Is Your Purpose Worth It? | A Message From Jada Edwards

what up occ fam occ local prosper dallas lewisville occ global all over the world wherever you are i am thrilled to be with you this morning are y'all having a great sunday so far listen our young adult ministry is just blessing me and they make me feel like i'm about 20 years younger when i'm up here so i love can we just shout out our young adult ministry again just for our worship time absolutely and our required time well i'm thrilled to be with you and i want to talk to you a little bit about uh one of our action heroes of faith that's what our summer series is going to be about and my dude is paul i love paul because his life was uh his personality i think was kind of like mine a little direct but he had such an interesting life and i think paul gives us a great idea of what it looks like to live on purpose now our society is consumed with purpose we want this god blessed success and as a matter of fact we look for things to be growing and being promoted to affirm that god is indeed blessing what we're doing uh and and i want to remind you that purpose doesn't always look like you might expect it to now in my house my husband who is a soccer player if you're in america if you're anywhere else in the world he's a footballer came here on a soccer scholarship and so in our house we love soccer we love track and field but soccer probably wins out and he's got my son playing soccer so what we do is we watch a lot of highlight reels i mean like it's a tv show we get in front of the computer or the tv we turn on youtube and we watch a lot of highlight reels when we watch them we end up getting images that look similar to these kind of images when you watch the soccer highlights you get the best of the best so you get this cool dude bicycle kick or the one leg up he's scoring a goal you get images like this next one oh the keeper who is really about to miss that goal but it looks cool in the shot and what's our next image yeah again the ball going right past but look who we're focusing on this dude he got the leg up he's like i have just scored the winning goal what's our next image again striker this position is the striker the person who gets to kick the ball into the opponent's goal we have another one i think there we go the keeper again trying his best even with all the graphics it looks like he might miss that ball one more and there we go this is usually what we're left with so we're left with these these two positions that tend to come up in our highlight reels okay so you end up with the striker who is the person who is closest to the opponent's goal they end up kicking uh making most of the goal attempts and most of the most of the scores that happen in a game and then you have the keeper now most of us call that person the goalie but keeper is really a better word because they actually have to keep the ball out of the goal they have to be the keeper of their territory now what's fascinating about these highlight reels y'all is that you're always looking at the person that scored the goal everybody is trying to figure out who that guy is he's the one that slides down or she's the one that slides down on her knees the team rallies everybody gets thrown into a huddle because they just scored an important goal maybe even the winning goal but there's always another person in that highlight reel or that highlight shot that nobody pays attention to and that's the keeper that got scored on now here's what's fascinating the striker can actually make 10 15 20 if he's really talented goal attempts throughout a game and miss them all but if he makes one at the right time he's the hero the flip is true for the keeper the keeper could save 15 20 30 goals in a game if he or she is really talented and if they miss that one goal at the wrong moment they're the villain and so what happens is when you watch these photos look at these videos the highlight reel would make you think that only the striker is the one that's doing something because when you see that no one says that is amazing that keeper kept out 15 goals and only got that one in that's not what they're saying they're saying look at the striker who scored the goal and here's my fear here's what i thought about soccer or football as an image because i believe that even though our culture and the church is really obsessed with purpose and finding our calling too often we think our purpose is going to look like the highlight reel of us scoring goals rather than us being the keeper and keeping goals from being scored see sometimes god is going to call you and actually most likely you're going to be in a position of protection where you're trying to keep the enemy out of kingdom territory where you're trying to protect what god has given you be the keeper of your calling if you will but if you think that living on purpose your success is measured by every strike and every goal you score you're going to be disappointed because that is not life anybody living on purpose understands that more than likely what this world calls the hero is not the role that you're going to play and you cannot use the highlight reel to measure whether or not you're actually pursuing the heart of god you're not going to get that many shots in your life most of them you will not be the striker most of them you'll be the keeper and so the question on the floor today really as we look at the life of paul is are you willing to be the keeper of your calling are you going to measure your purpose just by goals scored or maybe you can measure it by gold attempted and kept out that you kept the enemy right where he was and he couldn't come any further maybe that is how we're gonna measure our purpose it won't always be popular y'all it won't always be postable it won't always be the thing that gets the applause but maybe that's the thing that god has called us to and this is important because i see too often that people who claim jesus are quitting their calling because they don't know how to measure success they're quitting living on purpose and now they're doing their own thing because they're not scoring goals and they're not realizing that maybe guys just call them to be the keeper so i don't want us to be quitters i want us to pursue purpose but i want to pursue it with a real perspective that there's beautiful divine things that come from that and there's also problems that come with purpose y'all know there's problems that come with living on purpose if you're out there in the chat just say problems all right just put that in the chat if you're listening just say it again in the wrong problems all right we don't want that part but that's what comes with purpose so when you look at the life of paul let me tell you he shows us two really important things in his life number one he shows us all the divine things that really affirm god's calling in our lives then he shows us some of the problems that come with purpose so maybe you're trying to find purpose you're in pursuit of it maybe you've got kids in your house or people you're mentoring and you need to speak into them this will be helpful for you because you get to see god's hand in the life of paul to know what it means to live on purpose so we have paul he was named after king saul if you know king saul king saul started out really well but didn't end so well with the lord and paul's life praise the lord was a little bit different from that but he was born in tarsus which is a center of greek culture his father was a jew but also they were heavily involved in roman culture they were roman citizens this was important because god is setting all this up so paul was a man of pedigree y'all in philippians 3 5 circa is he says he was circumcised the eighth day of the tribe of benjamin he was a hebrew of the hebrews as touching the law he was a pharisee now listen he was saturated with a life centered around all things related to the law had a lot of zeal he had a lot of energy and a lot of passion but it was for the wrong things he had pedigree now this man would have probably been wealthy wealthy well connected he knew folks great education private school had the best tutors knew all the things but was not yet living on purpose when you look at acts chapter 8 you start to see what paul's life really looked like it says acts chapter 8 the first three verses it says and saul because at the time he was still saul approved of his execution because now we're in the middle of a story about a disciple named steven who is about to be stoned for proclaiming the name of jesus says saul approved of his execution and there arose on that day of great persecution against the church in jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of judea and samaria except the apostles devout men buried stephen and made great lamentation over him in verse three but saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison listen dragging off men and women paul was not neutral about jesus christ being messiah he wasn't like you do you i'll do me you walk in your truth no he was hard core passionate against the church of god against the message that jesus was messiah because he was so rooted in the law he could not see that jesus had come to actually fulfill that law he was so rooted in it and this is important to know how deeply rooted he was in it because that makes his transformation that much more powerful in acts chapter 9 the first two verses it says but saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the lord went to the high priest and asked them for letters to the synagogues at damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way if you ever read old texts the way was like the code name for being christians they didn't want to be like are you down with jesus because that might get you killed they were just like are you in the way yes i'm in the way so paul was looking for people belonging to the way men and women because he didn't discriminate equal opportunity legalists he might bring them bound to jerusalem his goal was okay not just in my city but let me just be a witness for my own belief and go around city of the city and try to find as many christians as i can and imprison them now listen somebody say suddenly y'all got to say it like you know was about to suddenly listen you can put that in the chat suddenly acts chapter nine three through four on the way to what he thought was about to be the mission that he was set out to accomplish on the way y'all this was about to be the promotion of his career this was about to be the the pinnacle of all of his anti-god activity this was going to seal him in history you know when you think this when i get this interview when i get this next deal oh this is about to be it and on the way jesus will change your course it says now as he went on his way he's trying to persecute people who belong to that way because there's only one but all the way on his way because when you're trying to go your way and not according to the way that's when jesus will interrupt you as he went on his way he approached damascus and suddenly a life from heaven showing around him and falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him saul saul why are you persecuting me now can i tell you how powerful this is because again saul paul at the time wasn't neutral to the church he hated anything that proclaimed jesus as messiah and now jesus himself finds saul on his way to doing some of his worst behavior and he doesn't say i'm gonna cut you off punishment is coming here are your consequences he says why are you persecuting me he invites him to know him y'all and it says that paul if you read the rest of that passage he his eyes were open scales came on his eyes and they fell off and he was able to see jesus for the first time because an encounter with jesus is the only thing that changes the heart of an oppressor you need to understand that oppression is not new to america oppression is a part of humanity we are always looking for reasons to make ourselves better than someone else to to make ourselves more powerful and paul was a chief oppressor and instead of jesus coming to him with the senate bill and the house bill let me tell you what action you need to take and we're going to march against you he said why are you persecuting me now we need to know this church because all of our active duty all of our votes all of our civic stances are important but nothing changes the heart of an oppressor except an encounter with jesus there is no bill there is no march there is no t-shirt there is no visual there is no hashtag that changes the hearts of oppressors and if you are a person that lays claim to jesus the heart change ought to be more important than the law change you you ought to be okay knowing that things are not going to be great until jesus comes back that this is a part of life we do our part but we don't expect perfection but what he's called us to do is to be his witnesses to go and make disciples and i'm wondering do we know how to invite people to an encounter with jesus christ i'm not talking about sharing a quote that touched you or giving them a link so they can watch service on their own can you invite people to an encounter with jesus christ because if you cannot do not wonder why this world remains unchanged because we have people in our culture who strongly believe what they believe against jesus christ they have no problem coming at you in the comment section they have no problem telling you that the church is messy and that's why i don't do this and god is supposed to be loved which means basically you agree with everything i think they have no problem arguing against what we say we believe but when it's time for us to speak up we're so worried about being canceled that we stay quiet and so we wonder how we're going to encounter people who are knee-deep waist deep neck deep in what they believe and then we throw on them this ankle deep faith about jesus christ oh he blesses you he's your homie and he's dope he comes alongside and whatever you want to do if you pray then god is going to hook it up for you and when he hooks it up make sure and shout it out you know only god look at what god has done so we present him as this person who just blesses a person who brings this problem free life we present a shallow faith and wondering why it's not creating deep change only an encounter with jesus christ changes the heart of an oppressor and in true paul fashion he was changed suddenly immediately and thoroughly because it says in acts chapter 9 the second half of verse 19 to verse 20 says for some days he was with the disciples at damascus and immediately y'all said immediately he proclaimed jesus in the synagogue saying he is the son of god now we know there was some time that passed because if you read through galatians you see that paul took some time away to be with god but can i tell you his change was thorough he wasn't like well let me figure out what i think about jesus he went as hard for jesus as he went against jesus because an encounter with jesus doesn't bring you into this gray area of discovery it brings you into extreme transformation now sometimes you need to explain to people that my transformation while immediate is not going to be thorough i still have some issues and if you let people know that you're trifling and that you're a little bit ratchet they won't be surprised when you act that way for those of you who don't know i had this question that trifling means you're not all the way right you know you a little bit messy somebody asked for a little glossary on that word but just so you know and if you know that him amazing grace you're like oh wretched no ratchet it's not the same okay wretched is when you don't signal changing lanes ratchet is when you cut them off and you give them some sign language and you keep moving going to church you know what i'm saying it's not the same rest is not the same as wretched but here's the problem y'all listen they're going to come for him and here's what here's how paul responds he's going to stand his ground knowing that even though his transformation was sudden it wasn't perfect and we have to be able to do the same thing okay now listen listen let me show you some things in paul's life so in case you're looking for affirmation of god's purpose and you got your vision board and your word for the year you got all this stuff laid out you're praying for it going to coaching sessions all the things let me show you some things that need to be true if what you say you're doing is god's purpose for your life number one god has set you apart for this before you were born set you apart before you y'all say set apart see in galatians 1 13 when paul is talking to the church of galatia he says listen the grace of god he set me apart and called me from my mother's womb now this is critical because that means while paul was going against god he still had calling on his life so we cannot look at people and decide how they're living today and know what god has called them to forever because you don't want anybody to look at your life and the way you act today and be able to determine what god has called you to see calling comes at birth the way you find it is up to you but it don't have to be created you don't have to conjure it up it just needs to be claimed it's already there god has already marked you and let me tell you what that means there are no parents no family no heritage no environment no socioeconomic status public school private school two parents in the home one parent in the home physical issues financial strain none of that has anything to do with what god has called you to do because he said it on you at birth he marked it in your dna he determined who you would be beforehand all you do is have to say yes so you cannot say but god i need this to line up but god look at these disadvantages but god because his calling has nothing to do with your circumstances it was set on you at birth so you need to know that we are living out god's dream for us not her parents dream your parents dream don't determine your destiny your family's discouragement doesn't outweigh god's destiny don't equate your purpose with trying to prove somebody wrong it's a waste of life if you get to the top of whatever ladder you've built for yourself and your only claim is this is what they thought they said i could never do that is a shallow life instead of worried about what everybody else said you couldn't do why don't you ask god what he told you to do see we live in life in reverse he set it on you at birth which means that has to be the thing you pursue above all else number two god's purpose changes your path but not your personality somebody say amen for that listen let me tell you when god when i really felt like god was saying i want you to teach i want to teach the word i want you to do these things i was sitting there like i was confused because at the time as a 19 20 year old i was trying to figure out who could i look to to do this thing that god had asked me to do and i did not see women in my immediate environment who were teaching or preaching the word like i wanted to i mean we had conferences but every conference talked about proverbs 31 i was like how long are we going to talk about this one passage how many tote bags do we need why is everybody wearing pink and lavender i don't even like flowers at the time i wasn't even sure i like children i couldn't play the piano i didn't know what i was like i'm not sweet i'm not quiet i'm not nurturing god this is not going to work out i don't see anybody who looks like me and you might be there right now god may be asking you to do something and you're saying but somebody else already does that better than me god but what am i going to do i don't see anybody that looks like me he is giving you a path not changing your personality he's saying i want you to go hard for me the way you went hard against me when the way you went hard for yourself go that way for me so you don't have to suddenly become talkative and loud if you're quiet and introverted you don't have to suddenly become a thinker and a processor if you know that you're a quick decision maker have you ever seen really assertive people with strong personality types trying to be sweet oh it's painful like when they say you know i'm sorry you like that look like that hurt you know what i'm saying or like you i'm the person that you're gonna get a text from usually with hey can you do this do this do this and have you done this and then about 10 minutes later i was like oh good morning you know because the salutation is not what comes to mind first right but i'm building relationships i'm trusting that what god's called me to do he's gonna make room for and so i'm saying you need to know that god has called you he's changing your path not your personality he don't need to remake who you are because that would mean he made you wrong in the first place he does not need to remake you he's just redeeming you so so take all of who you were and do that for jesus and then you'll know you're on the right path because if you're trying to be somebody else's version of christianity oh it's a sad thing and it's not what god's called you to do what i don't care if he's called you to do something that one million other people are doing they don't have your story they don't have your personality they don't have your experiences they don't have your gifts they don't have your skills they don't have your talent they don't have your relationship with god he says i need everybody doing all the things i've called them to so you've got to believe that the path is greater than whatever might be hindering you in your personality here's number three your passion does not validate god's purpose y'all say not validate and i'm saying this is important because we in a culture and if we don't feel it it must not be right if i don't feel good about it then i must need to leave if these people are not passionate for me then i need to cut them out if i'm not passionate for the thing anymore maybe this isn't what god has called me to do but let me tell you a couple things number one you can be passionately wrong listen paul was serious about persecuting the church i mean he was staying up late working long hours trying to get lettuce going to damascus trying to talk to high priest imprisoning men and women which by the way at that time imprisoning women was just i mean even for paul my god but he went all out for it but he was wrong so you can be excited about something and it'd be absolutely against what god has called you to do and so just because you feel good about it that doesn't validate that that's what god's called you to do on the flip side when you no longer feel good about it that does not mean god is calling you to quit listen marriage is not going to feel like the first date for 20 years people celebrate anniversaries because they went through some hard times and now they remember oh my gosh i actually didn't kill you this year look at what the lord has done you got to understand that anything you're doing for a long period of time is going to have the ebbs and flows of passion it's not going to be exciting every single time because your emotions while they're important they are not the primary driver so you can't go around quitting stuff because they don't move you anymore god is like but are you moving my agenda forward i don't really care how you feel at any given moment and if it's what god's called you to do you find your passion because you know there's no other reason he's left you here on earth you can be passionate and still against what god has called you to do your passion does not validate god's purpose and i say this y'all because when i talk to people and they're trying to figure out what god has for them they're like well i just feel you know the lord is telling me is he did he tell you about that scene last week or just telling you about this new this new opportunity detail you apologize for your attitude or he just told you you about to get promotion what does he tell you all the things or do god only tell you things that feel good to you because if you don't tell you things that feel good i would argue that might not be god that might be your own spirit disguising as god because god tells me things that are good for me not necessarily things that feel good to me and when i obey it's on the other side of obedience that i say ah god that was good if it gets me all excited on day one it's probably something that i created myself because let me tell you something god is god is not calling you to the things that make you feel good god is calling you to the things that are good and for his goal for your life here's number four god's purpose does not erase your past somebody needs to be free god's purpose does not erase your past y'all grew up in church and i remember when people would get up and give their testimony and it was all bc you know before christ and then i was sitting there like okay this is real cool but what about your testimony in dc that's during christ and you still you still acting crazy anybody have a dc testimony y'all know oh it's more than three of y'all who haven't who has a dc uh or rncr right now in christ i know i'm acting crazy and i wish i could get up here and be like oh i once was blind but now i see i'm like no i was blind now i'm blind with jesus and i'm stumbling along and every now and then i see a little bit it's i wish it was this night and day thing but here's the thing that god's purpose doesn't erase your past look acts chapter 9 21 it says all who heard him who heard paul were amazed and said is not this the man who made havoc in jerusalem of those who called upon his name has he not come here for the purpose to bring them bound before the chief wait a minute wasn't paul on the way to imprison these people is that the same paul little p okay let me see uh first 22 23 but saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the jews who lived in damascus by proving that jesus was the christ now after days had passed the jews plotted to kill him you need to understand that god is not going to erase your past to call you into purpose as a matter of fact you will often come face to face with that past and you better be able to say yes that was me but this is me too and i understand listen that sometimes i do things that i say i don't believe in but that's because i'm in a struggle see if we would let the world know that we're human and we struggle they won't cancel church when you act like you the reason why people are like i'm through with god i'm through with the church y'all are all hypocrites yes we're hypocrites because we believe a lot of things that we haven't mastered yet but if i let you know that i'm on this journey i'm in this struggle will you work with me i'm not gonna preach at you like you should be perfect don't expect me to be perfect i'm the same mess but now i'm a mess plus jesus okay and we are working through this thing and you have to be okay with that because that is how god is glorified in your life not that you wake up and some people act like they got born when they met jesus no you had a life before jesus and if you act like you don't he's going to bring people in your life that's it i remember you oh you've been somewhere you've been in your new life and ran into somebody at the mall at the at the restaurant you like ah and then your new friends like who is that i don't know and you're just sitting there giving them trying to give them a signal like do not come over here these my new friends they don't know nothing about you they don't know nothing about this life that you represent right they even know you used to live in that city because we get so we get so consumed with erasing that but paul is saying no no i know what you think jews and instead of shutting down instead of feeling i have to post and explain myself to you well here's why some of these no no no he said it grew he grew in more strength confounding them he said you can be confused because you know what it's a little confusing to think that christ would take a sinner like me and give me his holy spirit and then give me a calling and a mission and allow me to represent him i can understand your confusion but it will not derail me from what i'm trying to do that's what it means to understand that my past is very much a part of this thing called purpose god is not going to erase it and let me tell you sometimes it's going to be your own family oh yeah it's going to be your friends and like you don't act like you used to oh oh now you're too good because you remember that time i remember that time that was me too but this is me now so you don't have to shut them down because sometimes it's your spouse they don't want you to be great in god they want you to be the person they marry because that's what's comfortable for them you got to say i know this is going to make you uncomfortable i know it's going to be confusing for you but i got to grow in what god is asking me to do and i'm going to make some mistakes but guess what miracles come out of mistakes and it may not always make sense but i'm not going to deny who i was i know who i was and as a matter of fact the more comfortable i am with who i was the more glory god receives for who i am today see because when i can tell you oh oh you don't know me you think i'm bad now but there was a time when my thoughts came out of my mouth and look at god i mean there was a time last week and i'm kidding it was a little longer than a little bit longer than last month but listen that's how we give god glory when we embrace all of that here's the last two things about knowing your purpose number five god's purpose will redefine what you thought was right he will change your values philippians 3 7-10 paul says whatever gain i had i counted as loss for the sake of christ indeed i count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing christ jesus my lord for his sake i've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish this wasn't a poor man saying i count my things as loss he had some stuff to count as loss but god's purpose will redefine what you think is right it will change what you knew had to be the right way what actually was a part of your identity suddenly when we're walking in the purpose that god has given us we can actually look at what we were convinced was us and say that's my old self i used to be the way but now i think differently and you need to be encouraged by that church maybe for yourself or for someone that you're praying for that's in your life that lets you know that there is not a habit or an addiction or a way of thinking that god cannot turn around as soon as you're ready as soon as you're ready he's not going to force health on you but he has health waiting for you as soon as you're ready anything that used to be your old way of life god can set you free from and for some of us we're still walking in the old way as we walk into church but that's okay while you're sitting here and you're still being delivered in the present tense god can do it he can take whatever you thought was right and redefine your values lastly god must be your primary guide y'all say primary god now this is more than a t-shirt of putting god first this is serious because there's going to be things in your life that want to speak against what god's called you to do and as a matter of fact if god is your primary god and the spirit is talking to you like we said earlier here's some of the things he might say is what he told paul in acts chapter 20 20 through 24 it says and now beho i'm going to jerusalem that's what paul is saying constrained by the spirit not knowing what will happen to me there except that the spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and affliction awaits me uh y'all like i don't want that spirit i want the spirit that's like increase where is that spirit winning more deliverance victory promise yeah he gives you all that too but he said you don't have your increase spiritually you're gonna have your promise in me you're gonna have your increase in your soul it's gonna all be while you're in prison what about is that okay god why i can't grow in you while i'm free can i just be in freedom and yeah you can but this might be what i have for you he says the holy spirit now most of us when we say we hear from the spirit or we're getting guidance from the spirit he's not telling us that we're about to be imprisoned and afflicted because we start filtering out what we want to hear we start filtering out what we want the spirit to say to us but god must be your primary god because then you will hear everything that the spirit has to say and here's what's funny about it when hard times come your way you don't have to be surprised if you listen to the spirit he's like i told you this was coming i told you what would happen but you acted like if you claimed it loud enough nothing bad was gonna happen and so then when these hard times came you acted like it was god coming to get you and he said no no actually i had a plan for you in this but you didn't want to hear it so god has to be your primary god and here's why y'all because all of these great things that come with purpose being set apart keeping this personality that god has given us knowing god is our primary god knowing that we don't have to leave our past behind it comes with some problems everybody say problems um yeah y'all didn't that didn't sound exciting everybody said problems yes be excited about these problems [Laughter] nobody is excited about problems i'm thinking about my son who every time we come if i say let's go play it's gonna trampoline oh my gosh flips cartwheels so you have some math problems i mean his whole demeanor this is like that's what it feels like sometimes when you're like but i know at the end of working out these math problems i'm going to be smarter and know more and be better but gosh i don't want to go through them just to get there but that's what it is sometimes y'all purpose is gonna come with problems are gonna be things that you gotta work through and they're not enemy coming at you they are god allowed problems in your life paul had some problems y'all he had physical problems y'all say physical listen second corinthians 12 7 through 9 if you know this passage he says so to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations a thorn was given to me in my flesh to keep me from becoming conceited because again your personality has not changed so he's like i still have a propensity to be prideful and kind of have a little arrogance and so the lord knew that as he continued to reveal these things to me my arrogance might rise up so to keep that at bay a thorn was given to me in my flesh a messenger of satan to harass me to keep me again from becoming conceited three times i pleaded with the lord about this that it should leave me but he said my grace is sufficient and my power is perfected in your weakness now we're not trying to have we like god why your power can't show up in my strength why can i not be strong and killing it and then you make me extra super strong and we just let the world know what it looks like to be like yes he's like no no no you need to be broken you need to be at your bottom you need to be at your lowest point because then when i come in and rescue people will wonder what god is this that picks people up from their lowest pit you're going to have physical problems y'all this is not a metaphor he had a thorn in the flesh and so there's going to be things that come you're going to have strains in your body there are physical things that happen just because you're trying to live for god high blood pressure and anxiety and trying to eat right and stay fit and fatigue and get enough sleep all of these things when you are on fire like yes god here's the thing i have for you and some of the things that are health things some of the things that are physical challenges are not something that god is trying to get rid of in your life is something that he's allowing to keep you humble but living on purpose is going to come with some physical problems living on purpose comes with some relational problems barnabas and paul y'all they kind of fell out a little bit in acts chapter 15. they were on fire for jesus but all of a sudden they had a disagreement and they decided to go separate ways is what the bible tells us they disagreed paul went on his way he took silas and barnabas went on his way but the bible does not tell us that barnabas was living in sin he didn't tell us that that paul needed to go and resolve this conflict and fix it because sometimes it's just that way you're going to have relational problems when you're living on purpose because everybody that starts with you is not going to finish with you and if you need people around you to applaud you and pat you on the back you could be missing the thing that god is asking you to do because very often it's going to bring relational challenges in your life and you're wondering why all of a sudden your marriage seemed better when both of y'all were being raggedy and doing your own thing and had your own agenda and now when y'all trying to live for god it's arguments it's challenges something's going wrong all the time things going on with your kids your friendships your relationships seem to be suffering because when you start living for jesus the enemy is going to poke holes in every area of your life and more importantly just because we are human we're not going to always be in agreement that does not mean that god is no longer affirming your purpose just because everybody around you does not agree with you you're going to have relational challenges so people's presence and your life cannot validate god's purpose for you paul didn't cut off everybody when him and barnabas split up you got to know how to handle that just because you and one friend fell out y'all don't talk anymore that doesn't mean you just cut off everybody and forget it i'ma do me and forget people i don't do people nobody who loves jesus can say they don't do people that's the whole half of the bible love the lord and love your neighbor i don't do neighbors where in the world what in the world you cannot say that you cannot unfriend and block and keep changing numbers and ghosting that is not how we do relationship we press through hard things and we know that we can love people and like people even when they don't agree with us and we know that friends can be loyal even if they provide disagreement and we don't have to be that kind of person that only likes who all my friends like and if my friend don't like you then i suddenly don't like you because we not 12. that's what people do on the playground that's not what adults do when you love jesus you evaluate relationships based on god's purpose for them in your life and even in the hard ones when he's telling you to stay you stay because you're going to have relational problems when it comes even in people that you like let me tell you something me and conway we argue and i like him i do i like him a lot we argue all the time and so there have been moments where the purpose that god has called us to has actually saved us in the relationship i'm talking about arguing on the way to church but no we got to get in here and be before people and at the car we're like you know what we're going to talk about this later let's pray still mad let's pray but it's okay and we're going to talk about it later because nobody's walking out nobody's cutting somebody off because relationship problems are a part of life and even more so when you're trying to live on purpose because the enemy does not want you to have harmony in your relationships and if you don't have something bigger then the relationship with each individual in your life that's calling you to love people in a healthy way you're going to end up an island by yourself you're going to have relational problems here's the last one spiritual problems y'all romans chapter 7 romans 7 15-24 paul says for i do not understand my own actions i do not do what i want but i do the very thing i hate for i know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh for i have the desire to do what's right but not the ability to carry it out anybody feeling paul right there for i do not do the good i want but the evil i do not want is what i keep on doing wretched man ratchets who will deliver me from this body of death now you need to understand why this is important because living on purpose for god does not automatically mean your spiritual life is going to be perfect you're going to be wrestling in a deep way with things the thing you want to do is not the thing you're doing as a matter of fact the evil that you hate is actually what you're carrying out you're going to be in a constant tension that's what it means to live in the spiritual life if you don't have this kind of tension then you have to wonder who really resides in you because if you've got a sin nature which we all have and then you accept jesus and he gives you the holy spirit you've now got a sin nature and the holy spirit in your body working it out that means there's going to be tension and if you don't have any that means you're yielding to one voice and it's probably not the holy spirit because the holy spirit creates tension now you got to know that you don't have to be at the top of your spiritual game to live out your spiritual calling there's going to be moments where you are at your bottom you need prayer you have no scripture in you you're not thinking about a worship song and somebody is going to be sent your way that needs some encouragement and god is going to say even in your emptiness i want you to pour out remember my power is perfected in your weakness and if you're like no i can't feel you and fool with you today i haven't had my quiet time i need my me space i'm cutting off people i'm closing the drapes i'm turning off my phone god is saying you don't get to decide when you miss opportunities that i send your way and so if you understand the spiritual tension you can say come on i know all i have right now for you is a jesus will and god is good but that's what i'm gonna give you because i'm at the bottom and i know my spiritual struggle is not an excuse for me to not live out purpose you will be empty sometimes and god still says give more i am the one that fills you up not them there's no applause there's no thank you there's no amen there's no gift that fills you the way i do and you need to understand that when you're at your spiritual empty place and god still does something miraculous through you that's when you know it's god you know it's god because you're like i can't even explain to you how dry i am how unqualified i feel how far away from god i feel yet still somehow he used me to speak life into somebody else to pray for someone else to think of someone else other than myself it has to be god and so church i just want to encourage you today that yes there is divine purpose awaiting you that god set apart at birth in you and there's all these beautiful divine things that you can use to affirm whether or not god's calling you to do what you want to do here's the goal g-o-a-l we're talking about soccer gratitude y'all say gratitude because if you know what god has done in your life praise is not do i have to do this it's i can't believe i get to do this because when you stand before people and you know that unlike paul god didn't put all your business in the bible and your whole testimony he's leaving it between you and him for the most part you stand before god grateful that he would use you the o is for obedience y'all say obedience romans 12 1 one of my favorite passages i present you i beseech you brethren by the mercies of god present your bodies living sacrifices that's what it means it's sacrificial living when we live out our calling the a is ambition y'all say ambition it's not the same as hustle ambition is not the same as just a hunger to get the things of the world in romans 15 20 paul says i'm making my ambition to preach the gospel like the thing that he felt the most passionate about not any longer persecuting the church but now becoming the most prominent voice in the letters of the new testament out of 21 letters paul the persecutor wrote 13 of them that's what it means for your ambition to shift and now i want to do the things that god has called me to do and the hell y'all is love mark 12 we know this passage that you love the lord your god with your heart your soul your mind your strength and you love your neighbor as yourself so really you have to understand two important things number one that purpose can be affirmed by god's divine evidence it's not just the thing that you always wanted to do it's not even the thing that pays well it's the thing that god set you apart for but number two purpose is gonna come with wood some problems and if you want a problem free life then you don't need to pursue purpose it's going to come with some problems where you are stephen come on i'm gonna show them let's talk about what the enemy does sometimes y'all because you got to understand that just like those images we saw with the soccer players the enemy is going to strike at you and you got to ask yourself is my purpose worth it am i worth is it worth being the keeper of this calling because there's gonna be things that come at you okay stephen you got to really kick the ball don't worry about it i got you well i might not have you but try are you ready okay boom what jesus let me get over here listen when mental illness is coming your way is your purpose worth it when the enemy strikes against you with financial hard time is your purpose worth it when your marriage gets hard y'all is your purpose worth it and sometimes you're gonna try your best to keep some out and the enemy's gonna get some anyway you get up because your purpose is worth it when anxiety strikes against you when you feel accused when social injustice seems to be too much is your purpose worth it can we be a church that does not quit just because problems come the enemy is going to keep striking he's going to strike in your body strike in your mind strike in your wallet strike in your heart you're going to have doubt confusion sometimes you're going to feel isolated is your purpose worth it is your purpose worth it and it is worth it because we need a church that doesn't quit we need a church that understands that success is not always measured by the goals scored that sometimes it's measured by what's kept out we need men and women that will be keepers of their calling because we have a world that needs more impact than what's trending we need a world that needs to be changed for eternity understanding that the god who does not need you wants you the god that does not need you wants you to represent him and when you could not choose god for yourself he chose you first and he didn't wait for you to get together he didn't wait for your life to be right he's calling you in your mess to be a miracle that lives on purpose in jesus name [Applause] amen [Applause] hey fam uh why don't you stand with me as we close if you're online stand with me please as well the prayer today is that whatever the purpose is that god has on your life and that you will walk in it now you'll not be afraid of it you'll not be discouraged but you will walk in it uh sometimes i wish jada would have told me the message before she came and told all y'all because i'm sitting there and thinking she's just preaching to me is that it is there anybody else in this room but that's my prayer every time i come to church that god will make it appear as if there's nobody else in the room but you and he speaks directly to your heart and so on today if you don't mind allow me to pray for us please father i pray for the call that you have called every person in this room and every person online for before we were formed in our mother's wombs you had called us to something god i pray for the people who don't even know what that is right now will you clarify will you give them discernment to discern what that is and then god for those who know what you've called them to get but god they're running at half pace and not full pace will you help them to pick their steps up so we can fulfill the call that you have for us and for those who are walking in it but are discouraged will you remind them of the purpose and why you have called them for such a great call but god i pray that nobody nobody who names the name of jesus not one of us that's that knows that call will ever walk away from it but help us to run hard to fulfill the calling to which you've called us god protect us i know the enemy wants to frustrate us but i pray that you'll protect that you will anoint afresh and that you will give renewed strength and energy to every person under the sound of my voice to every person watching online so that we will finish the race that you have i don't care whether they win the first lap or the tenth lap i pray that you'll help every person to finish the race that you have called us to we pray this in jesus name and everybody said come on let's give god a round of applause one more time

Channel: One Community Church

Views: 140,185

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Id: ozLAud_2Iek

Length: 50min 16sec (3016 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 27 2021