Every
person in the Bible that you can think of that accomplished anything of
significance had to go through a process whether it was Ruth, Esther,
Joseph, Daniel, Gideon, or Paul. Even Jesus Himself had to go through
and honor the process. Jesus didn’t do that simply by going to the
cross. One of His means was by entering the world legally by being born
of a woman. So throughout His life, you can see that Jesus honored
protocol. Protocol is part of the process. The sooner we learn to
recognize, understand, and respect protocol and process, the sooner we
will reach the goal of fulfilling God’s purpose in our lives. It’s all
based on the Word of God and upon personal experience.
In
addition to personal experience, we can learn from the people around us
who've gone through so we don't have to, that is, if we're willing to
learn from them. I know that there are some young folks, who in your
heart, you really, really believe that you know as much about life as
the sixty-year old person sitting next to you. I have a six-year old,
and I'm trying to take him through a process. Right now we’re still
stumbling through, “Listen to your father because he knows more than
you.” At six-years old, he’s convinced that he’s smarter than me in the
ways of life. So whenever I tell him how to do something, he immediately
tells me how he thinks it should be done. We’re talking six-years old!
Oh, what a road we have ahead of us! I’m sure none of you have kids like
that. Your kids probably commend you on how smart you are every day. If
that’s the case, you’d better count yourself blessed.
Also,
part of the process is going from faith-to-faith. You need to ask
yourself, “Am I making progress? Am I moving from faith-to-faith? Having
conquered, am I prepared to conquer some more? What’s going to enable
me to conquer?" One of the primary ingredients to fulfilling the
purposes of God--this is going to be deep--is to know what the will of God
is! Did you get that? Because you’ll never know if you’ve accomplished
His purpose if you don’t know what that is! You’ll go through life
wandering and wondering and never really knowing.
The
first thing we need is revelation. We have to have revelation of God’s
purpose for our life. When revelation comes, by definition, it means
that something is revealed; it’s uncovered. God makes it plain to us. It
may or may not line up with how we think we had our lives figured out. I
just knew in my younger days that I was going to be a rock and roll
star. I mean, all those gigs we had making $20 a night; we were on our
way! Well, it’s kind of funny how things changed. We had the ambition of
being stars: sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll; isn’t that a great vision? I
was a man full of vision. How do you go from that to having the
privilege of going so many places and preaching the Word of God? The two
don’t even compare.
I
look at what God has done. was able to go back to my very first church,
Christian Service Center, this past Easter Sunday. I wanted to honor my
former pastor, Pastor Bill. It’s kind of like giving flowers before the
funeral. They allowed me to give a message and share. Part of my sermon
was that everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve taken a part of that man with me.
That may sound strange to some, although in my heart, he infused me with
something and imparted so deeply to me. I shared with him all the
places I’d been around the world in order to preach the Gospel, and
Pastor Bill was simply thrilled and excited. Everywhere I had gone, it
was to take Christ, but I felt like he was going with me. Thirty years
of this, wow!
In
closing, as revelation of God’s will opens up, we can define our
purpose. Some of you say, “Well, I’m just a carpenter, a laborer, a
housewife, a doctor, a lawyer, a nurse, a dentist, or a garbage
collector working with Waste Management. You know what I say? Number
one: be the best garbage collector you can be. Find purpose in your
work. Because I tell you what, I appreciate your work! I am so glad that
we have garbage collectors. Just think about what your world would be
like without them. When was the last time that you thanked God for the
garbage man and spoke a blessing over him? You don’t have to lay hands
on him unless you want to, but pray for him!
So,
what has God called you to do? Whatever that is, get passionate about
it! We’re only part way through what God has laid on my heart to share
regarding, “Walking in His Promises.” Thanks so much for joining me on
this journey, and we’ll see you next time!
~ pg
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