I said last week, that between the Resurrection and the Ascension Jesus was conducting an Apostolic bootcamp, and His teaching centered around three things
The end times, the Holy Spirit’s ministry and our purpose as His ambassadors in the earth. So, today we are looking at our purpose…
They wanted to know what was ahead for the future. So, Jesus used their question to teach them about the Holy Spirit’s work through them and their purpose in it all. Their priority was to wait in the upper room to receive the power to fulfill their purpose.
Act 1:8 “But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth”.
It’s not about how much of the Holy Spirit you have, but it’s about how much of you the Holy Spirit has…and that is an important difference….
When the deciples came out of the upper room, with the power of their purpose, 5,000 were saved and brought into the church. They quickly saw that they were the delivery system for the power of the Spirit that had come within them. (Know that you are the delivery system for the gifts that God desires to give to others)
The sick received a gift… the gift of healing,. Those who facedimpossible situations, received a gift… the gift of miracles... Those who needed direction, received a gift….the gift of prophecy or wisdom, knowledge and discernment….They saw that their purpose was to be the delivery system for the Holy Spirit’s power. John Wesley said “I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole world for my mission field”.
A sign was taped to the front door of a business which had closed. It said simply, "Gone out of business. We forgot what our purpose was." That can happen to churches and to individuals….
Paul and Peter were take charge guys who were accustomed to being in control, as well as the two disciples whose nick-name was “Sons of Thunder”….These along with some of the others,experienced some head butting, and conflict, which caused them to realize that *……their purpose could not be fulfilled without allowing the nature and character of the Holy Spirit to be reflected through them.
Having the power without the nature of the Holy Spirit, would be like having a great doctor, who can’t stand people! He’s good but he has no bed side manner!
Gandhi, was quoted as saying that the only problem with Christianity was the Christians who claimed to follow it! The Holy Spirit’s fruit are about His nature and character, and the Gifts are about His 3 levels of power… It has been well said that People don’t care what we know until they know that we care….
I want to read that scripture again which we read last week….
Galatians 5:22 (amplified bible) “But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, v23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. v24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put off the sinful nature together with its passions and appetites. v25 If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct is now empowered by the Holy Spirit]. v26 We must not become conceited, provoking or competing with one another, or envying one another”.
Just as a house is no better than it’s foundation, the Christian life is no more effective than the successful integration of the Spirit’s nature and character…
Sometimes the Lord takes us outside ourselves, and sometimes He takes us within ourselves, but both journeys can be totally amazing!!!
Before Pentecost Peter cursed and denied Jesus 3 times. After Pentecost Peter preached to the very crowd who crucified Jesus and three thousand of them believed, received and turned to the Lord.
Oh, Yes, you may make mistakes and errors in judgment and say or do the wrong thing at the wrong time – but you will experience a new effectiveness, new power to live the Christian life, and you will have a new purpose in life, as He equips you and reveals Himself to you through the Holy Spirit.
God gave you an eternal spirit with eternal potential.
Sin robbed you of that potential, but Christ has redeemed your eternal potential through His atoning death, and resurrection.
Peter had resigned himself to fishing the waters of Galilee for the rest of His life, but Jesus gave his life new purpose and new direction, which he could never have imagined before…. Paul thought his life mission was to be the hatchet man for the religious leaders of his day…His mission… to stop the upstart Christian faith, but God re-purposed his life on the Damascus road..
Thomas would have remained a doubter and sceptic until Jesus
re-purposed him, by revealing Himself to Him as his risen Lord!
Christ takes lives that are lived one dimensionally and brings layers of purpose and potential into them. Lives that were lived on the basis of what they feel obligated to do, now find the joy of what they love to do and want to do, and are thrilled to do, because they’ve found their purpose!
Not only will the Lord show you the direction in which you are to move; He will also reveal to you His timing, His methods, and His reasons.
There was an inscription on a cemetery headstone in England
It said…”Remember man, as you walk by, As you are now, so once was I, as I am now, so shall you be, remember this and follow me.
Someone couldn’t leave it without replying, so they wrote on the tombstone….To follow you I'll not consent, until I know which way you went.
I like what Robert Logan posted over the entrance of the church he pastored, “Our purpose is to glorify God by making disciples of all people and multiplying His church, so that believers worship God, win unbelievers to Christ, and continue to become more like Him”.
Someone here today has heard that inner voice which is saying… “You were meant for more than this…Your life has a greater purpose”…. You are designed to accomplish far more than you have yet seen or that you have yet experienced….
I have 3 scriptures for you today….
Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. v6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct Your paths”.
Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will continue to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Mark 11:23 “Whoever says to their mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in their heart, but believes that those things they say will be done, they will have whatever they say”.
I’m reminded of the professor, who invited some of his fellows to his home for the holidays. He filled the counter with coffee cups and no cup was the same. Some were plain and others were fancy. When everyone had settled down with their coffee, he asked why each had chosen the cup they were drinking coffee from. After their responses, He said, “If you were focused on the cups then you missed what this was all about, it was all about the coffee in the cup. The coffee is the purpose and the reason for the cups. All the cups may be different in size, color and substance, but we are all drinking the samecoffee”. Some like cream and sugar and some don’t, but it’s the same coffee!
1Corinthians 12:4 “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. v5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. v6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which is working all in all”.
We are His people, who partake of the same Spirit and who have received the same Lord and serve the same God.
The cups may be different… different preferences, different perspectives, different skills and abilities…. But the same coffee!!!
And before Jesus ascended, he addressed this sameness in diversity….
Romans 8:11 For if the (same) Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by the (same) Spirit that dwells in you”.
A child receives the same Spirit as the senior citizen… The pastor has the same Spirit as the janitor…
The African, the Chinese, the Haitian, those of every culture, and race, receive the same power, the same gifts, the same fruit…. Hallelujah!!
Mark 16:15 “Go ye (with your sameness in diversity) into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. v17 And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues. v18 They shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover”.
When the disciples were caught in the storm, they had the “Go Ye right” but they got in trouble when they forgot their purpose. Jesus had said to go over to the other side, and until they were on the other side, they had not fulfilled their purpose in being on the water…Jesus showed up to keep them in their purpose!
Find your mission, know your purpose, be under orders, get on your assignment, and you need not fear the powers that might try to overwhelm you.....
In the fairy tale story of Alice in Wonderland, a conversation took place between her and the Cheshire Cat. Alice asked, "Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the cat. "I don't much care where I go" said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you should go" said the cat.When you have no purpose, any way will do!!!
We can only access the level of authority which we are willing to acknowledge and accept as part of our purpose! Your purpose gives you a lot of power to enable you to accomplish it.
Can you imagine how ineffective you would be if you went to work every day, without knowing the purpose of the business that employed you to do a job…?
And yet, how many attend a church week after week , and never really grasp the purpose for which Christ created the church….
I believe a great scripture concerning our redeemed purpose is 1Timothy 6:12 “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, that you are called unto, and continue to profess a good profession before many witnesses. v13 I give you charge in the sight of God, who quickens (gives inspiration and impact) to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate maintained a good confession.. v14 Keep this commandment without spot and remain uncompromised, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
George Carlin said "I have as much authority as the most powerful person on earth, I just don't have as many people who believe it".
Shakti Gawain....When we are constantly doubting our own authority, because we are always looking to others for validation, and approval, we give our personal power away.
The Merriam-webster dictionary defines authority as, "The ability to determine things, to lead by permission, to delegate, and to enforce something that has been previously agreed.
We have received the mantle of Jesus.. (Think about it)!!
Revelation 1:6 “He has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen”.
We have received the Holy Spirit that we might be anointed to fulfill our purpose in this earth.
We must guard that anointing. We must guard the thought gate, the heart gate, the eye gate, the ear gate, and the mouth gate. These are all places of entrance into our spirit. It is so easy in this day we live, to allow your spirit to become confused by all that is taking place in the world around us. As the old saying goes, "the smallest boat can cross the biggest ocean as long as the ocean stays out of the boat"!
I’ll call the following story “The bookstore”….Jacob Brodzky, was a shy Russian Jew whose father owned a bookstore. When his father died, he buried his father, and married the love of his life, Lila. Then they moved into the apartment above the bookstore, and Brodzky took over its management. The life of books fit him perfectly, but it cramped her. She wanted more adventure -- and she found it, she thought, when she met an agent who praised her beautiful singing voice and enticed her to tour Europe with a vaudeville company. Brodzky was devastated. At their parting, he reached into his pocket and handed her the key to the front door of the bookstore.You had better keep this," he told her, "because you will want it some day. You will come back, and I will be waiting." She kissed him and left. To escape the pain he felt, Brodzky withdrew deep into his bookstore and took to reading as someone else might have taken to drink. He spoke little, did little, and could most times be found at the large desk near the rear of the shop, immersed in his books while he waited for his love to return. Nearly 30 years later, at Christmas, she did return. But when Brodzky rose from the reading desk, he took the love of his life for just another ordinary customer. "Do you want a book?" he asked. It startled her, that he didn't recognize her. But she gained possession of her senses and replied, "I want a book, but I've forgotten the name of it. believe it’s title is “The Book Store”…. Then she told him a story of childhood sweethearts. A story of a newly married couple who lived in an apartment above a bookstore. A story of a young, ambitious wife who left to seek a career, who enjoyed great success but could never relinquish the key her husband gave her when they parted. She told him the story she thought would bring him to himself. "You remember it; you must remember it -- the story of Lila and Jacob?" After a long, bewildered pause, he said, "There is something familiar about the story, I think I have read it somewhere. It comes to me that it is something by Tolstoi." Dropping the key, she ran from the shop. And Brodzky returned to his desk, to his reading, unaware that the love he waited for so long, had come and had gone forever. Don’t forget your purpose…. And don’t leave home without it! Jesus said that He was giving us the keys to the Kingdom… what are we doing with those keys?
Let's take a moment and eavesdrop on a conversational prayer Jesus is having with the Father and we can see this process of the anointing for your purpose…..
Jesus is praying in John 17:21 “May they be one, as You are Father, in me, and I in You, that they also may be one in us... that the world may believe that You have sent me. v22 And the glory which You gave unto me I have given unto them, that they may be one, even as we are one. v23 I in them, and You in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent me, and have loved them, as You have loved me. v24 Father, I will that they also, whom You have given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which You have given me, for You loved me before the foundation of the world".
Your anointed purpose is about alignment. It’s about coming into harmony with the will of God in all the circles of our influence and connections. It is about God bringing us into His right place, at His right time, with His designated people, for His right reason and purpose.
When our lives become God centered, His will becomes our heartbeat and our daily quest and begins to align us with His deepest desires....
A news commentator had a single question written on post-it notes, which he placed on his locker at the gym, the refrigerator, his desk, and the dashboard of his car. It asked one question…“Is what you’re doing now, accomplishing your purpose”..
Jesus is calling and He's interceding at the right hand of the Father
We are being called from labor into His rest (Matt. 11:28)
We are being called from death into His life (1 John 3:14)
We are being called from bondage into His liberty (Gal 5:13)
We are being called out of darkness into His light (1 Pet. 2:9)
We are being called from bondage into His peace (1 Cor. 7:15
And we are called from orphans into adoption as His own(Gal_4:5 )
The Kingdom of God is within you. Jesus came to build a kingdom within a kingdom. He came to raise up the kingdom of God in the midst of the kingdoms of men.
This anointing for purpose, which Jesus said we were given, is a force, a God given ability, an abundance, a heaven sent value, with supernatural might, loaded with possibilities, with enablement, supply, and accompanied by mighty works which He alone can and will do through us....
Here’s a challenge for us all….If you were judged, choose understanding, instead of jumping to conclusions…If you were rejected, choose acceptance instead of reacting with the same….If you were shamed, choose compassion instead of retaliation…Be the person you needed when you were hurting… Vow to be better than whoever came against you….Instead of becoming bitter, bring reconciliation and healing…and live from your redeemed purpose and not your pain!
The desires God placed in you are always possible, but the path to getting there is not always predictable, which is why we must be led by the Spirit.
The only real obstacle to personal power is ourselves, because we carry the baggage of our own insecurities and past experiences which tell us that it can't be done....
We must begin to rule with our own spirit.....and continue toBelong, continue to Believe, and continue to Become more like Him. We are an imperfect people, who are following His perfect example….
Would you lift up your hands and give thanks for this glorious sameness in diversity, which is called the church of the Lord Jesus, everywhere, in every place, tongue, culture and people group. His GLORIOUS CHURCH IN THE EARTH!!!
Song….All hail king Jesus, all hail Emanuel, King of kings and Lord of Lords, bright morning star. And through all eternity, I’m going to praise Him. And forevermore, I will reign with Him.
And now, as we prepare for communion …
We are God's people, anointed for purpose, Let us take our place before God with someone around us and just stand in our priesthood, and for this moment, intercede in their behalf....
I am placing on the screen some possible areas you can agree with one another about… Let’s come into agreement….
for their family members, their life choices that need to be made, that their needs be met and the supply that God wants to bring to them would come to them, that their appointed connections would be made....stand for their physical healing, and that the souls in their circle of influence would come to Christ....In Jesus Name.....
