Sunday A.M.
On Purpose
Hey, it's Ryan C. Crest. life comes at you fast, which is why it's important to find some time to relax a little you time. Enter Chumba Casino with no download required. You can jump on any time anywhere for the chance to redeem some serious prizes. So treat yourself with Chumba Casino and play over a hundred online casino style games all for free. Go to Chumba Casino dot com to collect your free welcome bonus. Sponsored by Chumba Casino, no purchase necessary, VGW Group, void where prohibited by law, 18 plus terms and conditions apply. There's a God pay love and that's that love of God. That's that boundless love. That's the love that only God can give or only we can give when we're in the right relationship with God. It's that boundless love of God. Aren't you thankful for his love this morning? Amen. Appreciate the some timers. Amen. I like that one. I'm going to go with that one, praise the Lord. Turn me to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 9, 2 Corinthians chapter 9. We're going to read verses 6 through 8 for a text this morning. Once again, no, no service tonight. Told Pastor Paul said, unfortunately you get two more weeks off and said we'll be back in the pulpit two weeks from today. Actually yesterday was the four year anniversary of Pastor Paul preaching his first message and three year anniversary of he and sister men to both receiving their disorders. We're very proud of their accomplishments. Thankful that the Lord, he shared his testimony last Sunday night after all that hard hit put me through trying to win him to the Lord. I'm glad that the Lord placed him in the ministry. Amen. Glad that he's using him for his glory. I can't tell you how many times I got text back said, who is this killing me? Small, but we persevered and because God was reaching for the heart of that man and we're so glad that the Lord saved him and he is some people say he's my right hand man. We'll refer to people like that. Brother Paul is my right hand my left hand. He is faithful. If I had a church full of Brother Paul's, man, we would be moving and I'm thankful. Well, his his work ethic, let me put it that way. Not his hard head in this amen. Second Corinthians chapter nine, verses six through eight. This I say he which soeth sparingly shall reap also sparingly and he which soeth boundfully shall reap also boundfully. You get what you give is what he's saying. Verse seven, every man, according as he has purposed in his heart or according to how he sowed, so let him give, not grudgingly, not of nor of necessity for God's love of the cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you that ye always having all sufficiency and all things may abound to every good work. This is a great few verses that many love to use to receive an offering, but this more is so much more talking about giving automatically when we think giving, we want to put that dollar sign on it. Paul is talking about so much more than giving. This is second letter to the Corinthians and he's almost over halfway through the letter when he's writing to them and he is trying his very best to instill within them that heart of being faithful. Verse seven is where I want us to focus in the first part of verse seven. Every man, according as he purposed if in his heart, so let him give, so let him do, so let him function so let him opera, however you want to put it, giving of ourselves. How's he has purposed in his heart. I love this quote from Tim Tebow, Tim Tebow stated, regardless of whatever I do, I know what my purpose is to make a difference in people's lives. Anything that you and I do or don't do for the kingdom of God, either way sparingly, grudgingly, boundfully, however you do it, what you do or do not do, it's done on purpose. That's what I want to talk to you about this morning, on purpose. Father, I love you today. Thank you for your word and I pray that your word will find good place in the heart of the hearer that it will go way further than our ears, way further in our heart, but get there where it's blowing and pumping and flowing through every recourse of our lives, pumping through our veins that it will be our motivation and our driving force. And I pray, Lamb of God, that you will do it in accordance to your will and will praise you for it in Jesus name, Amen. Paul said every man, according to, as he has purposed in his heart, so let him give. Have you ever had that conversation or maybe you're that person that they go to do something and somebody says, "Man, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. You can't figure it out, but they're said on getting it figured out." And you're like, "I don't worry about it. We'll just move on to something else." And then somebody comes up and says, "They're not going to stop until it's done." Why? Because they have purposed within their heart that I'm going to do this. I get that a lot at work. They say, "Why do you do this? Why do you do that?" My response to them, Brother Jeremy, is already did the hard part. I got out of bed this morning. So on my feet, hit the floor. I'm ready to roll. I'm ready to go. Whatever challenges, whatever comes in that day, I have purposed that every day is a good day. Some are just better than others. I have said it in my heart since the day that I got saved. This is the day that the Lord hath made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Some people are on the opposite side of that coin. Some people are on the side of the coin. Every day is a bad day. And if bad things are going to happen, it's going to happen to me. And you know what? They live in misery. They live in frustration. They live in aggravation. Does that mean that bad things never happen to us that have that positive outlook on life does not change the fact that good things and bad things happen to everyone? But, we know what our purpose is. We know that I am not just a boat drifting in the wind and saying, "Cays, say, 'Rall, say, 'Rall, whatever will be, will be.' I'll just go wherever the wind takes me. I'm just like a feather floating in the wind. However you want to word it, know as Christians, we've got our mind and our hearts set like a flint. We know the words of Paul. When he said, "This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, looking unto the things which are before, I press towards the mark of the prize of the high calling." I didn't get up this morning and say, "I don't know what I'm going to do today. I don't know what's going to happen today. I don't know what my plan of action is. As a child of God we know every day. I know my purpose on Monday. I know my purpose on Tuesday. I know my purpose on go ahead and insert the rest of them there." And to know as Tim Tebow said, "Regardless of whatever I do, I know what my purpose is and not only do I know what my purpose is." And he said that as our purpose as Christians is to make a difference in people's lives. We have got to be that positive influence. People have enough negative influence. There's enough deadbeat dads. There's enough absentee moms. There's enough slackers on the job. But it's time that men and women of God rise up and say, "I woke up knowing I didn't know whatever I do. I do it as doing unto the Lord. I have got a purpose. There's been a plan for you and me and friend what we do." We're going to do on purpose. As I was preparing and praying this week, I couldn't help but to think of a show that I used to watch as a kid. A little nerdy kid on there that wore pants up to here with the suspenders and the big glasses. Steve Erkel. And he would do something stupid. And when somebody called him out on it, he'd adjust those glasses and he would go, "Somebody who did it already, you could do it better than me, go ahead." Did I do that? Did I do that? That's not in our vocabulary. We did not come to say, "Did I do that?" Because we've already purposed in our heart what we're going to do. Somebody does something to you or they say something to you. I said this a few services ago. We go and we say something and we come back with this. I didn't mean that. I didn't intend that and we start backpedaling. But what Paul said, whatever we do and however we do it, is what we've purposed in our heart. And so whether it's good or whether it's bad, whether it's evil or whether it's godly, we're fulfilling that that we have purposed in our heart. And so anything that we do as a stated or that we do not do for the kingdom of God will be done on purpose. When we do anything or we do not do anything, we do it on purpose. Some people will ask you, "Why did you do that?" Did it on purpose? That's all I can tell them. Why did you say that? What calls you to say? Because I've had many people say, "We were just talking about that. Why did you preach that?" Did it on purpose? Not meaning that I knew what you were talking about, not meaning, but when God places in our heart. Or our heart is said on God. And what God says is He's purposed in His heart. So you and I, if it's purposed in our heart, we've said our heart to know the will of God and fulfill the will of God and to accomplish the will of God. We just go ahead and say it. It's something that my dad taught me about preaching many years ago. He said, "When you preach it, don't apologize for it. Stand behind it." Pastor, why don't you say that? That may be mad. Well, I did it on purpose. Did I make you mad? No, that was not my purpose. But I did say what I said on purpose, why? Because it came from God in a prayer closet. We find in the book of Acts chapter 5, the apostles, they're on the move. They had already spent 10 days in the upper room. 120 of them did. They're filled with the power of God. They've wondered if that promise was going to come in that suddenly that we talked about took place and they're totally transformed. I was, I was listening this morning to, to first Peter and first Peter starts off and says, "Peter, an apostle." Peter, an apostle. It didn't start off by the Paulists. Peter, a little stinky fisherman. No, he's no longer known as the fisherman, is he? I'm, I'm thinking about this. I was thinking about that, just in that, that brief moment of hearing that statement that the same guy that was worried about mending his nets and doing all of that, all of that was in his past. All of that of him stepping out of the boat then sinking and all of the uncertainties. All of that changed the day that Peter got filled with the Holy Ghost. There was something that took place and transitioned. And now his, his, his name and his knowing is that of a pastor and that of his apostle and he speaks and he walks in authority. And so right now in Acts chapter five, the, the apostles, they're, they're growing into that. And they come out of that upper room and we know 3,000 are saved and 3,000 are baptized in daily churches. People were being added to the church. And then by the time we get to chapter five here in verse 27, it says, when they brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest asked him, it wasn't long. They're not far removed from Acts chapter two, when the power of the Holy Ghost filled that house. We're not far removed from 3,000 souls being saved. We're not far removed from them saying silver and gold. I have a nun and picking that man up and he's leaping and walking. We're not far removed from Peter's shadow. Just seeing people being healed because he walks down the street. Now they've got to answer for it. It was good and it was great while miracles was taking place. It was wonderful while the power of God was like electricity, like the sound of a mighty rushing wind or the fire falling from heaven. Oh, we love that. Oh, it's great to come in here Sunday morning. It filled goosebumps on top of our goosebumps and lay hands on somebody and watch as God heals him. To see somebody rolled in in a wheelchair and walk out. Man, those are the powerful times. They weren't far removed from that word chapter five says, they had brought them. They set them before the council. The priest asked them, saying, did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in his name? What's your problem? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. I want that to be known of us. Amen. There's a lot of junk that goes out on the airways. Why don't we just feel Middleburg, feel America with the good news? He said, intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Well, his blood's already all over me. Amen. He's already washed me in his blood. That's his desire. Listen, verse 29, then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than man. They're looking at these guys. They want some detail to answer. There's got to be some reason why you're doing what you're doing. We don't get it. We told you to keep your mouth shut, but you keep doing it. We told you not to preach and you keep preaching. We've beaten you. We've done everything that we think imaginable. They did to these people to try to stop them and they said, we ought to obey God rather than a man. God of our fathers raised up Jesus and they just went ahead and said it, whom you slew and hung on a tree. They're already in trouble. They're already brought before the council and they say, why not? Here you go. Hey, they're there and says, well, you're giving us a platform to give you an answer. Do you really want the answer because we can't help but to give you an answer. God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hung on a tree. Now, him, have God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to Israel, forgiveness of sin. Listen now. They said that. That was exactly their standing there saying, thanking themselves and maybe looking at them. That's exactly what we're talking about. You're out there telling everybody that. And they looked at this, not an opportunity for them to be punished, but for an opportunity for them to tell the higher ups, if you will, exactly what they were. They didn't change their story. Why? Because the purpose of their heart was the same, whether it's a beggar or whether it's the ones that say, I hold your life right here in my hand. You better get me a good answer of why I'm not going to take you out. Well, my answer is the same thing that I was preaching on the street corner. I preached here in the council. My answer is the same thing that I preach on this platform on Sunday morning. I'm going to live and work on Monday. My answer is the same to the one that's trying to grow as a Christian. This is the one that deeds Christ so desperately. This same Jesus. This same Jesus they were saying, they didn't adjust their message, did they? They didn't say, well, that's not, that wasn't our intentions. We didn't mean to make you mad. We'll back off of that. No, they laid it out there. They said in verse 32, we are His witnesses of these things. And so also the Holy Ghost, whom God have given to them, that obey Him. So really, you could sum up Peter in the apostles response to this. Why are you spreading this gospel? We told you to hush. Why are you spreading this gospel everywhere? Well, we did it on purpose. Well, we woke up this morning with a purpose. And my purpose today is I'm going to win somebody to Christ. In order to do that, I'm going to have to go against your rules and your regulations. A friend of my matter of fact, our previous overseer in Oklahoma, his wife had put something on social media. And she said, they removed my comment to somebody's post because I said, praise the Lord. She said, I'm going to try it again. So when they remove your comment, when they ridicule you, when they persecute you, let your purpose stay the same. Too many people are trying to adjust their purpose because it's not popular. Too many people are trying to adjust their beliefs because others are not receiving their beliefs. If your beliefs and your doctrine is rooted in this word, keep it rooted in this word. What did they say? It should be our response. We're not here to obey man. Should we obey God or man? Should we dictate our purpose by what God said or what you said? No, it's already purposed in our heart. I've already made up my mind. I've already set my course. I've already made my decision. I've already put my foot on the rock. I've already got my mind made up. I've already determined what I'm going to do. Say I could come into this pulpit on Sunday morning with the message that God placed upon my heart. And somebody slipped me some notes with any amount of money you want to insert to it if you want to add to the pot and say I would prefer that you deliver this this morning. You know what I would have to do? Rip it up so I know my purpose is already set. My purpose is already set. I had a preacher friend of mine said he went to pastor of this church and they had deacons, pulpit committee, deacons, whatever you want to call them. He had preached a few messages and the guys said, "Man, I want to take you out and I want to buy you a suit." Why not? So he did. And in their conversation in there, the man, he had preached several services already and he's just a good old-fashioned straight line, simple, simplicity of the gospel. Just preach it how it is and been doing that for several services. In essence, when that man said, "I need you to make some adjustments in the way that you preach and I want to give you this motivation to help you out." He said, "I don't even know how much was in there. Just the water money that he put there on that center console." He just slid that over there to him. He said, "Just make some minor adjustments in the things that you're preaching and we'll be all right and there's plenty more where that came from." No, no, no, no. No, that's not the purpose that God sent me here for. God sent me here to preach exactly what I've been preaching. I can't change that. There's not a dollar amount that changes that purpose, friend. There's not a status that changes that purpose. There's not a position that changes that purpose. See, what happens to too many people is they forget. They forget where they're at and how God used them. Listen, we cannot get to a place that we despise what we consider the small things. We despise those times and say, "I'm looking for a bigger moment." We have just as much opportunity to shine and what others would think is a smaller moment, what others would think is an insignificant place. Whether you think it's insignificant or not, it's where God has you at and your purpose has to be the same. They said, "Why don't you do it? Well, we did it on purpose. Why did they continue to teach in Jesus' name? They did it on purpose." They're not the only ones throughout the Word of God we find men and women who did mighty acts of faith. And why did they do it? On purpose. Listen to this. Daniel, don't pray. You pray, there's going to be a price. The Cree has been sent out. Nobody can pray. That includes you, Daniel. What did Daniel do? Not only did he pray, he did something else. He opened the windows. We would want to close the windows, pull the curtain, and say, "God, I'm over here talking to you, but I don't want anybody to hear me because there was a curtain." Now, Daniel opened the windows and he just began to pray like he'd never prayed before. And not only did he do that once, Scripture says, "Daniel prayed three times a day." He prayed three times. We told you that there was no one time praying. I didn't. I prayed three times. He prayed. He prayed and he opened the windows and he prayed and it caused him a lion's den. Why did Daniel do that? Why did Daniel go against the decree of the king and pray? He did it on purpose. Daniel prayed on purpose. Three Hebrew boys, they said, "Listen, you were supposed to bow. We want everyone to bow." And they looked. These three boys are still standing. Come on over here, boys. I really like you. Send everybody else home. They bowed. I need to talk to these guys because you told me. They said, "Listen, we understand that you've got your beliefs and you don't want to bow in front of all those people. And I'm not going to make you do it in front of all those people. We're going to give you another chance." The king said, "I want you to go ahead and just bow." Just us. We'll just leave it here because I like you. Just bow. Oh, king, we're not careful to answer you in this matter. We understand the consequences of our actions. We understand that fire is waiting for those that do not bow, but we know this and our God is able to deliver us from that fire. But if not, just know we're still not going to bow. We're still not going to bow. Why in the world did the three Hebrew boys refuse to bow in that public setting? But then also refused to bow when the king gave them a second opportunity to bow. They did it on purpose. What was the purpose that they would do something like that? We know that Daniel did not die at the mouth of a lion. We know that the Hebrew boys did not burn up in a fiery furnace. He did seven times hotter than it's ever been before because they served God on purpose and God fulfilled his purpose. Think about it as you move over into the New Testament and you find blind Bartimaeus. There by the wayside and he hears about Jesus and he cries out Jesus. "Now, son of David, I have mercy on me. Man, hold your peace. Oh, blind Bartimaeus, I could have said, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend anybody. I didn't mean to get so loud. Excuse me. I won't do it again." They said to blind Bartimaeus, they said, "Shh." And what his scriptures say? He cried out even the more. I believe it's the way it's worded. He cried out even the more. Jesus, now son of David, I have mercy on me. Why in the world would blind Bartimaeus, sitting there that beggar just being annoyance to everybody, crying out over and over again? Jesus, now son of David, I have mercy on me because he had purposed in his heart. I woke up blind this morning, but by night four, I'm going to be seen. And he said, I was blind. Oh, but I know that he was able to heal me. And so why did he continue to cry out? Well, I'll tell you, you figured it out by now, he did it on purpose. What does that mean? He purposed in his heart. I'm no longer going to be a blind beggar. Remember, I told you that when he called him, they said, "All right, Jesus wants to see you. What did he do?" He cast aside that garment. He said, "I won't be needing that no more." And our day and time means he threw aside his dark sunglasses and his little cane. "I won't be needing these no more." He did it on purpose. Think about Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus is there and there's a big crowd and he's hearing about Jesus. You know, he ever heard of a sicklemore tree. I've climbed a lot of trees in my life as a kid and I've fallen out of one or two of them. But from what I understand, from what I've seen, there's no tree harder to climb than a sicklemore tree. He says, "It's a slippery tree." But he didn't let that stop him. He didn't let the fact that he was short, stopping. Did he even start climbing a tree? You got to first get a hold of one limb. That was a challenge because it says Zacchaeus was a wee little man. We used to sing it in children's church. He was a wee little man and a wee little man was he... And so he was small. And one of the movies that I saw many years ago, that this man is talking to Sammy Davis Jr. and he tells him he goes, "You're small, S.M. all." That was Zacchaeus. He was just a little guy. So it took effort to climb up a tree. What would make a little guy say, "I'm going to climb this tree." Well, scripture says he wanted to get a better look at Jesus. One man preached a message. Sometimes you got to go out on the limb for God. And so Zacchaeus climbs up that tree and he goes out on that limb. Why in the world did he do that? Well, we know he wanted to see Jesus, but we figured it out by now. He did it on purpose. He purposed in his heart, "I want to hear more. I want to see more. I want to accomplish more." A woman that we have preached every way imaginable. She had an issue of blood and we know that she pressed through a crowd and she touched the hymn was garment. What calls this woman who was feeble and weak, who just barely made it through every day? Today would be a good day to make my way through a crowd with a little bit of limited strength that I have. A blood condition for all of these years. And she's feeble and she's weak to say, "I think I'm going to press through this crowd." Why was that? Well, because she said, "I know." If I could but touch the hymn of his garment, I'll be whole. Why don't she press through that crowd? On purpose. On purpose. For purpose. Set by a purpose. To know that each one of these did. These were not the only ones. You can look in Hebrews chapter 11 verses 29 through 38 and says, "By faith passed through the Red Sea as by dry land." With the Egyptians saying, "To do were drowned." "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down." After they were combassed about seven days. "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them to believe not when she had received the spies with peace." And what shall I have more say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and of Jephthah and of David also and Samuel and of the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violets of fire, escaped the edge of the sword out of the weakness were made strong, waxed valiant and fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised a life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. That they might obtain a better resurrection. Others had trial of cruel makings and scourgings, yay, moreover, a bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sown to sunder, they were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mounds and in dens and caves of the earth. Why? On purpose. A man as he has purposed in his heart. Why don't you just give up? Peter and the boys put it best, because we're not here to please men. We're here to please God. I can't help it because the word offends you. A man passed through my first church. I was a young guy. I probably did more wrong than I did right. Sometimes I felt that way at least. It's 27, babe. Maybe 28 at this time. He was gun-hoed to support us and was behind us, and then I noticed he started getting the church late, and then he'd leave early. About the third or fourth week of that, I finally got up the nerve to follow him to his truck. He takes off, out to his truck, getting his truck. I followed behind him and said, what's going on? Nothing. I said, no, something's going on. You used to be the first one here, the last one to leave. Now you come late and you leave early. If you're even here, what's going on? He said, man, we're not growing. This was before Captain Obvious. I could have been the first Captain Obvious. And he said, we've had so many people come in and then leave. And I don't get it. I said, well, what don't you get? I said, I'm a young man, so please, you're my elder. If there's anything that you can share with me, it would be of significance that would help me. Your dad was a pastor and a wonderful pastor from what I hear. Anything you can offer. I'm willing to listen. Very humble, trying to be very humble. And he says, well, I think it's your preaching. That really hit you as a 27-year-old man trying to do what God called you to do. He said, really? I wasn't very confident in my preaching as it was. So here he is, his dad, I mean, preacher, a preacher's man of God like you've never seen. Reputation far exceeds and just spoke about in this area. That's why I'm not mentioning names. But he, so I'm like, well, what's up with my preaching? I'm legitimately concerned here. And I said, am I not preaching the word? Am I not preaching it straight from the Bible? Oh, yeah, you are. I said, you know, I've always looked up to men like your dad and just preached it straight. And I want to keep it straight. He said, well, people don't want to live like my dad preached. And people don't want to live like your preaching. And I said, and that's my problem, how? I said, so let me get this. Let me understand something. Now the anointing is beginning to rise up in me. And I would get the lesson. So let me get this straight. Let me make sure I understand this. I'm preaching the word. Nothing wrong with it. Nothing wrong with what? It's straight from the word. He said, yes, I'm your preaching the word. But the problem is people don't want to live that way that more. Don't you understand that? I said, I understand that. But I can't preach to people what they want to hear. I've got to preach to them what they need to hear. I've made that decision long before standing in a parking lot of the Garden City Church of God at 27 years old. I made that decision at 21 years old when I accepted the call to full-time ministry. And said, matter of fact, I made that decision under a tent at the Lane Avenue Church of God as a 16 year old boy when I said, yes, Lord, I'll preach your gospel. I'll preach your word. It's not always what they want to hear. So he said, yes, it's saying, Pastor, why do you keep preaching that? Well, I did it on purpose, I guess. I did it on purpose, and I'll keep doing it on purpose. That was, I was 27 then, so, yeah, a long time ago. Twenty-two years, twenty-two years of doing what? Same thing, preaching what they don't want to hear. And why on purpose? Is it popular? No. Does everybody like me? No. Does everybody agree with me? No. Does everybody say, hey, you could make some adjustments in that? No. But also something else I've done on purpose is I never, never preach straight from the word, gospel, with a hammer, with a hammer. That don't work, folks. That's the word. That's the word. Yeah, that's the word, but we have to preach it in love. We have to preach it with compassion. We have to love people. We're His ambassadors. Just as all of these that we read about here in Hebrews and those that we've spoke about is ambassadors in Christ. What does that mean? We're God's representative. Meaning, people's opinion of us is what their opinion of God is. What they think of us is what they think of God because we are His representatives. So as ambassadors today, you and I must purpose in our heart to serve Him faithfully, without a God be loved, without love that they were singing about. His love is a boundless love. Our love should be a boundless love. It should be a love that we say, well, I'm going to go over here because they let me do this. And I love you. I don't love you. People has asked me through the years saying, why don't you let your kids do that because I love them? Well, everybody else's kids doing that. Well, I love them too. If they were my kids, I wouldn't let them do it. I love them. It's my job to protect them as a pastor. I love you. And as long as you put yourself underneath that shepherd ship, I'm going to love you. And it's my job to protect you. It's my job to tell you the truth. It's my job not to water it down. It's my job not to sugarcoat it, but it's also my job not to be hateful and mean. And can I say publicly, if I've ever come across as hateful or mean, I did not do that on purpose, but I love you on purpose. I give you the truth on purpose. And that's what we need to be doing as followers of Christ. Once we've done that, we must do what He's called us to do and we must do it on purpose. My, that kind of, that kind of faithfulness don't just happen. It don't just happen. There's so many people that live without purpose. They have no purpose whatsoever. How do we get to that? But even people within the church, they have no purpose. They don't know what they're supposed to be doing. They think I'm not a preacher. I'm insignificant. I'm not a teacher. I'm not a singer. I don't play. It's untrue. Everyone in this room who's born again, you have a purpose. You have a purpose. God has a plan for your life. You have a testimony that others need to hear. That doesn't just happen. You don't just fall into God's will and God's purpose. It takes a totally sacrificial life. Anybody who's been sitting under my preaching any amount of time whatsoever knows what verses are coming next. Romans 12, 1 and 2. I don't even have to read them because I've set them to heart because it's not just something I use to encourage others, it's something I use to remind myself. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your body's a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto the Lord. I love this part, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to this world, to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Why? That you might prove, was that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. The only way that we're going to be able to do the good and accept one perfect will of God, the only way that we're going to live for purpose, on purpose, by purpose is by total surrender. We think, man, that's asking a lot of, may Paul said, well, that's just a reasonable thing to do for the one who died for you. That's just a reasonable thing to do for a God who gave everything for you. The most reasonable thing that I can do is to dial to self and say, God, here I am. Use me for your glory. Use me for your will, for your way, for your purpose. And so we can look, I haven't looked a lot on the other side of that. Why don't people worship on purpose? Why don't people get up and read their Bible in the morning, on purpose? Why don't people cut faithful to the house of God on purpose? Paul said it, right? He said, whatever you do, whichever way you do it, it's on purpose. It's something that has the most significance in your life. He said you have a choice. You can reap sparingly or you can reap bountifully, but understand which one, whoever one you do dictates your purpose. And others know your purpose. One man's witnessing to another man and he says, man, you need to surrender your life to the Lord. And he said, shares about the Lord and shares, just lays out the plan of salvation. And that man said, man, if I really believe that the way that you say that, you believe that, he said, I will crawl across glass from one coast to the other, just to tell one purse. He's like, man, I'll thank you, man. He needed to work hard on getting that guy saved because that's some belief. Brother Clinton had shared one time by walking in a bank. He's there making a business transaction and the guy in the bank had got to know him and he said, listen, Mr. Clinton, and he said, I don't, I don't share your beliefs whatsoever. There's no doubt in my mind you believe, you believe what you say and you believe it to be true. That's what it's all about. We can't convince everybody, but they better know that we've got a purpose. Tim Tebow said, I know my purpose. Do you know your purpose this morning? If you know your purpose, leave here today and tomorrow and throughout this week, intentionally doing it on purpose. I'm going to live for God on purpose. I'm going to be a help to somebody in need on purpose. I am going to do whatever I need to do on purpose. It's Samuel 17 and 29, we know the story of David and Goliath, do we? Anybody know the story of David and Goliath? I'll tell it to you. You're raising your hand even if you don't, that sounds like a long one. David standing there with Goliath, but a little short thing, a little short verse is missed in this story and it's verse 29. David is standing here and he's inquiring of why these warriors are hiding behind rocks and this big mouth giants running his mouth down in the valley. This all makes sense to me. So he's beginning to inquire. Some say his brother's thought, you know, you just think you're somebody, just think you're some, you're just being nosy, you're just whatever. So David is asking and some think that, well, why is David asking? He asks, what is the king going to do? Is there any reward for anybody to shut him up? I don't think that meant that David was saying that if the reward's good enough, I'll go. He's trying to figure out why aren't, why is anybody responding? After he gets the king's daughter, he finds out that anyway, that's a mistake. Another story, king's offered his daughter, he's offered this, he's offered that. And so David is, and then his brother slips up, said, David, what are you doing? What are you inquiring about? What are you doing here? Who's taking care of your few sheep? Dude, I just brought you some fignoons. You better back it off. He is saying, man, what's wrong with you? And David said, what have I done? What have I done? And there's a short question that David asked next, this resignation at my heart for years. He asked this question, is there not a cause? You could insert the word purpose there and not change the meaning at all. Is there not a purpose? Is there not a cause? Is there not, he's saying, is there not a cause? Somebody's got to shut him up. Somebody's got to stop him. Listen, there's a real devil out there, there's a real giant out there, and he's doing everything he can to stop the kingdom of God. And there's those that's supposed to be skilled warriors who are doing nothing about it. How many would step up with David, say, is there not a cause? David, David says, as a matter of fact, I'm going to go talk to the king right now. I don't need his daughter. I don't need his necklace. I don't need his armor. I just need what I've got because there's a cause. David said, I'll tell you what, king, I'll fight him. You, yeah, I'll fight him. Go ahead. What is David saying? I'm purposely in my heart. I'm purposely in my heart. This has got to stop. So can I ask you this morning, when you're trying to decide, am I going to live with purpose or not? Is it really worth it to read that, and to spend all that time in prayer and go to church all the time and commit myself to it, and that's a big commitment, and I really enjoyed my Sundays. I really enjoyed my golfing, fishing, swimming, beaching, whatever, laken, whatever you did on Sundays, but I mean, I really enjoyed my mornings, I'm just doing what I want to do. I don't know if I want to get up early, I don't know if I want to stay up, when I'm ready to go to bed, I'm ready to go to bed, I don't want to stay up an extra few minutes and pray, but let me ask you something, child of God, is there not a call? I could have them pull up on the computer and just start throwing some headlines across that screen of just what's in the news here lately. Is there not a call? Is there not a call? It's not the world dark. When you walk into this building late at night, Paul, and you decide that you need to see something in this dark, what do you do? You turn on a lot of normal people, turn on a lot of shit and ask him. You turn on light, right? When you open up your refrigerator, what happens? A light comes on because you need to see, that's who we are. Stand with me. I'm closing right here. Grace, if you're playing, come, if you're playing something, play it. Matthew 5, 15 and 16, you need to do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and they give it light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. Listen, there's so many verses I could have used in this message today. What a shame that the gospel of Jesus Christ is one that could have went in there. God did not put this light in us for us to say, it's concealed. It's concealed. I'm just keeping it to myself. Now he said, let your light so shine, why on purpose, on purpose, for purpose, by purpose, on purpose. How many would commit this morning to living for the Lord on purpose? Can I just see your hand? I'm committed to living to the Lord, and I'm going to do it on purpose. I'm going to do it on purpose. Can you just come with that hand raised, just bring that other one with it. Take your way around this altar today and say, Lord, I'm committed and I'm surrendered. Bring that Romans 12 one and two, say, Lord, I present myself to you on purpose. I'm stepping out on purpose. I'm going to pray on purpose. I'm going to study the Word of God on purpose. I'm going to witness on purpose. I'm going to testify on purpose. I'm going to sing on purpose. I'm going to serve on purpose. I'm going to do good to all I can on purpose. I'm going to smile at others on purpose. I'm going to lend a helping hand, and I'm going to do it on purpose. I'm going to be light on purpose. I'm going to be salt on purpose. I just want to know my purpose, and I want to fulfill my purpose. Father God, I pray right now as we surrender ourselves to this, that you will give us the anointing, the strength, and the wherewithal that we need to do all that we do for you on purpose. Jesus' name. I'm Victoria Cash, and I want to invite you to a place called Lucky Land, where you can play over a hundred social casino style games for free for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. So, what are you waiting for? The best way to discover your luck is to spin, so go to LuckyLandSlots.com, that's LuckyLandSlots.com, and get lucky today at Lucky Land.