James A. McMenis | Purpose | Part 1

we read before the prayer in second Timothy chapter 1 verses 7 through 9 I want to key in on verse number 9 where the word says that God has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works which means your history does not have to define your destiny so many individuals miss the fulfillment of their purpose because they look at their past and think that there's something that's in their past that disqualifies them from being used of God today to fulfill their purpose but what I love about this verse is it says that this purpose that God has for us was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began which means God had a plan and purpose for our lives before creation even came into the existence before we were born God had a plan for our lives that may just sound foreign and and out there how could God have had a plan for my life before I was ever born but I remind you of what he told Jeremiah and this is in Jeremiah chapter 1 because God calls Jeremiah to be a prophet but in Jeremiah's mind he's too young he's too immature he doesn't have the the age the maturity to be able to be God's mouthpiece but the Lord tells Jeremiah in the first chapter he says look before I forms you in the belly I knew you and I ordained you as a prophet under the nation so don't tell me what I can't do with you because I knew what I was gonna do with you before you were ever formed in your mother's belly before your mama knew your daddy I already had a plan for your life that that is the beauty of purpose and understanding that my existence is evidence of my purpose the Creator would not have created me I wouldn't be here if God did not have a plan for my life my existence is evidence of my purpose would you say that out loud my exist is evidence of my purpose you have to understand today that this God who sent His Son Jesus to save us from our sins and to reconcile us with the father that he is the author of redemption he saw man separate from him in sin just as Adam was separate from God in that garden hiding from God as a result of his sin and he knew that sin separated man from a relationship with God and we've all experienced that at some point our points in our life but this God who sent his son to redeem us into a relationship with him so that we could have reconciliation of the Father through His Son Jesus the same God that saved us is now just the God of redemption but he is the god of creation as a matter of fact when it comes to the story of God's Word and his people and his plan when God got ready to disclose history to his people through the mouthpiece of Moses he said let's begin right here in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth the first thing that God wanted his people to know about himself was that he was a creator that he was the Creator that he was the source of all things that exist and all creation is a manifestation of an intention of God it's interesting to think that the first thing that God wanted me to know about him was that he was and is the creator see that's missing in today's culture where we're just flooded with these lies that everything that exists exists through a process of billions of years of evolution and were nothing more than the summation of mass that that's accumulated over time but I believe the Word of God I believe the opening line of the opening verse of the opening chapter of the opening book of God's Word that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and since there is a creator then everything's purpose is revealed by its design hallelujah that you can look into something's up design and discover its purpose and if that be true with the tree and if that be true with all of creation surely it is true with the one thing that God created in his own image and what God created in his own image was not a horse or a monkey or a tadpole that would become a frog or a tree or a river or even the Sun no what he made in his own image was man man was made in the image of God you were made in the image of God and if he has a purpose for everything that he's created if the tree serves the purpose is the son serves the purpose if the moon serves a purpose if everything God created serves a purpose at the same tree that provides fruit also provides shade in nesting places for birds surely God has a purpose for you and me surely he has a plan for my life and I'm here to tell you by the Word of God that you are a purpose with a name you are not a mistake you are not just here whether or not you know you feel it or sense it it does not change the truth that you are a purpose look at your neighbor and say you have a purpose the enemy the enemy would love for you to sense today or feel today that you just exist that you're just here that you really don't serve a purpose that you really don't have meaning and not only does the enemy love to attack our purpose he loves to attack our identity because so much of our identity is wrapped up in our purpose I want to I want to look at another scripture here if you would turn to Ephesians and I want to go to the second chapter Ephesians chapter number 2 your existence is evidence of purpose I really feel like this generation is longing to no purpose Lord why am I here why do I exist soberly I want you to hear what I'm getting ready to say suicide and individuals taking their lives is an epidemic right now in this generation I don't want to miss the stats I'm sure I'll get a text after the service where someone more knowledgeable to me can look this up it's not something I want to brag about our boast in it say something that's very heartbreaking I believe that suicide might be the leading cause of death among teens I know mr. Euler you probably know that answer is that true what I just said base based on later later studies so you've got young people taking their lives and it is an epidemic right now of worthlessness and taking their own lives where an individual looks at their temporary situation and makes a permanent decision because suicide is a permanent decision over a temporary situation and if I'm ministering to you today and you feel like you don't have purpose and you're not significant and that everything is a loss to you if you're struggling right now with identity and depression and purpose I believe with everything in me the love of God has ordered your steps to be here today I'll be watching this live feed right now and I want you to know that you are a purpose that that you may not see it today you may not understand it today you may not even feel it today but time will reveal that God has a plan for your life don't make a permanent decision over a temporary situation how could it be in a world with all things accepted how could it be in a world where today's culture says you can be whatever you want to be you don't have to let your nature decide what you are you don't have to let anybody decide what you are you're free to take pride in being whatever you want to be how could it be in that generation so many people are depressed so many people don't find meaning and so many people take their own lives it's because we have missed God's Word we have missed God's plan we have missed God's purpose and until we live out the plan and the purpose that God has for us we will never find contentment but the world wants to tell us if you can have enough following enough people enough Fame enough fortune enough of all these accolades in your life can find me and then your life can find purpose and that is a lie straight from the enemy I know you're in Ephesians but I want to cite something that we're going to be looking at in great detail later in the series and that is a man by the name of Elijah Elijah we read in the Word of God was this mighty prophet and there's an event in first Kings chapter 19 where he calls all these false prophets together and he says hey children of Israel why are you torn between two belief systems if they all be God follow him but if our God be God then follow him let's make a decision and if the prophets availed be true then let's have a showdown and he called the prophets of bale to a showdown on Mount Carmel where he said okay I tell what you do you call on the name of your God and then I'll call on the name of my God in whichever God consumes this altar we've built by fire then let it be known that he is God that's the showdown right there and so the prophets the Bell get out there and they cried a bell and they pray and nothing happens and they cut themselves and there's no answer and Elijah sitting over there mocking him saying hey maybe he's asleep holla little louder maybe he's on a journey and he's not home you know because he knew there was no God but Jehovah so when Elijah came up the man called fire down from heaven do you hear me Elijah called fire down from heaven and the fire of God consumed the altar and it was confirmed that Yahweh was God now if you were Elijah's and you called fire down from heaven and somebody was there catching it on their cell phone and it got posted on YouTube can you imagine how many people have viewed your footage where you called fire down from heaven it would break all YouTube's records isn't the number of millions and millions of people that would have fallen that's the kind of event that he lied your head stay with me now Elijah had that kind of encounter unlike anything you and I have ever experienced but within 24 hours please hear me within 24 hours he went into a Cave he went into a cave and he asked God to take his life within 24 hours of calling fire down from heaven he was so depressed he didn't want to live to the point that he says Lord take my life Who am I now granted Jezebel had sent words she was going to kill him but how could you be afraid of Jezebel when you know the God that answers by fire but yet he was he was so depressed he did not want to live within 24 hours of having called fire down from heaven if we're not careful we look at the big event we look at the big event in our life our other's lives and we say now that's a purpose can you imagine the number of people that saw Elijah call that fire down and said man Who am I this Elijah calls fire down Who am I I'm a nobody I don't have I don't have a hundred and fifty followers on Instagram Who am I Who am I Elijah called fire down and not know that the same Elijah they call that fire down within 24 hours was so discouraged and depressed that he wanted to take his life why because his purpose was not the the tow the total package of calling fire down he could not find his identity in that one moment in his life and if we're not careful we're looking for those big moments that in our mind define our purpose and for some those big moments may never be there but think about it like this there were people likely that saw Elijah's big move and his big day that thought to themselves I'm nobody how come I can't be used like that but within 24 hours they weren't depressed within 24 hours they were content being who God made them to be in their life not knowing that that man that they may have envied was a man that was not content in his own life even though he had that big moment listen there are plenty of people that have fame and fortune and followers but yet they go to bed every night with anxiety and depression and they don't feel a contentment in their life listen young people don't look at somebody else wishing you had their life you don't know what they're dealing with you don't know what they're struggling with are you hear what I'm saying to you if we're not careful we get caught up in the big things and we and we come to the conclusion that's though it's those big things that reveal purpose Who am I but a father Who am I but a husband Who am I but a mother Who am I but a wife Who am I but a guy that goes it works this nine-to-five and the enemy gets it in your head that you have no purpose you have purpose you are significant even if you don't even know what the future holds and you have no plan for tomorrow I know the one that has a plan for your tomorrow you are a purpose you may not see it you may not feel it you may not even believe it I was that person I still struggle with it today you might look at me and say there's a man fulfilling his purpose but you don't know the start well I might have in the morning or I might have tonight we have to all rest in the faith that Lord your will be done in me I don't know what tomorrow holds but I do believe you hold me now watch this in Ephesians 2 it alot more to share Ephesians 2 when you get there just say Amen don't don't go after being somebody you're not don't find your identity and somebody else and I'm gonna I'm gonna explain that a little more here in a moment but watch this in verse 10 of Ephesians 2 for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them for we are his workmanship read it out loud for we are his workmanship one more time for we are his workmanship if you would go back with me to the Old Testament I want to go to Isaiah chapter 45 we are his workmanship we are not the manifestation of an accident coincidence or circumstance we are the manifestation of intention hallelujah God has a plan for my life God has a purpose for me being here my existence is evidence of my purpose my life has meaning I may not feel it I may not sense it but God's Word says it's true I stand in that Lord what is the purpose you have for my life I'm convinced you can't even know yourself until you know your purpose because purpose reveals the very nature of a thing you can look at something's design and begin to see its purpose we'll talk about that in the coming weeks because all of us don't click the same way because we don't all have the same purpose but purpose is revealed by design you take a crescent wrench and you look at it and you can begin to discover its purpose by design you just turn that little dial and man the little mouth of that crescent wrench will open and close and it'll adjust about the any size boat and our nut on that boat and you said man look at this this is a versatile wrench or you can look at it when you need to drive a nail and you can't find a hammer and you say you know what this thing is hard enough it's made of steel I think I can use it as a hammer and so you begin to take that crescent wrench and you drive that nail and that first nail went in just fine you're like me into the perfect hammer I can use it and then you use it again and again but before long because that's not its purpose you begin to break that crescent wrench and now it can't fulfill its purpose because you have abused it by not knowing its purpose there are many people today that think they can be anything that the world says they can be but your purpose is revealed in your design and your design came from your Creator my father formed me I am fearfully and wonderfully made he made me to be a man being a man is proven in my design and and that's where it all starts I have to look at how the Creator created me and say okay my purpose begins right here any time I try to take my purpose outside of my nature I am I am chasing something I can never capture purpose is revealed by design say that out loud purpose is revealed by design not all of us have the same purpose because we don't all have the exact same design we're not all naturally gifted the same Amen now watch this and I say you're 45 when you get there save min and we look at it down in verse number 18 for thus saith the Lord that created the heavens God Himself that formed the earth and made it he hath established it he created it not in vain I want us to read that statement out loud I want to hear you all the way in Bozeman city ready read he created it not in vain God doesn't create anything in vain God does not create anything in vain but when the created thing fulfills its purpose it brings God glory we're going to talk about in this series how your life how my life can bring him glory because that is the end result that all of our lives have been destined to do to bring him glory what does it mean for my life to bring God glory that's the question that we're going to answer in this series how can my life bring him glory because in essence that's the the ultimate end of our lives is that it bring him glory nothing God created is in vain but when anything that he created fulfills what it was created to do it brings him glory now if you look out your window and you saw an eagle that came outside your window and had its you know you know we had his head stuck in a flower trying to extract nectar you say what in the world is wrong with that eagle I thought hummingbirds did then you you if you would think it was strange but you know if you drive down the road and you saw a bald eagle on the side of the road eating roadkill you might think that was strange because an Eagles choice meal is something that is alive I remember being on Cypress Lake once my wife and I and we watched this Eagle scoop down as we were loading our boat up and scooped out and caught a fish right in front we didn't catch a fish and putting the boat up didn't catch a fish broke god no glory and that eagle went down and caught that fish and went up we looked at her like oh my god did you see that and we were in awe because that eagle was doing what it was created to do and it brought God glory it wasn't too long ago I'm looking out my back window and there's these hummingbirds you know they got the head and the flowers a long beak and they're flipping limb wings a million times a second and I'm watching it all why because that hummingbird was doing what it was created to do anytime you see something do what it was created to do you have to stop and look at it when you see an individual that's being used by God to do what they were created to do you have to take note and I want you to know that everyone here has a purpose there is something that God has created you to do and when you do what he created you to do it brings him glory [Applause] but if we're not careful this is such an important point if we're not careful we think only the big stuff brings him glory go with me to first Kings the 19th chapter first Kings chapter number 19 I want you to see this I was gonna hold this and I can't hold it 8 o'clock service it just came all out so we just we're gonna go ahead and get in this I want you to see this because because of the because of where we are as a society we get so caught up in the big thing and we think that's where purpose is and there's no place truer of that than even in ministry when in ministry the big thing you know being used and being seen and being heard at all that's where it's at we've got to get over this mindset and I want to show it to you we've got to get over this mindset as a church that you're not significant if it's not big that the service was not significant if we didn't stand up and do the happy dance then the service wasn't significant if the preacher didn't preach and sweat his suit off I mean we got to get out of the mindset it has got to be big and theatrical before it was God that's not true now I want to show you something in first Kings 19 because here is a man a prophet Elijah then as we looked at earlier or I shared earlier this man's called fire down from heaven and I don't know nobody that's ever done that right there but yet he did and yet within a day's time within 24 hours I want you to see this man's posture in verse 4 of first Kings 19 when you get there to say Amen but himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and said under a juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die I don't know who I'm talking to that maybe living that today or I've lived that before but I want you to know that I'm empathetic and God assistive to you no matter what the source is of you feeling like you don't have a purpose or you're not significant or that you don't have an identity or that nobody would even miss you if you were not here I hope to heaven that I can reach your heart today for you to know that there is a purpose and a plan that God has for your life even if it's not been revealed yet it's there I want so bad to share my own testimony but I'm not going to do it because it's not about me but I relate this man has just had the biggest moment perhaps in the whole covenant he called fire down from heaven to prove that God was real but yet within 24 hours he's suicidal that tells me the big moments don't necessarily bring contentment that the big moments don't necessarily bring wholeness they just because you had the big moment that mean now that your life is at peace and that you're mentally physically spiritually whole I didn't understand until I got the counsel of an older pastor I didn't understand why by Monday morning I was so down in Mondays for such a hard time for me you know God would move especially after we started doing three services I preached three times and and and and pour the word and and then Monday I would just be almost almost empty like I didn't have anything to offer like I was just existing and he took the counsel of an older pastor that told me that the hey you been on a high you've been on a spiritual emotional and physical high that you took yourself on to be used by God on a Sunday and then Monday that was gone Monday there was no audience to preach to there was no intensity and you went from one emotional area to a torturer to a drop and when you went to that drop your mind didn't know how to process the highs and the lows and that I needed a day to get acclimated again in to restore myself mentally physically and spiritually there are so many people they live thinking I gotta have a high all the time and when you live with that mindset your life has no rhythm for there to be rhythm you have to go through highs and lows and highs and lows you move and then you're still you're moving then you're still you breathe in so you can breathe out you can't just breathe out all the time you have to be able to take things in there's a rhythm to life that creates health and many people don't know that because they're always because the enemy has convinced us purpose is here that your purpose is fulfilled when you have 10,000 followers 100,000 followers then that's the lie the enemy's pointing young people in the direction of today that your purpose is in your popularity the purpose is in your fame the purpose is in wealth if your purpose is in wealth and why do millionaires take their lives in other words you think that once I got rich I would love my life but yet we know that's not true so Elijah's just had this big moment and now he's down to the point that he asks God in verse 4 he said would you take my life I want to die he says in verse 4 and he said is it enough now O Lord take away my life for I am NOT better than my father's Elijah how can you say that when you were just used in such a mighty way within 24 hours but the Lord came down and he ministered to Elijah in that cave and he began to show him these great things he looked first look at verse number 11 and he said go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord and behold the Lord passed by he's about to show Elijah something that I want you and I to see today he said Elijah go get outside this cage just just look outside for a minute and so he steps out and behold the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind ripped the mountains can you imagine a winds so strong that the mountains are breaking up that's what he saw and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord read the next statement with me but the Lord was not in the wind how many people miss God because they think he's only big stuff I see it all the time I see individuals that come that may visit the church and they're looking for something big they're looking for something theatric and when we open the Bible and just read it they're like what this is not a show anybody on the Word of God staff and I got staff members on this front row they will tell you Pastor Brian what do I always say never called this right here a what listen up stage if I hear one of our staff members call this a stage they will immediately hear me Crozier that's not a stage stages are for performances this is not a performance we are not here to perform this is not about a performance I tell them this is a platform a platform elevate something and this is used to elevate the word elevate Jesus elevate the name of God elevate who he is that's what this is but when you have people that have been programmed to think that church is supposed to be a show they come in and they look for the wind to break the mountains but when the wind doesn't break the mountains they leave and if we're not careful we take that same mindset into life and we say I need the wind to break the mountains for me to have purpose I need something big I need something supernatural I need something that nobody can explain and then I'll have purpose it's not true let me keep reading the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind I'm in verse 11 and after the wind an earthquake read that next statement I want to hear you in Bossier but the Lord was not in the earthquake so that was something else real big notice who God is talking to he's talking to Elijah who had just called fire down from heaven he's having to speak to him in a language that he would understand you're finding your purpose in this big event this big manifestation matter of fact a part of his discouragement was is he said Lord I'm the only one left and then Jezebel's out to kill me so it's all been in vain oh he had it all wrong his purpose went beyond calling that fire down as a matter of fact his purpose lie in the shadows oh my goodness his purpose lie in the shadows and when I say lies in the shadows there was a man in the shadow of Elijah there was a man that saw this happen that might have thought in his own mind Who am I look at that prophet of God he calls on God and the answers by fire I don't know if he's even here in my prayers here was a man lying in the shadows that likely looked at Elijah and said no that's the man I want to be that's the man I want to be not knowing that the man he wanted to be was a man that himself did not want to be are we chasing people because of what they have are we trying to become somebody we're not because of what they look like or what they appear to be on social media on television or whatever it is that we've looked at not knowing that that person themselves don't even like their life so God had to get Elijah on the right wavelength he had to get him on the right signal and so he shows him something he's gotten accustomed to he shows him wind that breaks mountains and he says now am I in that and he said Lord that you were in it and then he shows him an earthquake is that did you see me in his hide you're not there Lord watch this verse 12 and after the earthquake of fire read with me but the Lord was not in the fire and here we go read the next statement and after the fire a still small sea you might be here today wondering why your life has not had the fire and wondering why your life didn't have the earthquake and wondering why your life didn't have the mountains moving and the mountains breaking but I'm here to tell you today well we're gonna discover all these next few weeks is a steal small voice because it is his spirit the voice of the creator speaks in you and deposits purpose in you that reveals your true identity because he created you now watch what happens God is actually speaking to Elijah in the still small voice and here's what he hears what he tells Elijah he says I want you to go anoint follow my goodness he said I want you to go anoint a prophet as an understudy I want you to go anoint a prophet by the name of Elijah I want you to bring him under you we're gonna look at this in the coming weeks go go go go bring in this Elijah there's a large ah in the Bible book and Elijah I've been studying the Word of God all my adult life and I still get confused on who work which miracle you know why because they're duplicates every miracle that Elijah would work we seem to see any lashes life and so what we discover with Elijah while he's depressed and not wanting to live is that his true purpose would outlive his life God said I want you to go anoint this man by the name of Elijah make him your understudy become his mentor become his coach become his teacher become his minister become his pastor bring him in unto you and so Elijah would go get a light show and anoint him as an understudy and in due time God would take the mantle of Elijah and put it on Elijah and God would take Elijah not by death but but by golden chariot he will fire he would take him back to heaven and Elijah would carry out a lot just purpose so Elijah's purpose outlived his own days something we're going to talk about in this series is that your purpose affects somebody else's life and when you understand that you find that your purpose outlives your days my mom and dad are both in heaven but yet what they put in me still is God used them as my parents to put things in me that make me who I am their purpose is out living their days even though they're in heaven their purpose is still alive in me don't be discouraged as a teacher don't be discouraged as a parent you don't know what you're putting in the next generation and God is saying this is what I want your focus this is what God did to a man who was caught up in the big event I said missing missing me there's somebody any shadow I want you to pour into let's see what happened is not gonna close we get so caught up in the big stuff that brings us fulfillment and brings us joy that we forget that everything that got created has many facets and many purposes the same tree that provides fruit provide shade to a man in the heat the same tree that provides fruit and shade for the man that's hot also provides space for the birds to nest also provides refuge for the squirrel that's running from a predator God created the Sun Moon and stars and he gave him more than one purpose the Sun would give light today the moon would give light tonight but you could also use the month the moon in the stars to record a day a week or month a year and seasons don't make your life about one thing you'll never find contentment my life is not about just about being a pastor my life begins with I'm the husband of Christie Mac menace I'm the daddy of James Jerry and Linda in my life there is more than my life than just one thing when you make your life about one thing you miss what God is trying to do he's trying to do many things in you and that's what he had to explain to Elijah is I got more than one thing I want to I want to do in you and when you get fixated on that one thing you miss all these other things I have for you and what was Elijah fixated on the big thing we over the next few weeks discover what God's purpose is far lives we're going to discover his purpose in his word because this is the manufacturers manual and we're going to learn that his purpose is in his spirit and we and his purpose is in the way we've been created and what makes you tick and what aggravates you because that might explain your purpose of Moses and looking like an Egyptian got mad when he saw a Hebrew man that was that was abused and he killed an Egyptian over the life of a Hebrew and when it when he found out that they knew about it he ran in the wilderness thinking okay it's over and God would speak to him in a wilderness and say you think it's over that night that passion you have for my people they led you to murder a man I can actually take that and work it for good I need that kind of passion because I'm gonna anoint you as a deliverer you're gonna bring my people out of Egypt other words God was showing Moses there's something in your past that I'm actually gonna use with my anointing in your future so much of who we are maybe even use for evil God can take it and use it for good once we get his anointing on it God could not have used Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt if he didn't have a passion for the Hebrew see there are things in us naturally that explained purpose yeah and if I had all day we'd talk about morning we'll pick it up there next week did this help anybody today glory to God let me pray for you this morning and pray with you father we thank you for your word and we thank you for your spirit and I pray father right now that you would begin to reveal your purpose for our lives and that Lord even if we can't leave here knowing knowing completely the purpose you have for us may we at least leave here knowing that you have one pray with me Heavenly Father I acknowledge today you are the creator and that everything you create is with intention and has purpose and that purpose is revealed by design help me to start right there to see my purpose in the way you design me and who you made me to be I acknowledge that my sin my own selfishness separates me from your presence and that you sent Jesus to die for my sins so that I could be reconciled to you my father my Creator helped me to walk out of here today with my identity in you my purpose hidden and you and by your spirit give me the craving give me the thirst to want to know who you made me to be in Jesus name Amen amen amen [Music]

Channel: WOGM

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Keywords: wogm, purpose, james a mcmens, design

Id: ybWgxSy5I90

Length: 41min 31sec (2491 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 06 2020