Know Your Why | Ken Costa

here's a question it's a question that has been asked in every generation in every age in every culture it's a question I've asked myself a hundred times it's a question I know that you are asking yourself and the question is why do I do what I do why do I do what I do what is the purpose of getting up in the morning what wakes me up what what drives me forward what directs me what what is the purpose of all that I am that I'm doing in the whole of my life not just in faith but in my family in my future my finances what why am i working am i working for cash am i working for a career am i working for a cause I know you will say to me well Ken that's no your why you've written this book yes I have I've written a book to try and grapple with the practical issues of how you can know your why but you may say to me what can I know that my great purpose in life is that God loves me and I'm gonna love my neighbor and I'm gonna be a witness to him but what about me can I know a specific calling am I called me called and you know that calling is really the most important question that I think this generation faces it's a question not just addressed to an individual it's a question that is addressed to a community to a city to a country a question of identity who we are is the pressing issue of our age and you have to look at the debate on brexit or the debates in the United States on the recent election of the new president Donald Trump I was at a conference recently and one of the speakers at the conference described the world that we're living in as being a world of VUCA volatile uncertain complex and angry and whether I was in South Africa Hong Kong the US or here you open a newspaper and you can just feel the anger you listen to the television you watch a tweet you see the rage you see the anger and the panelists the politicians the publicists the press and the pundits have no cure they they know how to deal with the anger in the world and let me tell you this that what the world most needs now the Church of God has got because Jesus Christ is the one that gives us the answer to purpose and direction in life as we come to know our why but why is it so important I'll tell you why it's so important to this generation you see when I started working I might have expected to work in two or three jobs but now there's a generation that might expect to work at least in half a dozen if not twice as much you'll take on a job with a big firm you'll pivot into something else you'll start an enterprise you'll change within sectors now how is it that you're going to be able to stay committed to what God has called you to do in the moment where you are now and at the same time open to where God would lead you next that's the issue of our time careers may change but your calling doesn't and it's no random event that you're here in this church at this moment before you were born the Bible says I knew you before you in your mother's wombs I know the hairs on your head your names are written on the palms of my hand I have plans for you plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope this is these are the promises of the Bible calling is deep in the Father's heart of God and knowing your why is far more important than the other questions where shall I serve God how shall I serve Him when shall I do what he calls me to do how what when where are secondary questions you cannot answer those questions unless you know your why and the call of getting to know your why is that your called you have a calling on your life if you merely work for cash nothing wrong with that I've done that you merely work for a career nothing wrong I've done that if you merely work for a cause nothing wrong I do that you will burn out you will burn out it is calling that both opens up our lives and puts the restraint on them to avoid us doing the things that God does not want us to do in our lives because he is a loving father he is the father that cares for you more than for you can ever imagine and a father wants to guide his children if you want to know your why you will find it in that deep Father's heart and there are three core messages that I want to leave with you as great truths in knowing or why it's the understanding that you're loved by God he loves you more than you can ever imagine and you individually and you are known by God you're not gonna surprise him you're not gonna surprise him by the hidden part of your life or the life that you're leading he knows you he knows every part of you and he has called you he has called you it is central to the Christian life that we know our purpose that we know our why if you know your why you will find your way in life if you know your why you will find your way if you don't know your why almost everything else will just get in the way you won't have that direction that focus that belief that takes you through the hardship and then the difficulties that all of us have to go through to know your why is to flourish in the reason that you are made for but it's not about me it's not about you to know your why is to know your why in and through others it is that instinctive instant intuitive desire to see someone else benefit from my life and gifting let me illustrate it this way you've all heard unsure of the Brownlee brothers our triathlon brothers competitive Ali Brownlee wins the gold medal in Rio he is ready to take on the world championship in a final race in Mexico City and then an extraordinary thing happened to his brother Johnny have a look at this the gold-medal hold facing the prospect of being the world championship champion pushes his brother into number two place and denies himself instinctively in an instant he saw his brother in need he knew his why because his why was always going to be to help someone else and he put his arm around him and he drew him across the lion and they started say but is this allowed it's a question they asked someone 2,000 years ago when Jesus saw a lame person and healed them on the Sabbath was that what the law allowed they asked but instinctively he knew that the crown that he had was for us when he saw from heaven the you know the the great did the God that was loving us in his heavenly place looked on and saw us straggling around just like Johnny Bradley was and he came down and enabled us to cross the line he pushed us over the line that separates us from winning and losing that is the end it's not about you or me it is about Jesus Christ it's about following him John describes it in this way John chapter 15 Jesus speaking says this you did not choose me now you may think I'm in this church today because I've chosen you know you didn't choose me I chose you I made a deliberate effort I didn't just leave you there in a sort of a lottery I chose you I made a deliberate choice to choose you and to draw you I chose you and not only does he say I chose you nice to know that I'm chosen but what if I'm chosen to do something that I don't have the resources to do is that how many years here what John says I chose you and appointed all the word appointed or anointed actually means I have invested in you I have chosen you and I have invested in you I have given you all the human spiritual financial capital that you will need to do what I have called you to do and then he says so that you might go the Christian religion is not one where we sit back and wait for Nirvana or wait for some something to happen to us we go that's why knowing your Y is so important because he wants us to go and to live the life that he's called us to live and then he gives a reason for it the reason you know your Y is to that you might go and bear fruit there are no such things as fruitless Christians that's why we were called to bear fruit and then he goes further and describes the kind of fruit fruit that will last lasting fruit now we know sustainable fruit we know about sustainable environment sustainable climate sustainable finance sustainable economics this is this a noble fruit of the kingdom what is that it's living my why living out the reason and purpose in the harshness of commercial compromises that you and I have to reach every day of our lives in our workplaces it's living art every day the fruit of looking after a family of funding a family of paying the bills of looking after our neighbors and helping and encouraging that is the sustainable fruit of the kingdom and earlier on in John the first question the first words of Jesus do you know what they were what do you want what do you want not in a sense I need a new car new house a new job whatever but what is it at the very heart of your life that you're longing for that question that he asked on a dusty road to his very first disciples he's the same question he asks of you and me what do you want we live in a noisy world and if you want to hear God's voice in a noisy world you've got to do something about the noise if you want to hear God there is enough stuff going on everywhere we get it fed to us every few minutes on our smarts we get it on social media on the the constant interactions stimulus addiction is the addiction of our age and it just crowds out and drowns out God's voice as recently on an aeroplane several aeroplanes and every time that was the same issue the amount of noise around you is amazing isn't it you know you've got people and sitting next to you are talking and chatting you've got walking up and down clattering around in the aisles trolleys moving up and down food being coming or going falling off or that off those choices driving and nuts in there you're trying to sort of listen to some music listening to guys trying to listen to a message from a preacher and then I took my Bose earphones my present from my wife gave me put them in my ear and clicked the noise cancellation switch and the noise disappeared and the message came through if you want to hear God's voice in a noisy world you have to do one thing you have to switch the noise cancellation mechanism of your life off and it's different for everybody whatever it is that distracts you you need to switch it off so that you can hear the whispers and God whispers and nudges to know your why see the father longs to be able to drop little hints so I did go out to my to my son or my children and think them you must do this you've got to do that you need to know your why I might just say how about perhaps he has a thought God is no different he nudges he whispers and we need to dial out the noise because when we're in transmit mode we can't hear when we're in received mode we can hear the messages that he speaks to us the words of encouragement every day but you may say to me Kenmore look is this all just all about me do I just to go flashing around in the world trying to find out what it's all about no let me read to you from Philippians chapter 3 Paul's advice crucial clear advice to know your why he says this in verse 12 let me read it to you not that I've already obtained all of this or have already arrived at my goal but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me did you see the order there I press on to take hold of that for which someone has already taken hold of me so it is that what we're doing when we switch the noises off as we wanting to hear what is it that he has taken hold of me for because he has he said so and I press on to that too to take a grip of what God has for me but it's not one single grip it's a double grip do you know when you're watching tennis and you see there's very powerful back hands with a double grip in place that's what it is my grip on taking hold of that for which he has already taken hold of me it's not some wild speculation it is a reality saying I grip he grips we take a double grip and that double grip is what we are driving forward for therefore most people it is quite often but we can't grip that double grip because we're tripped up were tripped up by the past and we can't therefore be gripped by the future Paul goes on to say I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me brothers and sisters I do not consider myself yet to have taken out of it but one thing I do forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead I press on towards the girl to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus do you see that the things have happened to you in the past people have spoken words over to you at school your parents your family you're not very good at this others around you your colleagues and your friends and cell you're not really equipped you don't have the finances the friends you don't have the connections you don't have the ability to achieve what you've set out to achieve and it just trips you up and you feel that you haven't got a grip on the future but he says no forgetting what lies behind I press on to take hold of that which lies ahead so we need a double grip but we also need grit mere visions mere ideas mere thoughts mere plans that exist within us will not draw our wise art you will not know your why by drifting in to your future you will know your why by the grit the perseverance the pressing forward that when Paul uses that word I strain forward I press forward he's talking almost as if I am harrassing someone I am so keen I am so determined to press on to know the calling that God has in my life the mere purpose won't get you across the line a mere vision a mere thought a mere idea won't get you across the line but we need passion and perseverance together that forms the grit when the tough stuff happens we press on but it's not just me it's the spirit of the Living God so they just no point in being driven recently you might have seen the person that brought the action against Her Majesty's Government on the triggering of article 50 in the Supreme Court when asked to describe herself said she's I am a driven misfit there's no point in just being driven that is no point in being a misfit there's even less point to being a driven misfit but when the Spirit of God comes within us he makes us and enables us to be driven and to be led for the precise purpose for which God has called you he has already taken hold of you he's got the grip you put your hand in there as well he gives you the grit and nabel's you to press forward but you say to me I can that's great yeah I get the gig I understand that but what happens when I lose my grip what's the point of grit then not much grittiness this something else I have failed in something I know the feeling I've done that anyone here never failed well it's a club that you will all join but I beg of you one thing when you lose your grip when you screw up and you really can't hold on anymore because you made a mess just remember this never say I beg you never say I am a failure because for you to say I am a failure means that if you've asked Jesus Christ to come into your life it would mean that he would have failed in you and Jesus Christ is not in the business of failure yes I have failed in a transaction many yes I have failed in a relationship yes I failed in a project but I am NOT a failure so what do we learn when we lose our grip let me give you three little things to learn 1 do learn learn from what went wrong write it down that you don't repeat the same mistake second don't linger you can't replay the tapes hoping that they will change the facts they won't don't linger over the event that was the failure and the third leaned forward dulann don't linger lean forward to tomorrow because Jesus Christ is our hope for tomorrow Jesus Christ rose from the dead and the same power is here for us that we might live for tomorrow I know tomorrow will happen is either that I'll wake up and do to go to work or that Jesus would have returned in his glorious calling to us but I know it will happen I have confidence in that future in a William Wilberforce knew he's why when he was 24 years old and for many other people getting to know your why it's quite a process because it means getting to know yourself it's one of the reason why I've tried to write the book with such practical advice of how you do it you might have seen the picture or the biopic of the life of the jazz musician trumpeter Miles Davis when he said this man it takes a long time to sound like yourself it takes a long time to sound like yourself it is a process you don't know your why by going a go Google search God isn't Google if faith were knowledge it wouldn't be faith God what you to trust him that's what faith is it's trusting in God and you say to yourself well I don't know about that it's it's hard enough to try and know what I'm I why is and there are many reasons and excuses that we come up with I don't know what your particular calling is I didn't know what your particular Y is but I know that you have one sometimes you may feel just too insignificant when God called Moses to free the Israelites Moses protested that he could not speak publicly when Sarah was promised a son she protested that she was too old when Jeremiah was told to prophesy he protested that he was too young when God sent Gideon to fight the Midianites Gideon protested that the family was insignificant when Samuel anointed Saul with oil saw protested that his tribe was too small and when Samuel anointed David Jesse protested that David was the youngest of his eight sons and even Mary when she was promised that she would carry the Messiah protested that she was a virgin oh they will probably give her that one he sees us not as we are but as we will become you will know your why every day you will grow your why often through failure your why grow stronger in the moments of failure but if you let the Spirit of God give you a double grip to take hold of that for which he has already taken hold of you you merely slip in behind him if you will let the Spirit of God develop the grit within you that you can press on persevere looking forward then you will allow the Spirit of God to give you growth to grow to know the future that God has for you the plans he has for you here is a choice I didn't know whether you've balanced your family budgets into just a break-even point whether you running a business and you you're sweating the end of the month is 25th and it's the 22nd and the cash flows are not quite there and the expenses are just a little bit ahead of of the income and you're getting into break-even territory what God wants for you in knowing your why is not break even but break through he doesn't want us just to balance but he wants us to break through break through the resistant points and to grow as you uniquely cuz the Father knows you the father loves you the father calls you uniquely no one else has your touch a touch of the father on you let me give you an illustration there is a family in Kent who have a green house and this green house is where they kept their plants and their vegetables and they watered them and fed them and and looked after the looked after these these plants and in the corner discarded in the corner was an agave plant a desert plant that is the source of tequila if you want to know and that lay there for 40 years and grew not at all sometimes they put some water on it and it got some of the leftovers of the compost and then suddenly that plant grew in six weeks by 40 feet have a look at this and see what happened can you see what happened it came right through the greenhouse ceiling that plant didn't suddenly get to the top and say now I've got to turn back they didn't let say oh I'm now hemmed in I've reached the end of my capacity I can't grow any more because the external constraints prevent me from growing but there was something in that plant that enabled it to grow that when it got to the ceiling it burst right through that ceiling there was something in that plant that tip that was going to be no stopping it and I'm here this morning to tell you that when you know your why you will break through the ceilings of opposition you will break through the stopper in the core you will break through the lid you will break through everything that has turned against you you will break through the fencing that is around you the boxing in the roofing the ceiling because the Spirit of God is living within you and the prophet Isaiah says that in his time the Lord will do it swiftly the Lord will do it swiftly this may be the time now when you are coming against the ceiling and you don't know what to do will remember this there was a man 2,000 or so years ago he was discarded he died on a cross he died for us but he was discarded into a corner into a tomb into a mountain and the tomb was closed and the tomb was sealed and then he rose again he broke the seal he broke the ceiling he rose so that he might live again and he rose so that the same power is available to you and to me as we break not the seal but the ceiling that others have put on our lives don't let what other people put on your life constrain you when the Spirit of God is at work nothing will hold back what God wants to do in your life if you want to know your why you will know it by breaking through not just breaking even but now there's something you need to do I don't know about you but sometimes when I look at this it flashes up a message install now remind me later install now or remind me later for some new update and here's the question what are you gonna choose to install now and allow the Spirit of God to come and to touch you and to remind you of your why that you are loved that your learn that you are called or as you get an are you gonna just swipe across as I often do to remind me later just forget about it I'm sure you want to let the Spirit of God come and touch you now we can be a church that knows it's why to a nation that needs to know it's why because each one of us have found our Y by the Spirit of God isn't that an amazing truth I'm Bear Grylls my favorite way to start the day the Bible in one year that's how wild I am find out more at Bible in one year dot org or download the Bible in one year app you

Channel: HTB Church

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Keywords: Ken Costa, HTB, Church

Id: 3j65i1yCMak

Length: 37min 0sec (2220 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 29 2016