Every now and then we need to stop and think, what is our real purpose for living? We need to stop and ask ourselves “why are we doing what we are doing?” The beginning of the New Year is always a good time to do this self inventory. As I approach 11 years this Easter at one church, I find myself personally and collectively asking and thinking about purpose.
The vision statement that God, gave me to put in place many years ago, was that every member of St. John's Missionary Baptist Church should be a witness for Christ through the effective teaching and practice of God’s Holy Word – Acts 1:8. Whatever calls us to a particular place or situation we always have a purpose in mind. This year, I pray for all us walking with Christ that we really seek the purpose of God for our lives.
When God gave us the promise and ultimately the power of the Holy Spirit, he gave it to us with purpose. When Jesus said in John, “that he would send us a comforter”, he said it with a purpose in mind. In I John 4:4, Jesus said, “greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world,”
He said this with purpose.
We have been empowered as people of God for a purpose. Not our purpose; but, a God divine, God ordered, God determined purpose. With the coming of the Holy Spirit in the life of every believer, we need to recognize three things:
1. I am empowered to BE who God has called me to be. (YOU)
2. I have been empowered to DO what God has called me to do. (be my witnesses).
3. I have been empowered to GO where God wants me to go. (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest parts of the earth.)
For many of us this year, our lives will be about achieving purpose. When seeking to achieve purpose, we have to go back to the original directions that He gave us for His plan.
As Luke, recounts the word’s of Christ at the beginning of Acts, we must also go back to the end of Matthew, Mark and Luke and see how each recounts the directions that Jesus gave them prior to his ascension. For the directions He gave would be the purpose for the rest of their lives.
Matthew states in 28:19-20, the purpose for the eleven disciples are these words “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Mark recalls Jesus’ purpose in 16:15-18 that states “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
Luke says in 24:46-49, “and He said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."
Each of the writers recounts the purpose that Jesus had for the disciples for us. If we are going to be who God called us to be, do what God called us to do and go where God called us to go, it must be about purpose.
Not only must it be about purpose, we must also have the power. Acts 1:8 was about the power needed to carry the purpose that God had for the disciples’ lives. In order to accomplish the things that had been charged to them, they needed to wait on the Holy Spirit. For they would need power from on high to accomplish the things that God wanted them to accomplish. These points need to be remembered about power.
1. Power is a pre-requisite for achieving God’s purpose.
2. Power is a promise that will come from God and not man.
3. Power comes only to achieve God’s purpose.
As we prepare to go into the New Year, all believers that have been called with a purpose and have received the Holy Spirit to achieve that purpose. We should remember:
1 God’s commands are to be followed.
2. God’s purpose will be accomplished in God’s time.
3. God‘s power will be manifested to accomplish God’s divine purpose.
I leave you with this prayer, God, thank you for power to achieve your purpose. God, thank you for what we are going to see take place this year in our lives. God, we ask you to help us to live purposeful and powerful lives. In Jesus name, AMEN!
