Jentezen Franklin - Colliding With Your Destiny
Ecclesiastes chapter nine. I love Ecclesiastes chapter nine. I love several verses. This whole chapter is one of my favorites. I love verse nine. It starts out saying, "Live joyfully, live joyfully, live joyfully". We're not to be a bunch of beat up, defeated people. And it's not that we don't face troubles, and trials, and problems, but He said, "Live joyfully". And unlike the rest of that, "with the wife with whom you love all the days of your life". Live joyfully. Then I like the next verse. I'm not preaching on that, or I'd stay on that. But the next verse, verse 10. He says, "Whatever your hand finds to do,", I love that, "Do it with all of your might". Give it all you've got. Don't do things halfway. Don't do things half-hearted. If you're working at McDonald's flipping burgers right now, flip it with all your might. I mean, make it happen. Because you don't know that God's watching you. And He said, "Give it all," We're to be people of excellence.
We're to be people that give it everything we've got. But here's where I wanna focus, verse 11: "I returned and I saw under the sun," Solomon said. "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to them that are of skill". Catch this verse, "But time and chance happen to them all. Time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know when his time is". Man, in other words, everybody's gonna be given a time and a chance in God's plan for your life. But you don't necessarily know when that time is if you're not in tune. And then he draws an analogy. He says, "A lot of people are like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a cage or a snare". When it falls suddenly upon them, "the sons of men are snared in an evil time".
In other words, they're held back by those nets, and held back by those cages from the most amazing moments in their life. That's what I'm talking about today, miracle moments of time and chance. When time and chance intersect, when you collide with your destiny, when God sets up special miracle moments in our life, and if we're not in tune, we can miss them. I love the fact that when you read Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God". The first four verses of the entire bible. He didn't hide it in the middle, He didn't throw it in the back of the book. But He said, if you wanna know a four-word formula for success, "In the beginning God". God first in your family. God first in your marriage. God first in your career. God first in your education. God first in your relationships. God first in your finances. God first day of the week. I worship Him. I bring Him. Get in your life, "In the beginning God". God first. And when you put Him first, He adds everything else to your life.
If you're lonely, He's got a wife or a husband. If you're going through things, He connects it all. "In the beginning God". And then the next verse, the next word says, "Created". I love the fact that God is not an imitator. Our God is not a copycat. Our God is a God of creativity, and the Holy Spirit has not lost His creativity. The greatest businesses, the greatest dreams, the greatest blessings to humanity have yet to come to surface. He's got young people, maybe children down in our children's ministry where there's over a thousand kids down there every Sunday. And we don't know the possibilities that are inside of those kids that God has planted. Who know what God has planted? Because He's a creative God. And God who creates, He says, "You're a chip off the old block". We've got some of that in us. We don't need to get stale and moldy in our relationships. We need some creativity in our marriages. We need some creative, the same old, same old.
Some of you drive the same way to work every day, you hadn't changed your hairstyle in 40 years. Try something new. Do something fresh. You like that old piece of somethin' that somebody ate on and put in the refrigerator and it's old, and it's moldy. You gotta take a risk every once in a while, and let God bring out of you new creativity. And that's where we pick up this verse, "But time and chance happen to us all". God has a purpose. God has a destiny. God has a plan. God has a direction for every person under the sound of my voice. Something out of nothing. Something for people who've messed up their life. Something for people who say, "I'm 40 and I've missed it". No, you haven't. Your God is always setting up moments of time and chance, time and chance, and the key to it all is how you respond. God didn't make a mistake when He made you. When He says, "Time and chance happen to us all," what He's really saying is there are no excuses, it happens to us all. You're gonna get a chance. You're gonna get a time of destiny. The word chance in the Hebrew language has to do with colliding. It actually has to do with the world collision.
In other words, what He's saying is God, if you give Him control of your life, He says "I will arrange things down the road that time and chance will cause you to collide with your destiny, collide with your calling and your purpose in life". I love that. I love the fact that the world collide means to afront directly, to come upon. And you don't realize when a miracle moment's being set up. You don't understand and that's what the text was talking about and said, "The biggest problem is God has a time, and a chance for everybody". But he said in the text that I read, "But many are like a fish. They get caught up in nets". Nets of addiction, nets of wrong people, and wrong places, and wrong situations. "And they're like a bird that's caged up," and even though God has times and chances. That's why the scripture said, "Serve your Creator in the days of your youth".
A lot of people say, "Well one day, I'm gonna really serve the Lord, when I get old, and I can't do much else". But you could be missing so many times and chances that God would have set up. He's got a plan. The bible said, "The steps of a righteous man or woman are ordered of the Lord". Every step, every stop, every wait, every hesitation. God is in it. "You really believe that, Preacher"? I really do believe that. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about biblically. The Christmas story. There is a loser in the, I don't know any other ways. There's a loser in the Christmas story, and all we know him as is the innkeeper.
You remember the story of the Virgin Mary and Joseph? And she goes into labor, and she's about to have the baby? Now I want you to see this guy, talk about caught up in a net. I don't know what was distracting him from having God and, you know, really, if you'll stay in tune with the Holy Spirit, He'll make you, even if you don't know it He'll make you in touch with that time and that chance. But the innkeeper, Joseph and Mary are about to give birth to the greatest miracle in human history, God in skin in an eight-pound baby. And they want to do it in his hotel. And they knock on the door and this guy has a casual whatever, opens the door, a miracle is knocking, he's not aware that time and chance are here. We would not know him as the innkeeper. His family would have been blessed forever. They'd probably have the Ritz-Carlton in Bethlehem today. Can you imagine?
But he didn't see it. He didn't notice it. He didn't even know, "I have a chance to play a part in the story of the birth of the Messiah of the world," and he casually, I really believe if he had known that "This is my time. This is my chance". I saw him in my mind, running through the hotel, opening doors, throwing people out. "Here. Take your bag. Take your toothbrush. I gotta make room for Jesus. I've gotta make room for Mary and Joseph". But what I want you to understand, as I'm preaching to you this morning, that whatever you've gotta get out to let Jesus in, whatever you've got to empty out, whoever has to move out, whatever. Sometimes people are the net. Sometimes people are the cage, wrong people. But whoever I've got to get away and out to make room, make room, make room for Jesus. Or you just, He shut the door and went back to his ordinary life that was less than God planned for him.
That's why it matters if you love God or not. That's why it matters if you honor God. That's why it matters if you read this book. That's why it matters if you have a prayer life. And you just take time every day to acknowledge God because He says, "If you'll acknowledge me, I'll direct your path". But you're so busy, so busy, so busy. If you respond correctly. I thought about in John chapter 5, how that nothing happened at the pool of Bethesda, the scripture said, until a certain season in John chapter five. A certain season, at a certain time an angel went down. In other words, it was time and chance and if you stepped in you got healed. If you didn't, you didn't get healed. But, you know, somebody has to recognize, "This is my time. This is my chance".
I thought about blind Bartimaeus and how he refused to not cry out. The big shot disciples told him, "Be quiet. You're not that important. You don't matter. You're blind. Just stand over there, or sit over there in the corner, with your blanket, and your little tin begging cup and be quiet. The Master is coming through. Jesus is passing through". And I love blind Bartimaeus because he began to cry out even louder. "Jesus, have mercy on me. Heal me. Help me". He was screaming louder. Why? Because he understood, "This is my time. This is my chance. I've heard so many stories of the Miracle Worker and He may never pass me by again".
Can I tell you one last thing? The reason that Zacchaeus climbed up in a tree, the man who was short of stature climbed up in a tree desperate, leaning over the multitude, out on a limb, risking everything. Why? It's interesting that both of these people, blind Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus, they didn't know it, but something in them felt the urgency of the moment. Jesus was on His way to Calvary when He encountered both of those people. In other words, if they had not responded when they did, He was not coming back. He was going to die on the cross. He was gonna be raised the third day, and He was gonna get on a cloudy elevator and go up to heaven and sit at the right hand of the Father for you and me. But what I'm telling you is, the reason those people were desperate enough to get out on a limb of a tree, and the other one screaming, "God," even louder. "Help me. Help me, Jesus. Help me". Why? Because the urgency. Said time and chance happened for them all.
Let me tell you this, every once in a while, God will set you up and you realize this is the big deal right now, and when it happens it's almost like, it's so important and you know it. That this is either gonna be the greatest day and dream come true of my life or this is gonna be the worst nightmare I've ever had. Because you'll never come to those moments without having to exercise faith which is spelled R-I-S-K. I had a moment like that many years ago. TBN which is the largest Christian network all over the world, every nation of the world. I got a call one week, and they said, "Jentezen, would you bring your sax, and would you come and play as the musical guest on the Praise the Lord program"? Back then they did it live. It was live and we didn't have 500 stations back then. It had an audience of millions, and millions, and millions of people.
So, I had played the horn on there many times. I'm comfortable doing that. I play sax and so, you know, it was all good. But this time I went, and they had a studio even in Atlanta, and that's where the guest was. Paula and Jan Crouch had gone to be with the Lord, but they were the founders, and they were there. And they had a famous preacher, very household name famous preacher who was to be the guest speaker. They had one guest, and I was to open up with a song, and then the guest was gonna be interviewed, and then I was to play two songs, and then this famous preacher was going to preach.
And so, it's live show, live TV, big deal, live audience, and it's going all over the world. And I played my first song, and everything went fine, and they had their guest. And then while they were closing up that, and I was about to go do another song, I played the second songs, and I came back. And I noticed a lot of shuffling going on behind the scenes as Paul and Jan were sitting on the set. Let me show you now, time and chance. And before I knew it, one of the producers with headphones on her ears took them off, and came over, and said, "Pastor Jentezen, Pastor Jentezen". I said, "Yes". She said, "Paul and Jan would like to know, is there any way that you could preach a ten-to-15-minute sermon? Because the guest has fallen ill, and they're not going to be here". Named the preacher who was very famous, "He's not going to be here". And it hit me, "I don't have a bible. I don't have any notes. I am totally unprepared".
I don't like to be unprepared for anything. I didn't have time to think about it. And it always stood out to me that they said ten to 15 minutes. And the way she explained it is, "If they give you more time than ten minutes, they'll let you know". In other words, "We don't know if you can do this," that's how I took it. And here's the point. I remember this night like it was yesterday. I thought to myself the very thing I'm preaching, this is either gonna be a dream come true, of reaching millions of people for Christ in a minute in a miracle moment. Or this is gonna be the worst nightmare that I'm a look on for the rest of my life. Because I got up and I froze, and I didn't know what to do or what to say. My knees were not knocking, they were missing.
I was terrified. And I kid you not, I'm telling you time and chance happen to everyone. It was my destiny to preach the Gospel. And in that moment I said, "Yes". I didn't have a clue they were setting up the pulpit. Getting two sets, the people were talking live, and they were, my mind is racing, racing, racing, racing, racing. And as I walk, they said, "We need you to get in place. They're about to throw it to you". And I thought, "What am I going to say? Could you help me? Do you got any teleprompters I could read"? That's what I was thinking. And I walked and stood behind that pulpit and the moment I did, I still remember what I taught. It was Christmas time, and I remember exactly, the Holy Spirit dropped one thing, one thought.
Now listen to this, I am not, God knows my heart. I'm not boasting, I'm trying to get some of you to understand that you'll never feel adequate. You'll never feel smart enough. You'll never feel qualified enough. But when time and chance comes and God puts you there, you just stand up and you do what you can do, and God will do what you cannot do. You are not inferior when God is with you. You are not inferior when His hand is upon you. And so help me I open my mouth and I started telling the story of what I felt God wanted me to say. And all of a sudden when ten minutes came around, the phones, they had live phones back, telephones and I said, "If you want to receive Christ, if you need prayer, go to the phone".
And when I did, every, they had 300 lines, hundreds of people answer, they paid people to do the phones. And people were praying. Every phone lit up. The next thing I knew they added five more minutes to my time. So, I said, "Well, I must be doing okay". And I kept preaching, and they added five more minutes, and then they came up and joined me on the set. You don't hear me. And it's not about, It's just that was the moment. I could have really shrunk back in fear and inferiority. But in that moment, it was time and chance. And boy I really feel today, felt it when I got up this morning that somebody was gonna get a time and a chance. And you say, "Well, I missed my time. I messed up. The net had me. The cage had me". But Jesus says, "My grace is greater, and I've already set you up to be here today. It's where time and chance intersect and you collide with your destiny".