Fit or Misfit? (Part 3) — Richard Sipley

God's Design Written in the Heart

God has put in every person's heart, His DNA, He has put His design in the depths of our heart. God had me all planned before my father and mother ever met. They met in Rome, New York. And they had no idea that God would give them to each other and give them four children and that one of them would be doing what I've been doing for years.

But God did. He had the idea. You realize that? God had the idea. And He had it wonderfully developed. And so, when I was in my mother's womb, He was forming me there. And all my days were planned before there was one of them.

You believe that? You believe it for me? Do you believe it for you? That's the big one. Because there is no difference. In God's sight, He is no respecter of persons. He is a respecter of nations. He is a respecter of ministries.

But He is no respecter of persons. And so, God has a plan. Bruce Wilkinson, the author of The Prayer of Jabez and now a number of other books, a man who really touched the evangelical world with his walk through the Bible.

And was greatly used and blessed by that approach to the Word of God. And then finally produced The Prayer of Jabez and a number of other books. Listen to an incident recounted by Bruce. The Hollywood producer didn't believe it was true.

And I couldn't seem to change his mind. Even though I was about to buy him lunch at my favorite neighborhood restaurant. He couldn't believe that every person has been created with a big dream. And that most people, for one reason or another, just aren't pursuing it.

He said, only a few people are born dreamers. But of course, he was thinking of a different kind of dreaming. Just because you happen to be one of them, he said, you don't really think everyone in this restaurant is one, do you?

Wrong question. I was losing the debate as we took our seats and I didn't know what to do. Our conversation had special meaning to me because although my producer friend didn't know it, I was trying to help him pursue his big dream instead of what he was doing.

I was almost to the point of giving up when an idea came to mind. Why not try to prove it right in front of him? See, faith is spelled R-I-S-K. Risk. When our waitress, Sonia, came to take our order, my heart was pounding, but I took a risk.

I asked her, are you doing what you've always wished you could be doing? She looked at me questioningly. What do you mean, she asked. I said, well, maybe you are doing your dream and that would be terrific, but I wonder, do you have a big dream inside of your heart that hasn't come true yet?

Sonia thought for a moment. Then she said, my mother is a nurse, my sister is a nurse, and I always dreamed of becoming a nurse. Would you have been a good nurse, I asked. Sonia became enthusiastic, emotional.

I would have been a really good nurse, she said softly. Would you like to be a nurse at this very moment, I asked. Yes, she said. So I took another risk. Do you happen to believe that God wants you to be a nurse, I asked.

She looked away for a minute, then said, I think so. If God wants you to be a nurse, then there must be a way for you to be one, I said. What has stopped you? Sonia listed the reasons. An education cut short by marriage, then two children, then the demands of raising a family.

Now it's impossible, she said. It's too late. I heard the sadness in her voice. What would have to happen for you to become a nurse, I asked. We don't have enough money, she said. I can't afford a babysitter, so I can't go to school.

So if you had a babysitter, you would go to school, I asked. Yes, she said without hesitation. I glanced at my producer friend to make sure he was taking this all in. Then I took another risk. Sonia, I believe there's somebody in your life who cares about you and would babysit your children for free.

Who is that person? Sonia thought for a moment, then her face lit up. It's my mother, she exclaimed. She just retired two months ago. She loves her grandchildren, and she's always wanted me to have my dream.

She'd babysit my kids for free if I'd just ask her. While she spoke, her eyes brimmed with tears. Mine did too. Anytime I see someone else's dream surfacing, I'm deeply touched. Me too. Because I know how sad it is not to be able to live your dream.

Without even taking our order, Sonia slid in next to a friend at another table to announce that she was going back to school. I'm going to be a nurse, she said with tears of joy. My friend sat across from me, shaking his head.

Aligning Life With the Heart's Desires

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, he said, I wouldn't have believed it. Maybe you're right. Maybe everybody does have a big dream. In order to fit into God's design for me, not only, of course, do I need to come to Him, not only do I need to repent of my sin and receive Christ as my personal Savior, of course, not only do I need to turn my life over to Him with sincerity, but I need to line my life up with the desires of my heart.

Listen to God's word in Psalm 4, verses 3 and 4. But know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself. That's marvelous. God has set you apart. He said there. That's what I want with you.

Really? Really. You really love me that much? Yes. You're setting me apart for that? Yes. I planned it. I designed you for that. The Lord will hear when I call unto him. Then I like verse 4 because I find myself doing this often.

Standing on, sin not, commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still. Now, I would take it for granted that the writer of this particular psalm must have spent some time talking to God at night in bed.

And I don't choose to do this, but he chooses, so I don't really have much choice in the matter. But sometimes God wakes me up early. Sometimes God keeps me up late. Sometimes he is really unfeeling and wakes me up in the middle of the night.

No sense. I try to go back to sleep. I argue with him. I say, Lord, you know I need my rest, and he doesn't know it at all. So, finally I give up. And then I commune with him. And then, oh, as it ends up, I'm communing with my own heart.

Because one of the things that he wants is to search my heart and to let me see what's in my heart, good, bad, or indifferent. And so the writer says, commune with your own heart. Have you ever communed with your own heart?

You say, well, that sounds strange. I know, but it's in the Bible. You must be able to do it since it's in there. Commune with your own heart and be still. Get quiet. Stop blabbering. And listen to what your heart is saying and what God is saying about what your heart is saying.

Then there's Psalm 20, verses 1 and 4. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high. May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your counsel.

Did you know that was in the Bible? The psalmist is praying that God would give you your heart's desire. Sounds to me like God's quite interested in this thing. Psalm 37, 4 and 5, two of my favorite verses in the Psalms.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in him, and he will do it. He will do it. In this whole series, if I could, with God's help and the power of the Holy Spirit, convince one person to really believe this and get at the desires of their heart and see what God designed them for and take off, it would be worth the whole series.

And then someday I'd meet you in heaven, and you'd say, thank you for that series of sermons. So let's ask ourselves just a few questions tonight, not many. Why are the desires of my heart so important?

Biblical Teaching on the Heart

The importance of our heart desires are seen in the following scriptures, and there's many, and I'm just going to give you a few. Proverbs 23, 26, God says, my son, give me your heart. Proverbs 4, 23 says, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.

God says this. This isn't some fancy idea that I got. God is saying this. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him.

That means in all your life, in all the direction of your life, in all the activities of your life, acknowledge his lordship, his right to lead, guide, and control your life. And what will he do? He'll direct your paths.

He'll direct your paths. He'll make it happen. Psalm 51, of course, David, after his great failure in sin, is praying, create in me a clean heart, O God, that is a single heart, a heart that is single unto you, that's devoted to you.

And renew a steadfast spirit within me. The sacrifice of God or a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Ezekiel 36, 26, Ezekiel says, by God's inspiration, a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

Some of our hearts have been so ignored so long that they have dried up. And God is saying, I want to give you, I want to take that stony heart out of there and give you a heart of flesh that's tender and vibrant and alive, that beats with God.

I may get excited even if you don't. It's wonderful. God is saying all these wonderful things. You see, the heart and the spirit are the same thing, or at least I take the heart as part of the human spirit.

Man is a three-part being. God is a trinity. Man is also a trinity of a kind, made in the image of God. So man is the spirit, soul, and body. That's why God says, and I pray that your whole spirit and soul and body will be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ because we're a three-part being.

And our spirit is the center of our being. It is the throne room of our being. It is right where the Spirit of God comes, and the Spirit of God is joined to our human spirit so that we become a child of God and are born of God in the new birth.

And so the human spirit is the very center of the being, and in that human spirit is our heart. And that's why you'll find the spirit of man and the heart of man used interchangeably throughout the Bible.

I did a study of this one time. Every word in the Bible has anything to do with the heart, the spirit, the emotions, the soul, the body, and put it all together and made a biblical model of the mind of man.

It's fascinating. So your heart is at the center. That's where the throne room is. That's where your will is, where your decisions are made. And that's where the throne of your life that directs all your life is, and God wants to sit on that throne.

And when you were born, you came to this world with a thing designed in your heart at the center of your being that was God's DNA for you, and it is your heart's desire whether you're aware of it or not.

You have to take time to take a look at it. It's sort of like an apple. I meant to bring an apple tonight and cut it in half up here on the platform. I knew it would make a mess, but I thought about it.

But you can picture it, can't you? You ever cut an apple down through the core from the stem down through like that? And you have basically three sections. You have the skin on the outside, you have the meat, and then you have the core with the seeds.

Well, it gives you some idea of the spirit, the soul, and the body. The body is what we live with in this world, and the soul and the body make up mainly the flesh. And God's Word says this, I say unto you, walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust and desires of the flesh.

For the flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary one to the other. So you find you can't do the things you want to do. You have this conflict. And one of the great hindrances to having our heart's desire, God's design fulfilled in our life, is the flesh.

Because the flesh doesn't always agree. The flesh has its own desires, things it wants, and joys, and so forth. And that's why the Word of God says, They that are Christ, if you've given your life to Christ, if you yield your life to Christ, not just if you're saved, but if you're His totally by your own choice, you have crucified, put to death, the desires of the flesh.

Because that conflict will be there. And that's why some of you have never experienced the desires of your heart, because you let the desires of the flesh reign. Some people live entirely in the desires of their body.

You're aware of that, aren't you? We have a whole generation that's living in the body. If it feels good, do it. Right? You don't agree. You do agree. It isn't polite to sit and stare when someone asks you a question.

Yes. And then there are some people that are completely soulish. They live completely in their feelings, their imagination, their intellect. They're soulish beings. But God wants us to be spiritual beings.

He wants the Spirit to be in the ascendancy, and that's the way He designed us, that's the way He created us, that's the way He met us to be in the beginning. And when He saves us, He's trying to bring us back into that position and get our parts in their proper order and get the Spirit in the ascendancy, where it rules over the rest of the man.

Is that making sense to you? It's not easy even for God to do, because we're stubborn, hard-headed, selfish, lustful people, aren't we? Well, just me, huh? Yeah. So, it's a problem. But He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit, and God wants to help us do that.

Worshiping God in Spirit and Truth

That's why we can only worship God truly with the Spirit. In John 4, 19 -24, the woman said to Jesus, the woman at the well, Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our Father is worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship you know not what. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is the Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

That is from the heart. We have to get back into our hearts, and get our hearts surrendered and full of the Holy Spirit of God, and commune with our hearts, and commune with God, and find out what our hearts want to do for God, and get the whole life back in order where the heart's desires are fulfilled.

So all truly born-again Christians have in their inner spirit or heart strong desires after God and His will. They may be all covered up and covered over by disappointment and failure, but they're there.

Jesus said to Peter, Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The Spirit is what? His willing. The spirit of the Christian really wants to serve God, but what is weak? The flesh. The flesh is weak.

Right? You ever find that? Yeah. But, I tell you, once you see what God wants to do, and what He's willing to do, what He's able to do, what He's promised to do, and you get your heart in tune with His heart, it will go a long ways toward getting the flesh under control.

Five Steps to Discover God's Design

Number two. Second question. I think I only have two questions tonight. I have a few sub-points, though. Hang in there. Second question. How do the desires of my heart affect God's design for my life?

The heart is the place of basic design or motivation of the life, God's DNA. God has put in every human being a motivational gift in His heart, and that motivational gift was meant by God to be the predominant drive of His life.

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. How may I discover God's design for my life? Well, the answer is discover your deepest heart's desire. Well, how do I do that?

And I'm going to give you five steps quickly. I'm not going to take a lot of time with it, because in the next message, I'm going to start to illustrate it in a way that will really make it crystal clear.

So I'm just going to basically give you five steps toward getting into your heart. Number one, recognize God's ownership and interest in your life. Know that the Lord has set you apart, okay? Know that God is interested intensely in your life.

Begin to recognize that. Begin to see it. Begin to believe it. Recognize He owns us, right? He owns us because He created us. He owns us because He bought us with His blood. He owns us because we've given ourselves to Him.

We belong to Him. Now I belong to Jesus. And then I'd like the next statement, Jesus belongs to me, yeah? Not for the days of time alone, but for eternity. So we have to recognize that. Romans 12, 3 to 6 says, Through the grace given to me, I say to every man among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

For just as we have many members in one body, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ that individually members one of another. And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly.

So God has given each of us in our hearts a motivational gift, and that's so whether you're Christian or not. The spiritual gifts, that's something else. That comes only to Christians, all right? But I'm talking about that motivational drive that's in every life, and we've already given you scripture for that.

So take an attitude of awe and reverence toward the design of God in your life. Two, commune with your own heart. Get still or quiet. And I've already talked a little about that from the scripture, commune with your own heart, find your bed and be still.

Try to learn how to talk. Don't walk down the street doing it because, you know, to yourself. But I discovered myself doing something recently, and somebody looked at me strangely, and I realized what I was doing.

I was walking along thinking out loud. I was walking along talking out loud. Somebody looked at me strangely, and I thought, oh, my. Ain't that poor old man? Look at him walking down the street talking to himself.

You don't really get as much argument that way. But in all seriousness, learn how to commune with your own heart. Get quiet. Get still. Get still. You may have to do it in the night on your bed to get quiet and still, but get still and start to ask your own heart questions.

Okay? Three, study what God has to say on the subject, and I'll just give you the references. Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4, 11. There are others, but those are good ones to study.

See what God has to say about it. Four, yield your body to God. I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Yield your body to God, or your flesh will get in the way. Number five, refuse to conform to this world's system, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Learn to think God's thoughts instead of like the world thinks, because the way the world thinks, you'll never do it, because they will get in the way. And the way they think will get in the way of what God wants to do in your life.

So refuse to conform to this world's system. 1 Peter 4, 11, If any man speak, let him speak as the oracle of God. So if you know that you're speaking now, we'll get to that when we get to the first gift, and that's two weeks away, the first gift.

And that's the prophet, and he's the eyes and mouth of the kingdom of God. So he sees and he speaks. That's what the Bible says. So if any man speak, let him speak as the oracle of God. Don't let him pussyfoot around.

I was talking to some young pastor who was wanting to learn how to preach, and every time I got up to speak, he said, I suggest, I suggest, I suggest. And he came and said, can we have some time of prayer together?

And I said, yes. He said, what have you noticed that you can say to help me? I said, the first thing is stop suggesting. Don't you know anything? You don't suggest. You speak as the oracle of God. Get your scripture straight.

Know that it's from the word of God and that it's true, and then say it like you believe it. Amen? Don't say, I suggest. So he says, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God gives, that in God, in all things, may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever.

See, this stuff, this is biblical truth that is neglected so badly that the average Christian's never thought of it. Now what? Well, begin to lead with your heart. I'm going to give you a couple scriptures, and I'm close to being done for tonight, but bring all your life in line with the deepest desires of your heart.

Leading With the Heart Through Faith

In Psalm 18, 32 to 34, we read, it is God that girds me with strength and makes my way perfect. Wow. He makes my feet like hind's feet and sets me upon my high places. He teaches my hands to war so that a bowl of steel is broken by my arms.

That's David. Some of that very same, those same words are spoken by a totally different person, a prophet, Habakkuk, or Habakkuk, whichever you prefer. Three, verses 17 to 19, this is a great passage.

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.

That's a bad situation, right? That's bad. Any country that messes is in real trouble, right? There's nothing to eat. It's terrible. Total failure. He says, same passage, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hind's feet, and he will make me to walk upon my high places. The same thing David said. And I've done it before, but I'll just take a minute to describe how a hind, a deer-like animal in Palestine, how they went up the mountains.

The reason they could run up the mountains with tremendous speed and never falter, never fall, get right to the top, is because they would plant their front feet, and they could see where their front feet were being planted in the cleft of the rock.

And they would pull with their front feet and bring their hind feet, give a little jump with their hind feet, and bring them up and put them, and then lift their front feet and put their hind feet exactly where their front feet were.

And then they'd do it again, and they'd do it again, and up the mountain they went. Never fell. Went right to the top. And to me, that's a great illustration of leading with your heart. Lead with your heart.

Don't lead with your body. Don't lead with your emotions. Don't lead with your intellect. Don't lead with your flesh. Lead with your heart and line up all the parts of your life with your heart, and God will give you the desires of your heart.

There's an old story of ancient Greece. A traveler came upon an old man by the roadside who happened to be Socrates. The traveler asked, How can I reach Mount Olympus? And Socrates answered, Just make every step you take go in that direction.

That's simple and profound. You say, How can I have God's design fulfilled in my life? Just make every step go in that direction. Bring all the parts of your life into alignment with the design God has put in your heart.

You can't do it immediately. It won't happen overnight. It will take time. It will take struggle. It will take dying to self. It will take crucifying the flesh. You know, it will take a while and maybe never come to the end of it because Paul said, I don't count myself to have apprehended, but he said, Tell you what I do, I forget those things that are behind and I reach forth and I press on.

A Practical Example of Pursuing God's Calling

What? To take hold of that for which Christ took hold of me. See, it's the same thing. And he said, I haven't arrived yet, but boy, I'm after it. Okay. So make every step go in that direction. I was preaching this series and a young adult, single young adult man came to the office, said he needed to talk to me and he said he was just not getting anywhere in his life and he'd get a job and it didn't seem to be able to hold it very long and he didn't know where to go or what to do.

And I said to him, he said he's having a hard time making a living and I said, Let me ask you a question and you think carefully before you answer me. If money were no object, what would you do? You know, I can't believe how quick he answered me.

Oh, so that's easy. And he told me. I said, Well, why aren't you doing it? Well, he said, because it's very difficult to get into that field and I've tried to get a job in it and I can't and I don't have adequate training for it and yet you can only get trained on the job and so, you know, I just can't make it happen.

I said, How determined are you to do this? Let's pretend you don't need the money. Oh, he said, I do need money. I know, God knows that. A man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

So we get pretty hungry that way. I said, I know it, but just hang in there. So I said, I'm going to make a suggestion. There's a man in this congregation who has a business that is exactly what your heart's desire is, what you said you would do if money were no object.

The one thing you really wanted to do, that you long to do, I said, I'm going to suggest you go to him and offer your services free. Free. Just say you just want to learn. You want to learn? You're willing to work?

Do anything he says? But you just want to learn. You don't want any money. And he probably has enough people working for him. He doesn't need you, but that's fine. You'll just be an extra hand and you can learn that way.

It won't cost him anything. He said, Really? I said, Yeah. You know, how much do you want to get going? So he said, Okay. So he went and met with this man and the man called me. He said, What do you think?

And I said, Well, give it a chance. You haven't got anything much to lose. So he said, All right. And the young man went to work for him. No pay. Nothing. So he had worked for him for about two weeks.

Later, the young man told me this. He'd worked for him for about two weeks when the man came to him and said, You know, you are doing a great job. I can't pay you full time, but I'm going to start paying you.

Well, that's nice. I'll take it. So he worked for him a little bit longer. A few weeks longer. A couple of months. After a while, the man came to him and said, You know, you're doing such a good job. I don't know how I could get along without you.

You are really learning to do this. You love to do this. Yeah, I just love this. He said, I'm going to take you on full time and give you a full salary. He said, You made that up. No, I did not. I did not.

I'm just saying, God really wants to get to us. And I'm not just talking about a job or an occupation or a career or how to make a living. That's not what I'm talking about. That's sort of a side issue because if you're fastened to the main thing, that will sort of come along.

What I'm talking about is the dream in your heart, the desire deep in your heart that God has put there and whether you want it bad enough for God to fulfill it in your life. I hope so. I want to close with a little poem.

Resting in Christ and Looking Ahead

I don't look back. God knows the fruitless effort, the wasted hours, the sinning, the hot tears. I leave them all with him who blots the record and mercifully forgives and then removes my fears. I don't look forward.

God sees each future mile. The road that's short or long will lead me home and he will face with me its every trial and bear with me the burdens that may come. But I look up into the face of Jesus for there my heart can rest.

My fears are stilled and there's joy and love and light for darkness and perfect peace and every hope fulfilled. Next Sunday night, and I hadn't looked before when I said that, please forgive me, but this time I have looked and I'm correct.

Next Sunday night, we're going to take all seven of the motivational gifts, those people, and we're going to take them on a hospital call. You're going to have fun. You're going to love this. And then we're going to take all seven of these motivational gifts and put them in a church board meeting.

See how they react. It's great fun. It will really help you and it will help you to understand what we're talking about. Okay? And then we're going to list for you motivational gifts, the spiritual gifts, and the ministries, all three, and you'll get that in a chart to take with you to study later.

And hopefully before we're through with this series, then we'll go through the seven motivational gifts. So we'll have the first one, the first Sunday in October. And then we'll go on through the seven.

So that'll take us, what, almost two more months. And by the time we're finished, if you're faithful, if you're here, by the time we're finished, I think you're going to know exactly what God wants in your life.

Okay? I hope so. Let's pray. Thank you, Father. Thank you. Thank you that you are that interested in little me, poor, weak, sinful person. And you are that interested. How I thank you for that. How I praise you.

How I give you honor and praise and glory for all comes from your hand. We have nothing that we did not receive. How we praise your name. Make it real in our lives. And I pray that there are some here who will get their lives in order in a new way they've never dreamed and begin to experience the blessing of God as they have never known.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.