MOT Session4 unalterables

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This is On Target Institute building men of character, men who will live a life that demands an explanation. And now, founder and president, Vince D'Acchioli. How you doing? It's so good to be with you guys. And welcome to our Men on Target session four.

The title is Three Unalterable Facts. I can't wait to unpack these things for you guys. But before I do, let me tell you a little backstory. Years ago, probably back in the 80s, I was in the business world. I was a pretty successful businessman.

And I've always been fascinated with human behavior. So I took some courses in behavioral science at UCLA. And I sat underneath some really great professors. During that time, I would study people. And I've always had this question.

Why is it that some people that we look at are happy, secure, successful, making a difference in their world? They just seem to be hitting on all cylinders while other people tend to struggle. And my thought was if we could discover some secrets about those kind of people, maybe we could transfer them to others and help other people be successful as well. Well, as I began to study, in particular, people who would profess to know the Lord, I found that that kind of person had three things in common. Number one, they knew God intimately.

Number two, they knew how and why God made them. They had a vision for how God made them. And number three, they were actually living the vision out. All three of those were in place. Well, as I began to work through this stuff, I discovered in my own life, as I look back now, I had those things at various times, but they weren't always lined up.

In the beginning, I did not know God at all. I had a vision, but it was a vision more shaped by the world around me and my circumstances than it was by God. And there was a time in my life when I knew God more intimately, and I maybe had a little bit of a glimpse of a vision of what he wanted me to do, but for whatever reason, I didn't do it. In my case, there was some fear that crept in there. And again, what I'm discovering is that all three of these need to be aligned in order for us to be hitting on all cylinders.

So I struggled for a long time in the workplace with what I call vocational confusion. Vocational confusion happens when the way God wired you uniquely, your unique gifts are not being utilized and lived out in the context of your vocation. What happened with me is when I began to discover a little bit more about how God wired me, I didn't necessarily change vocation, but I found a vent for how God wired me, and I began to live a lot more for him and the vision he had for my life when I began to discover those things. And I am praying that this material will help you in that area as well. So as we go through this stuff, I want to talk to you about what I came across biblically to kind of validate the things I just talked to you about in what we call three unalterable facts.

Let me share those with you right now and see if this doesn't make sense. Fact number one is that God knows us and created us for a purpose. Fact number two is that God also has equipped us with special gifts toward the satisfaction of that purpose. I can't think of anything that would be more frustrating than for God to create us for a purpose and not equip us for it. So this is a fact.

God has equipped us. And then fact number three is God really wants us to discover his purpose for our life. Now, let's look at these three unalterable facts from a biblical perspective. Fact number one is that God knows us and created us for a purpose. Let's turn to our Bibles and let's begin in Jeremiah 1, 5.

Beautiful verse. It says, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. This, of course, is God talking to Jeremiah. And before you were born, Jeremiah, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Now, that's the Lord speaking to Jeremiah, but that's also the Lord. He could be speaking to any one of us. That's the Lord saying, Hey, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, Vince, I consecrated you. I appointed you a, in this case, myself or you or anybody that would want to know God's plan for their life would say, Yes, Lord, could you please finish that sentence?

I mean, that's what we're all looking for. Isaiah 44, 2, Thus says the Lord, who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurahm, whom I have chosen. In Psalm 139, 16 and 17, very famous verse. It says, Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God. How vast is the sum of them. Ephesians 1, 11 says, In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Ephesians 2, 10 says, For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. And Proverbs 23, 18, it says, Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

And in Jeremiah 29, 11 it says, 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. Powerful, powerful verses that help us understand that God knows us and he's called us to a purpose. Well, let's look at number two. God has also equipped us with special gifts. In Romans 12, 4-6 it says, For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.

Let us use them. Now, we find these verses in Romans, and in Romans, by the way, we find what we call the seven natural gifts. We won't get into them right now, but we've developed many years ago a gift test that's available for free at our website. If you go to otm.co and click on the natural gift test, it takes about 15 or 20 minutes, and it actually produces a report where you will discover how God has wired you uniquely in the seven motivational, charismatic, natural gifts that are mentioned there. Later in this series we'll get into great detail about those, but for now you may want to get a head start and go look at them.

Some biblical commands, however, about gifts. In 1 Corinthians 12, 31, it teaches us that we should covet earnestly our spiritual gifts. In 1 Corinthians 14, 1, it says, desire spiritual gifts. The Bible is calling us to these kind of, you know, encouragement about our gifts. In 2 Timothy 1, 6, stir up your gifts.

In Hebrews 5, 14, it says, exercise and use your gifts. The idea that when we discover how God has wired us uniquely, to step out in those areas and begin to use those gifts. By the way, sometimes as we step out in our areas of giftedness, God reveals his greater and greater unfolding purpose for our life. In 1 Corinthians 12, 1, it says to be not ignorant of them. And again, that's where we should be taking gift tests.

We should be studying ourselves and learning more about how God has wired us uniquely. In 1 Thessalonians 5, 20, it says, despise not. And in 1 Timothy 4, 14, it says, neglect not your gifts. 1 Peter 4, 10 says, as each has received a gift, use it to serve. This is important.

We're to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. God wants us to discover his purpose is our final fact. He wants us to discover his purpose for our life. In Ephesians 1, 18, it says, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.

God knows us and created us for a purpose. God has given us gifts toward the satisfaction of that purpose. And God's great desire is that you and I discover what that purpose is. And guys, I want to tell you, I really believe that vision is everything. You're going to hear me talk about this at another time.

The Bible says where there is no vision, the people perish. The NIV says where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint. It's been said that if you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there. And sadly, men, that's what a lot of us are doing. We're just wandering around on these any road experiences.

And God so much desires for us to know him intimately so we can discover how and why he made us and we can ultimately have his vision and his perspective on how we are to live our life. Michelangelo was asked once how he was able to carve these magnificent masterpieces. And he said, you know, I don't know exactly, but I seem to be able to go over to the rock quarry and even before they cultivate the marble from the quarry, I'm able to capture the vision of the beauty of the statue that I want to create. And he says once I catch the vision or the purpose, really in that vision, the rest is quite simple. I just chip away what doesn't belong.

And men, that's the way it can be in your life. Once you catch God's vision for your life, all of a sudden the things that are hampering you and getting in your way, they become things that we can more easily chip away and put aside and move on with it. I always say you give a man a vision and get out of his way. It is amazing what will happen. Now, as in keeping with our promise, let's close with these two big ideas, life implication and life application.

First, life implication. What's the life implication of what we've been talking about? Well, number one, without an intimate relationship with God, my vision will likely be shaped by my circumstances. I've already told you how that happened in my life. And number two, not knowing how I am wired and God's purpose for my life can lead to vocational confusion and frustration.

That's a fact. Now, those are life implications. Let's move now to the most important part. Let's talk about life application and let's get right into our discussion questions. Life application, number one, do you have difficulty believing God has a plan for your life?

I know a lot of guys struggle and they think, well, why would God have a plan for my life? I mean, who am I? Listen, you are special. You are special and God has a plan for your life. If you have struggled believing that, you need to talk about that.

And then number two, finally, are you willing to go on a treasure hunt? That's really what it is to determine God's purpose for your life. Two important discussion questions. And I pray, as always, that God blesses you in your times of discussion. And until next time, don't forget about it.