I have been given the privilege of concluding the series that was started a few weeks ago; Purpose Discovery Series. Purpose is a matter that I'm passionate about as a matter of passion, and as a matter of purpose. So, we want to look, under that series what has been titled: Fulfilling Your Purpose. When this series started, we examined what was titled: Activating Purpose, because it looks like that is the genesis of everything. It has been said that when the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable. Now a purpose can be there but not activated. Like the purpose is there, but is lying dormant. It is there quietly. Perhaps it is there buried. Do you still remember the parable of the talent? One servant was given one talent, another one was given two talents. And then the other one was given five talents, they all got talent, according to their abilities. It is like they all got purpose.
The master gave them responsibilities. And how did he do it? According to their capacity, “you what you can do is one I give you one, you, what you can do and I’m sure I know, you can do very with two. So, I give you two. You, what you can do is five, I give you five.” Bible says he gave to them not talent in the sense of just distributing money. No, they were responsibilities. Because how do I know that he gave to them according to their abilities, what you can do what they could do, what they could handle. So, the one who got one decided to be different from the rest, he chose to bury his own talent. So, a talent, just like a purpose, could become buried.
Now all you could show for it when the master calls you home or the master comes to meet you, because those are the two things; it is either the master calls you hoe or the master comes to meet you. Whichever, you have to account. All you could do if you bury your own is to go and dig it out. You dig it out and you say “take you gave it to me and I buried it, I buried my purpose. I was busy with other things, but I buried my own purpose.” So, there was a need for us to realize that purpose is not just received, it must be activated. Another word we can use instead of activated is that it must be acted upon. It must become active. Many of us know our purpose, some of us don't know. But people who know their purpose and don't do anything about it, they are not active with their purpose. Another word we can use is “they are not trading with their purpose” or they are not on their purpose, they are on other things.
We were also ushered into Being a Vessel for Purpose. Haven activated purpose, how do I deal with myself, how do I deal with my life as a vessel that can achieve the purpose? How do I become a conveyor that transmits purpose from the realm of God to the realm of humanity? How do I make sure that as it is in heaven, so it on earth? How can do I make sure that whatever the Lord wills, whatever the Lord wants to do on the earth, He can use me to do it? That is being a vessel fir for purpose. So, it is not enough for sister “this” and brother “that” to know, this is the purpose of God for my life. Am I the kind of man or woman that can do this job and do it effectively?
Again, we examined Serving in Purpose. There was a need to serve and there was a need to do it in purpose. A Scripture was read and we cannot forget in ACT. The Bible says: “for David after he had served his generation by the will of God, he fell asleep.” He served his generation, but he did it in purpose. So that is serving in purpose. Whatever you do outside of purpose is like what you do outside of faith, God can never be pleased with it. The Bible says “whatever you do that is not done in faith is sin.” So, if you do anything outside of your purpose, you are only wasting your life and wasting your time. So, if you must serve, which is a necessity, then do it in your purpose.
Now, in this piece, we want to examine: Fulfilling Your Purpose. I will not be doing any job in explaining to us what purpose is and what purpose is not knowing that when we were beginning at activating purpose, we have already been told. For those of us that may have forgotten, please let us go back to that message, activating purpose, and remind yourself what we learnt. But let's start from Colossians chapter four. This article is going to follow a pattern and I want us to follow it so that you will not be left behind. Colossians chapter four, a very familiar Scripture for many of us; and we will read from verse 17. Look at what the Bible says: “And say to Archippus…” It could be your name, please, you could put your name there, say to Gboyega Adedeji; “take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it.”
“…And say to Archippus” It could be your name, your name could be Paul, your name could be John “say to John, take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it.” Now the word ‘may’, gives the impression that it is not certain that you fulfill your ministry. It is a wish; it is a desire but it is not automatic. It is not everyone that starts the race finishes. It is not everyone that start the race finishes. Some people fall down along the way. It is not everyone that start the race wins the race, some become last, some becomes second to the last and some become third to the last. So that you have started does not mean you will finish, even though the will of God for you, the purpose of God for you implies that you finish it.
Why should I ask you to carry a chair and put it there when I don't want you to put it there? That you start carrying the chair is not you fulfilling the purpose, that you put the chair there (where I want you to put it) is you fulfilling the purpose. And the word of God to Archippus, through the man of God, brother Paul, was “say to Archippus.” This was a public letter to the whole church to implore Archippus that he fulfils his ministry, as God is also using me to say to the whole church through this writing that they fulfil their ministry. So, we want to quickly look at four things inside this verse before we proceed. The first thing is:
[1] Take Heed
[2] The Ministry
[3] Received in The Lord
[4] You may Fulfill it
These key words we can find in the Scripture that talks about Archippus fulfilling his ministry. Now, there are 4As for fulfilling purpose that we can find in what we have written. The first one is: Take Heed! The first ‘A’ is the ‘A’ of ATTITUDE. What should be your attitude towards your purpose? Apostle Paul recommended it should be the attitude of you taking heed. Take it seriously. Make it a matter of life and death. So, that should be your disposition. It should be your attitude. So, the second A is: THE MINISTRY. So, this connotes the assignment. The assignment is also your purpose. If somebody should say, “Oh, sister so, so, and so; I want you to go to Lagos. Now when you get to Lagos, go to the place called Ikeja. When you get there, find the computer village. And please look for an Apple computer system that is like these and that; and make sure you buy it for 1.2 million naira. On your way back, come by land and follow the road.” And that's the instruction.
So, the woman on her own have been in Abuja doing other things. But she's sent to Lagos to buy an Apple computer. And there is a specific direction, go to Ikeja, when you get to Ikeja, look for computer village. And when you get to computer village, look for an Apple System; don't buy any other system, Apple and don't bite more than 1.2 million. Does it look familiar to the things we read in the Bible? So now, if the lady or the woman leaves Abuja and gets to Lagos by land, trying to save money. What was the instruction? By air. So, the assignment carried in it instructions on how to fulfill it. So, if there are challenges along the way, the person sent on assignment should ask, “Do I follow all the details of the instructions that accompanies this assignment?”
You are asked to go to Lagos. On your own, you had no business, no agenda in Lagos prior to the assignment. So, it is the assignment that sends you to Lagos, that gives you the direction of what to do when you get to Lagos. That's what purpose is. You and I have no business on Earth beside our purpose. We were sent here by God, there are certain instructions that accompanies us, God says, Gboyega, go to Nigeria, go and fulfill this purpose. Do we understand? So, the first thing we've seen is there is a matter of attitude, and that attitude has so much to do with the purpose, which is called assignments.
So, the third ‘A’ that we want to look at is: Received in The Lord or Received from The Lord, which is called APPOINTMENT. So, we've seen attitude, we've seen assignment, there is an appointment. Just anybody cannot go about doing things because they think something should be done. You can only go about doing things because you have been appointed for the purpose. So, it is the purpose that precedes the appointment, but it is the appointment that gives you the approval, it gives you the go ahead, it gives you the blessing. God says “I've not sent these people yet they've gone”, they are running up and down. So, it's an aberration for you not to have an appointment from God and you are busy on God's assignment.
So, the last ‘A’ that is required for fulfilling ministry is: You May Fulfill It; and that talks about ACHIEVEMENT, ATTAINMENT or ARRIVAL. All of them are ‘As’. So, we have looked at the 4As now: Take Heed talks about attitude, The ministry talks about assignment of purpose; received in the Lord talks about appointment and you may fulfill it talks about achievements, attainments, and or arrival. Now, even though the Bible gives us these things, we can rearrange them according to the order of which was coming first. So, from the list, the first thing that a man must have, that a man must receive, if he or she will fulfill ministry is THE ASSIGNMENT. The first ‘A’ is the assignment. Without assignment, nothing else.
Somebody is like “you have a good attitude you have a bad attitude”, Yoruba people will say “it is on your job that they will know whether you are hardworking or you are not.” Do we remember? So, when there is no job, how will people know, how will people rate you or rank you? So, the first thing is the purpose and it is the assignment, the intention of God. What is it that God wants done on the earth? What is it that God wants done in your family? Perhaps, you are the last born, why is it that God makes sure that you are sent to that family and you are not a firstborn in another family? Why? What is the intention? It is number one, and it is that intention that informs every other thing. It determines every other thing.
So, the next one is received in the Lord. There is an assignment, and there must be an APPOINTMENT. God must say, do you remember that place in Isaiah? God said, “Who shall we send? Who shall we send that may go for us?” Isaiah said: Hear I am, send me. And he says, “Go and tell them, all flesh is grass.” So, what's the assignment? It is the assignment of telling them, telling them something. So, if you are busy on something, then the first thing you must answer is: this thing I'm doing, I'm busy on, have I received it from the Lord or have I received it from a man or from a people? If you are talking about your purpose, because this is the matter, we are talking about fulfilling your purpose, not my purpose, your purpose. If it is your purpose, then it must be from God.
Your purpose cannot come from man, that is it. No man created you. Government did not create you and so, the government can give you purpose. Government can't give you your purpose. So, you must be appointed by God. Appointed for what? Appointed for the assignment. So, the third one is ATTITUDE. So, there is assignment, which is the purpose, there is appointments, and then there is the attitude. What kind of attitude must you have on the job? What kind of attitude must you have about the assignments, about the appointments? It says it is the attitude of you taking heed. Make it your life sole mission. This is why I am here, for this purpose was I sent. “Don't you know that I must be about my father’s business?” That is the attitude that Jesus demonstrated. That was the disposition of Jesus to his own assignments.
Haven been sent by God to die for all men, to die was the assignment, to save all men was the assignment. And He was sent for the. And so, when He came, He said He must go about His father's business. So, he had an attitude. And that attitude is important if we will fulfill our purpose. And then the last one is ACHIEVEMENT, ATTAINMENT. Until you arrive at your destination, you don't stop. Don't stop, don't stop, keep going. You don't stop! Bible says “don't be weary in well doing.” Your purpose is not a sprint, your purpose is a marathon. Your purpose will not happen overnight. Your purpose will happen all your life. If your life on Earth is 93 years, your purpose is 93 years. So, don’t stop at 43 or 53 or 63. You cannot stop. Even 83 still remains another ten years, you can stop.
I'm already an old man. What can you do? You can mentor at old age. You can show your records. You can be bringing out to the younger ones of the things you did so that even though you are going, there is somebody that is coming behind you who will continue where you have started. So don't just start doing something. You must understand that until I finish, I am not done. So, these things are very important. Now let's quickly go to the book of Second Timothy chapter 4, verse 1-5. We have seen the four requirements for fulfilling ministry. Now, see what the Bible says.
“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word…” It is like God is speaking to somebody. Be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will hip up for themselves teachers, and they we turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things…”
When others are doing something else, what should be your disposition, what should be your attitude? It says it should be the attitude of watchfulness. It says, “Be watchful in all things, endure affliction…” This is the attitude you must have, concerning your appointment of your assignment or your appointment in your assignment. You must endure affliction. So, afflictions will come. You have to endure it. It says, “do the work of an evangelist…” You can see a work there. Do the assignments of one that is appointed to evangelize. Fulfill your ministry. So, even though fulfill your ministry is the big deal, we can also see that it is also the last thing. If you will fulfill your ministry, then you must be one that is different from the rest, one who is watchful in all things, one who have endured affliction, one who is ready, who is willing to do the work.
You know, many of us have titles in the body of Christ. “I am Prophet, I am apostle, I am Bishop; we have titles. But we don't do the work. It says: “Do the work…” Don't get busy telling people “do you know who I am?” No, do the work. If you are a teacher, teach. If you're a pastor, Pastor. Let there be somebody in your life that enjoys your pastoral grace. Do the work. If you will ever fulfill your ministry, it is going to be because you have done the work. So don't just know the work. Don't just say “I know my purpose. I know the assignments. I know what God has appointed me to do.” Don't just tell yourself that do it. Don't just have passion for something. Look in the mirror. Do it. You know somebody saying “let this cup pass over me all the time there is an assignment of his destiny.” But Jesus only said it once. But imagine somebody saying it every month. Okay, when will you fulfill your ministry? Will you start it when you are 53 years? It is now.
The Bible says: “Remember now your creator in the days of your youth when the evil days have not come or when you would say you have no desire.” Remember, if I minister to somebody though this piece, I don't mind. The people I ministering to are hearing it. Remember now your creator, that that God has called you to do, start doing it now. Somebody saw Dr. Myles Munroe and said, “I read your book several years ago. In fact, I was expecting you to be an old Man.” He said “actually what happened is that I started very early.” What will be said of us, us that are trying to get old before we start? If you know what God has called me to do, this earth will quake when I start. Start! Don’t go about telling people “You know I am an apostle”, start the apostolic work. Paul said to Timothy: do the work of an evangelist. He didn’t say he was an evangelist now; Timothy was a bishop. He said, “Do the work of an evangelist.” So, we can point to somebody now and say “do the work of an apostle.” If you can start early, then you may finish. If you don't start, what do you finish?
Let us quickly go to the book of John the Beloved chapter 9:4. This is Jesus’ speaking. The Bible says: “I must work the works of Him who sent me why it is day, the night is coming when no one can work.” It does not matter your title, no one can work. Will you wait to get to 65 years when you're already holding one stick in your hand, telling yourself this is the time you want to start? What kind of terrain will you minister at that level that you are just starting? You don't have failures behind you because one thing we must know is failure is also part of what we use to build the CV. Have you read Second Corinthians, when Apostle Paul was telling us many things? He said: in fear often, in peril of this and that. Were those things great things one want to hear? He was shipwrecked several times, were there no people who successfully sailed? Must it be his own ship that must sink? He was beating by a snake, and if you are a man of God and you are like “these things were tainting his record.” Why should a snake even bite you in the first place, let alone hurting you? If I'm a man of God, should a snake even bite me or be found around me? Shouldn’t the fire of God chase them away?
But in these things, he was more than conqueror. So, you cannot say you want to get old before you start. At that time, you may not have enough shock absorber to absorb failure, or shortcomings or mistakes. At 70, that is when you want to start and then you fail once, you would say God didn't call you. But if you have started at 25 or 35, you fail, you start again. The righteous man will fall seven times and would rise up again. Can an 80-year-old man fall for several times and rise up emotionally, physically, financially, again? So, you need to start early. You fail, you fail forward. You know, I was telling my wife that I started a fish farm and you know, it was doing fine. After raising the fish for sometimes, when people came to buy the fish, they swindled me. I did again. This time around, the fishes were bigger. I was excited. I was very boastful. Again, they did it again.
Later somebody told me that these people come with a magnet they put it on the weights. So, no matter how many fish they put, my scale does not increase. It increases slowly. So, they bought plenty fishes for nothing. Twice like this, spending money six months on those two occasions. I just told myself that going forward, those who would buy would come to my house and make use of my scale that I prepare for them. So, what I told my wife is it doesn't mean that I have failed in the past that I cannot succeed. I am only going to fail forward. So, what have I said now? I'm going to have my own scale, have my own everything. When you come now, I will measure with my scale. You just come forward with your sack, get your fish and go. If you cannot ascertain from the beginning no deal, go back. So instead of saying “all fishes must be sold once, no! not everything. I am going to smoke some.
So, strategy must be in place now. So, do we understand? Because you fail does not mean you will not succeed, but if you start late, when you fail, you may not have enough absorber. Let me say: I wasted hundreds of thousands of Naira on each of those failures. So, how many people will say they can afford to waste that at old age? So that's the point. Start early, when you fail, you learn from your mistakes, and then you go on. So now let's go. Jesus said He must work the works of Him who sent Him. He must do the assignment of Him who has appointed Him. Can we see the key words again, while it is day. The night is coming when no one, no matter your anointing; can work.
Now let's go to John chapter 17:4. See what the Bible says: “I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given me to do.” At a point He said: “I must do the works of him…” Later He now said “I have finished the work.” So, how did He finish it? He finished it by doing it. It is what you do that you finish. You won't finish overnight, you will finish over time, it will take you days it will take you nights, it will take you some days of perhaps, some empty stomach or light, empty stomach. Some nights of you partially awake and partially asleep, it will take you different things. People will not even be there to see the things that you are doing, but they will see when you are done. It says: “I have glorified you on the earth, I have finished the work.
Now, let us look at Luke 12:50. We want to see an attitude, a disposition. Maybe we should start from verse 49. It says: “I came…” talking about I am appointed. I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! Can you see somebody that is passionate. But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! What other word can we use for accomplished? Fulfilled! Performed! If I don’t accomplish it, I am not satisfied. I am distressed. Does that explain your situation? How many people here will say “how I wish I've already done what God asked me to do?” How many people here can say “I am distressed until I do it.” We are still having fun and we are like how come I am not yet done? You are not done because you are busy on something else. Other things are still bringing joy to you. You are finding joy and pleasure in other things, so, you have not finished it.
Make it your sole source of joy. The purpose of God for your life must be the only thing that brings joy to you. If there are other things that brings joy to you, then you will be thinking you are having fun not knowing that you have not had the real fun. I want to give you a very unpleasant example. Now imagine a woman that got married, maybe this year. And he's like, “I just want to give birth to children.” And then, that is the expectation. You are married. Make sure you fellowship enough with your husband so that you can have children. But rather than fellowshipping with your husband, she chooses to be fellowshipping with men outside and those ones used a protection and that's what she's doing. Of course, she'll be thinking she's having fun, but is she getting pregnant?
Don’t get fun somewhere else that is robbing you of fulfillment in the main thing. So cut yourself off of other things that are robbing you of the real joy, the real pleasure. Do we understand how unpleasant my example was? So, don't go about telling people “How come I'm not getting pregnant?” The person that will get you pregnant you never stay with, other people that will not get you pregnant, you're preoccupied with. See, in the book of Song of Solomon 1:6, the Scripture there says:
Do not look upon me, because I am dark,
Because the sun has [e]tanned me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
They made me the keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard I have not kept.
That's what happens to those who abandon their purpose and begin to preoccupy with other people’s purpose. Things that will not produce anything in them they go about getting busy with it. But what will bring real joy to their hearts, they never do it. It is like they are always present in other people's houses, but absent in their own house. Now let's read Psalm chapter 40:6-8. We have a case study that I might have to paraphrase.
Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart.”
Because your will is my delight, I have ensured that your law, your instructions, things that we guide me on the purpose, they are in my heart. Don't forget, for every assignment, there are attendant instructions, things you must do, and how you must do them to do the job. He says “I delight to do your will” and this was talking about Jesus. I delight, I have come in the volume of the book, it is written of Me I delight. Does brother so and so and sister so and so delights? You have to delight. That is the attitude that Jesus had concerning His purpose. His passion was added to His purpose and impacted His generation.
Now the case study we want to look at is in Exodus 31:1-6. God spoke to Moses and said, I have called by name Bezalel and God mentioned other names. And he says I have filled them with the spirit of wisdom and understanding in all manner of workmanship, they can do things they can build things. They can draw, they can arrange. God said I have filled them. I have given them this and why? So that they can help Moses in the assignment. God appeared to Moses, gave him in an instruction: “I want you to build a tabernacle.” Moses on his own couldn't do it. And God said “don't worry. There are some people that have already called.” What is the other word for called? I have assigned, assignment and I have appointed them! Can we see this word coming again and again? That is it!
When they are engaged on the work, the job will be fulfilled, the purpose of God will be accomplished. If you go to Exodus 39:32 and 42-43, you will see that eventually, these men, working on the job, they got the job done. They fulfilled their purpose. That is how God does it. God will give you assignment. God will appoint you and God will expect you to have the right attitude with the purpose that He has for your life. Don't be like Esau that traded his birthright for a morsel of porridge. Later on in life, he needed it, and guess what, the pot of porridge has digested and fertilized the ground. That is how the things we get busy with; they get fizzle out so quickly. We abandon the real things, that don't expire. We go for things that will expire.
Imagine making a decision that we alter your family, your generation your life forever, just because you needed more money, the money that you will use to buy things that in five years’ time, you will not even know where you have dumped them and the earth will not know where you dropped it again. Imagine somebody embezzling money in the office because he wants to or she wants to go to Dubai, to take some nice pictures, you know. And then after the experience, came back with pictures on the phone, printed pictures looking beautiful. And then cockroach and rat ate the picture after one year, and then the phone gets stolen on the road. So, you have sold your soul to the devil, the evidence that you ever went to Dubai, lost. Doesn't this get familiar? How many pictures that we've snapped in our lives that we can all go back to?
So, we fight, we make decisions to do certain things, just because we wanted to have certain things. In the long run those things don't last with us. And yet, we've abandoned purpose and time lost they say can never be regained. Please let us join me as I conclude with Romans chapter 8:28-30. There's a word I want to say but that Scripture will help me to say it. It says:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified [ He aligned, He guided them, He helped them. He made sure they did not make any mistakes], these He also glorified.
Can somebody see glory ahead of the purpose of God, if you fulfill the purpose of God, there's glory for you. That John 17:4 we read concluded with something in verse 5. It says: “Now glorify Me…” Jesus speaking. “Now glorify me with the glory that I had with him before this whole thing began.” Before the assignment came to be, that glory I had with you, glorify me with it. Somebody may say “it is only Jesus that is entitled to it.” But the Bible says “those that He justifies, He glorifies.” There is glory for you because if you glorify God, by you finishing your assignment, God in turn will make you to source glory from His glory. God doesn't want you to get glory elsewhere, He wants to be your glory, from His fullness, we have all received grace for grace.
But beyond grace, you've received glory for glory from His fullness. Everything God has, He has them for us, He is the Father, the Father, even Jesus gave that parable. The father said, “Everything I have is yours” to the elder brother of the prodigal son, “all that I have is yours.” It was your brother that wanted to collect a portion for himself. You did not collect any portion for yourself, that means everything I have is yours. Everything I have is yours. There is glory in the Father, it is yours.
God said, “I will glorify the house of my glory.” Will you become the house of God's glory today? Will you be a woman, a man that fulfills the purpose of God? God wants something to be done in your family and God use you. God wants something to be done in a marriage, and God use you. God wants something to be done in your country and God use you. God wants something to be done in your church, and God use you. God wants something to be done in the body of Christ and God use you. When the job is done; God will be glorified and you will not be left behind.
God said I will glorify the house of my glory!
Amen.
