":"2018-05-31T14:27:23","modified_gmt":"2018-05-31T19:27:23","slug":"acts-1336-37-fulfilling-your-god-given-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2007\/05\/03\/acts-1336-37-fulfilling-your-god-given-potential\/","title":{"rendered":"Acts 13:36-37 Fulfilling Your God-Given Potential"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"Acts$ <\/a><\/h1>\n
Acts 13:36-37 Fulfilling Your God-Given Potential<\/h1>\n
As we look at three examples of people who fulfilled their God-given potential, we will see how we can also fulfill our God-given potential.\u00a0What did Jesus, David, Paul, and all the others have in common? It was not marriage. Jesus was single. Paul was widowed, and David had more than one wife. Besides, there is no marriage in heaven. You can fulfill God\u2019s potential without being married. Being married may or may not help you fulfill God\u2019s potential. Marriage helps when the husband and wife are united and learning how to love one another. Marriage prevents you from fulfilling God\u2019s potential when we let your own selfishness creep in. When I as a husband start to think that the marriage is for me, just me and not my wife, then I start to lose the opportunity to fulfill God\u2019s potential. So if marriage is not the criteria, what are the criteria for fulfilling God-given potential?<\/p>\n
CRITERIA TO MEET GOD\u2019S POTENTIAL IN YOUR LIFE<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1. You receive a CALL from God.<\/h3>\n
What is your call? Your call is your personal spiritual direction. It is WHAT GOD plans for YOU to DO.<\/p>\n
Look at our three examples. You see that Jesus\u2019 call was salvation. (I came to save and to serve.) David\u2019s call was unity. He brought all of the warring tribes under one national unity that was handed over to his son Solomon. Paul\u2019s call was cross-cultural evangelism. He spent his life as a Jewish Christian reaching out to Gentiles.<\/p>\n
In theology, we talk about two types of calls from God. There is the general call and a specific call. Your call is the direction in which God wants you to follow Him. God\u2019s will is made known in God\u2019s call.<\/p>\n
GENERAL CALL<\/p>\n
The general call of God is that everyone comes to Him by accepting Jesus Christ. Everyone is called to repent from their sins and follow Christ. Everyone has this call. For the Christian, this call continues as we stay in obedience to God and doing God\u2019s will. Because we want to bring glory to God, Christians are also expected to give out this call to others who do not know Jesus. We are to proclaim His name throughout the nations.<\/p>\n
But how do you do this specifically? God will use your decisions in life as He guides you in life.<\/p>\n
SPECIFIC CALL<\/p>\n
In our three examples, God\u2019s big plan for David was to establish the Kingdom that would be fulfilled by Jesus. That\u2019s why the verses in the Old Testament here are not about David, but Jesus. (You see this logic used again with the same verses in Hebrews 1.)<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019s call started with the Jews, and then went to the Gentiles. Paul went first to the Jews and was rejected. So he spent his time to the Gentiles.<\/p>\n
What was the specific call for these three men?<\/p>\n
Jesus \u2013 to go to the cross.
\nDavid \u2013 to unify Israel and begin the kingdom that Jesus would inherit.
\nPaul \u2013 to tell Gentiles about Jesus \u2013 cross-cultural mission work and church planting.<\/p>\n
Your specific call is how God will work His purpose out in your life. Some things to notice about the purpose of your life and fulfilling your potential:<\/p>\n
God\u2019s purpose is highly personalized.<\/span> \u201cGod has thought your life through.\u201d \u201cGod thinks about you.\u201d The word \u201cpurpose\u201d in the Greek deals with God\u2019s thought process behind His plan.<\/p>\n
God knows how each life will turn out, but has a specialized plan for each person. \u201cNothing in this life is haphazard,\u201d for God says in Jeremiah 29:11: \u201cFor I know the plans I have for you.\u2019 declares the Lord, \u2018plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.\u201d<\/p>\n
God\u2019s purpose is progressively revealed in each person\u2019s life.<\/span> \u201cHe won\u2019t tell us [His plan] in totality because He is about relationships,\u201d she said. Moore said that through His plan, God reveals certain aspects of His nature at the appropriate times.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants us to be faithful to Him in the here and now,\u201d God wants you to be faithful in what God has given them to do at this stage in their lives.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s purpose is perfectly timed.<\/span> \u201cYou have been assigned to this generation, and if this generation screams one thing to us it\u2019s relevancy.\u201d You were made to be used by God in this generation. He wants to use you now, right where you are.<\/p>\n
Your are part of the big puzzle of life that is God\u2019s great plan. Your part in God\u2019s plan includes your job, your family, your location, and your schooling. But these things can change. You can change them. God can change them. So that God can use you to be a light to the world. You are the light to shine.<\/p>\n
But it doesn\u2019t matter on what hill you stand, what candle you use, what color the candle is, whether it is small or tall. It doesn\u2019t matter how you are a light:<\/p>\n
You can be a:<\/p>\n
lighthouse \u2013 seamen
\nlantern \u2013 park ranger
\nlight to shine over other people\u2019s teeth \u2013 dentist office
\noperating room \u2013 hospital worker
\nchurch candle \u2013 church pastor
\ntruck light \u2013 night driver
\nflashlight<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t matter how you are shining the light. It matters that you shine it.
\nYou will reach specific people based on the way you shine light. How you shine the light relates to your commission. So your specific call leads to your commission. What God plans for you to do leads to who God plans for you to reach. Your call leads to your commission.<\/p>\n
2. You undertake a COMMISSION for God.<\/h3>\n
It is your personal Great Commission. It is WHO GOD plans for YOU to REACH.<\/p>\n
What is your potential? It doesn\u2019t matter where you work, where you live, nor how long you live. It matters most that you live your life best for God\u2019s glory.<\/p>\n
Who are you reaching? Is your light shining? Who\u2019s looking at your life? These people are your commission from God. What relationships are you building in your generation? To fulfill God\u2019s will and plan, you need to be reaching people.<\/p>\n
Sometimes we make the mistake of saying I have done too little. It is easy to feel like we have not done enough in our lives reaching people. But God uses His children from all kinds of walks and in every phase of life to do His work. God will give you the spiritual strength you need through the Holy Spirit to reach out to the generation. He will help you.<\/p>\n
God did not expect you to reach out to every person on earth. He expects you witness to everyone whom He gives you contact. Because a relationship with everyone in the world is what God wants. He has chosen you as the person to help Him reach everyone \u2013 one person at a time, one generation at a time.<\/p>\n
A Creed To Live By<\/em>
\nBy Nancye Sims<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only God knows what is best for you.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them life is meaningless.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each other.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t shut love out of your life by saying it\u2019s impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give love. The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly, and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope; to be without hope is to be without purpose.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you\u2019ve been, but also where you\u2019re going. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acts 13:36-37 Fulfilling Your God-Given Potential As we look at three examples of people who fulfilled their God-given potential, we will see how we can also fulfill our God-given potential.\u00a0What did Jesus, David, Paul, and all the others have in common? It was not marriage. Jesus was single. Paul was widowed, and David had more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2886,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,104],"tags":[1556,12],"class_list":["post-879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acts","category-sermons","tag-potential","tag-sermon"],"yoast_head":"\nActs 13:36-37 Fulfilling Your God-Given Potential<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Acts 13:36-37 Fulfilling Your God-Given Potential is a sermon from Acts 13:36-37 about how one can fulfill their God-given potential.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2007\/05\/03\/acts-1336-37-fulfilling-your-god-given-potential\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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