RELEASING

YOUR DESTINY
PART TWO

CLIMBING
THE LADDER

Then Jacob departed from

Beersheba and went toward
Haran. 11 He came to a
certain place and spent the
night there, because the sun
had set; and he took one of
the stones of the place and
put it under his head, and
lay down in that place.
Genesis 28:10

He had a dream, and

behold, a ladder was
set on the earth with its
top reaching to heaven;
and behold, the angels
of God were ascending
and descending on it.
Genesis 28:12

And behold, the Lord

stood above it and said,
"I am the Lord, the God
of your father Abraham
and the God of Isaac;
the land on which you
lie, I will give it to you
and to your
descendants.
Genesis 28:13

"Your descendants will also

be like the dust of the
earth, and you will spread
out to the west and to the
east and to the north and
to the south; and in you
and in your descendants
shall all the families of
the earth be blessed.
Genesis 28:14

Many of
us have
heard of
the four
spiritual
laws.

They were
a simple
presentatio
n of the
Gospel
used by
Campus
Crusade.

I used them
in tract
form when I
went to
share the
Gospel with
people.

The
First
Law
was:

God loves
you and
has a
wonderful
plan for
your life!

That
Plan is
our
destiny.

There are a
few things
that I wish
the Four
Spiritual
Laws had
pointed out
though.

You see
there are at
least four
other plans
that
compete
with Gods
Wonderful

First of all
YOU have a
plan for
your life
and usually
think it is
wonderful!

Secondly
Your
intimate
relationship
s have a
plan for
your life
and also

Thirdly
The World
has a plan
for your life
and
definitely
thinks it is
wonderful.

And fourthly
the Devil
has a plan
for your life
and knows it
is not
wonderful
but wants
you to think

Gods
plan for
our lives
can use
the other
four.

But the
other four
without
God will
always end
up off the
path.

Some will
take us a
little off
path,

Some will
lead us to
utter
ruin..

Like we spoke of
last week, Our
Plan has at its
foundation a God
breathed vision.

Like Jacob, we
have dreams and
passions that call
to us..

They are set in our

soul from before
our birth.

They are meant to

lead us to a
meeting with God.

Actually, like
Jacobs life has
shown us much
more than a
meeting..

A Wrestling Match!

Even Jesus
experienced this in
his moving to fulfill
his destiny.

Then He said
to them, "My
soul is deeply
grieved, to the
point of death;
remain here
and keep
watch with
Me."

And He went a
little beyond
them, and fell on
His face and
prayed, saying,
"My Father, if it is
possible, let this
cup pass from
Me; yet not as I
will, but as You
will."

Even
Jesus
went
through
to agony
to give

And if it is
so with
the Son of
God it will
be even
more so

Until Our Plan

becomes His Plan,
the dreams and
passions of our
souls will cause us
and everyone in

But if we, like

Jacob, will allow it
to speak to us, this
trouble can to
show us the Path
to God.

The
Worlds
Plan as
the Bible
presents it
is not for
our good.

The Bible
says God
so loved
the world
that He
gave his
only Son
John 3:16

Later in the
scriptures
he talks
about
Christians
not loving
the World

Do not love
the world nor
the things in
the world. If
anyone loves
the world,
the love of
the Father is
not in him.
1 John 2:15

This sounds
like a
contradiction
but is not.
The word
world refers
to two
different
things.

The World
that He
loves and
calls us to
love
describes
the people
in the world.

The World
that He does
not love and
commands us
not to love is
the world
system and
the values it is
based on.

It is
described in
the next
verse in First
John:

For all that is in

the world, the
lust of the flesh
and the lust of
the eyes and the
boastful pride of
life, is not from
the Father, but
is from the
world.
1 John 2:16

We see three
principles
that underlie
the whole
system of
the world
that is not
under God.

The Lust of the Flesh

The Lust of the Eyes

The Pride of Life

These three
principles are the
root motivations of
all sin.

They are the

foundation of all
human activity when it
is ruled by the
Kingdom of Darkness.

The Worlds plan is

under the reign of
the Devil.

We know that we are of

God, and that the
whole world lies in the
power of the evil one.
1 John 5:19

The Devil has no intent

for good towards us.

His greatest
desire is to
imprison us
and destroy
anything that
resembles
Gods plan in

Be of sober spirit, be on
the alert. Your
adversary, the devil,
prowls around like a
roaring lion, seeking
someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8

BUT
He will do everything
he can do to make you
believe that he is for
you and that God is
against you.

We are told to
intentionally fight against
the Devil by resisting all of
his plans both in his direct
assault on us and in every
other assult through

and in every other assault

through the world, our
relationships and our own
hearts.

But resist him, firm in your

faith, knowing that the
same experiences of
suffering are being
accomplished by your
brethren who are in the
world.
1 Peter 5:9

With these
thoughts in
mind I want
to consider a
great
temptation
for all of us
concerning
our

Jacob
dreame
d of a
ladder
to
heaven

Since then
people have
talked about
Climbing the
Ladder of
success.

It has become
almost a
mantra of
acceptability
in every area
of life.

For the
World,
where you are
on the
ladder
defines
everything
about you.

In our generation perhaps our greatest

temptation to forsake our destiny will be
to view our lives through the lens of the
Worlds value system which the ladder
represents.

As someone
once said of
himself, Im
not even on the
bottom rung of
the ladder of
success..

I would love
to think I am
a Top end
carnivore like
a lion

But I dont
even rank as
a slightly
ferocious kitty
cat.

I am really a
paramecium
(what
amoebas eat)
on the bottom
end of the
food chain.

The Ladder of
Success can
seem like the
ladder to
heaven

If offers you
fame, money,
popularity,
self-esteem or
basically
anything you
want.

But set out

to climb it
and you
soon find
out that
there is a
terrible
cost to be

By Lust,
Greed and
Pride the
ladder of
success
cripples and
destroys all
who climb its
rungs.

And this is
because Lust
of the Flesh,
Lust of the
Eyes and the
Pride of Life
are the prime
motivators to
climb.

What
effect
does the
ladder
of
success
have on

What
effect
does the
ladder
of
success
have on

Like a
Univers
al
pyramid
scheme

The Ladder
of Success
always has
winners and
losers.

It rewards a
few with
unimaginabl
e rewards.

And leaves many

Bankrupt.

How can
we
recognize
when we
are
starting to
climb the
ladder?

The single most

important
indicator to
show us we
have begun to
climb the ladder

Is the
answer to
one
essential
question.

Where do you
derive your
identity, value and
sense of security?

Do you ever feel that

you are inferior?

Or
Superior
?

Do you
believe you
are worth
only what
everyone
else tells
you you are
worth?

Or that you have to do

something that is not
really you to succeed?

That you
have to be
someone
that you
are not on
the inside
to gain
approval?

That you
have to
compromise
godly values
to get

Do you ever
feel
unthankful
for your
unchangeble
s?

Do you ever
feel jealous
of others?

Do you
believe
that you
are only
worth what
you
produce?

How smart
you are?

How
Famous
you are?

Where you
are located
on the
authority
ladder?

How many
women or
men are
attracted to
you . Or
not?

How much
money you
have?

How many
friends you
have?

All of these and

many more
related to them
are the very
subtle ways the
World sends it
messages and
we receive
them.

Any answer
except, I
derive my
identity,
value and
security
from God

Who loved
me so
much that
He gave
His only
Son Jesus
to show me
how much I
am loved,

Is the
answer
that says
you are
climbing
the worlds
ladder.

So you say, I
understand
this but I want
to make my
mark on the
world.

So why
should I
not
climb it?

You might
say, It
seems that
doing
things
Gods way
just doesnt
seem to
work.

Lets
seriously
consider if
the Worlds
way works
first?

Name the
richest man
or woman
on Earth.

What does
their
money
ultimately
do for
them?

It may do all
kinds of
things but
the one
thing it
cannot do is
what the
Beatles said
many years

It cannot
buy them
love.

Anyone who
loves someone
will have to do it
if they were the
poorest person
or the richest
person on
Earth..

Or it
wont be
love

What about
the most
beautiful,
Handsome,
famous, or
powerful
person on
earth?

A debilitating
disease or
accident can
end it all in a
moment.

And what they

will have left is
what all of us
can have.

The
knowledge
that before we
had it all God
loved us

And when we
lost it all God
still loved us.

The whole world

system is based on the
lie that says, I will be
loved, esteemed,
valued, praised.

For some
quality that I
have.

Rather than
the
relationship I
have with the
one who loves
me more than
life itself.

It is a
lie!

Ask Howard
Hughes, one
time the
wealthiest
and perhaps
most
powerful
man on the

He died insane
and in total
isolation. Used
by so many
but loved
perhaps only
by God.

There are
thousands of
stories that
are the
same.

All we need do
is look into the
infallible word
of History and
we will see the
truth.

The problem
with the
worlds ladder
is it is all
about me..

But what
about the
ladder
that Jacob
saw?

Did you
notice
that God
never
asked
Jacob to
climb that
ladder?

It was not a
ladder for
Jacob to climb
up..

It was the
ladder for God
to climb down.

Jacobs
destiny
was a
work that
God
himself
planned
before he
was born.

The ladder of
his
generations
would be the
way God
would finally
step into time.

"Your descendants will also

be like the dust of the
earth, and you will spread
out to the west and to the
east and to the north and
to the south; and in you
and in your descendants
shall all the families of the
earth be blessed.
Genesis 28:14

A virgin from
Jacobs family
line would
conceive and
bear a son.

His name
would be
called
Emmanuel.

Meaning God
with us.

Jacobs DNA would be

the ladder for the
saviour to come to
earth,

And
remain
with us
forever
.

We dont climb the ladder to

We would never make

it.

He
climbe
d down
the
ladder
to us.

To show us
that he loved
each one of
us..

Not because
of anything we
are, do,
accomplish

Or what others
think of us.

But simply
that He loves
us because He
made us.

He made us
with a destiny

And whatever
the details of
that destiny
may be in the
specifics for
each of us,

It is at the
heart, to
become like
Jesus

And like Jacob

to become a
new ladder
from
Heaven.

That He might
climb down
and touch the
lives of those
whose lives
we touch.

What brings
true success is
knowing Jesus
love for us and
following his
lead.

And giving His

love to others.