John K. Jenkins Sr - The Purpose Series - Part 2

I want to pick this up as a series I started two weeks ago; today is part two of the Purpose Series. Somebody say, «The Purpose Series.» Two weeks ago, we began this series by discussing purpose-everybody has a purpose. You have a purpose; God has an assignment for your life. You have a purpose for why God created you; you’re not just an accident or a coincidence. You have been given a calling to a purpose. That was the first thing I shared with you: you are called. God has called you to His purposes, not your purpose but His purpose. God has destined you to accomplish something meaningful with your life. You 're not an accident; you’re not a coincidence. God called you to fulfill an assignment, and ultimately, God has called you to give Him glory. Your life is meant to give God glory.

We also talked about the fact that God predestined you to His purpose. He predestined it before the foundations of the world. God already assigned your purpose before the world was created. So what does that mean? It means God knew you were going to be a jacked-up individual; He knew you would miss the mark, mess up, and fail in many areas. The thing I celebrate is that even though God knew you would mess up, He decided to choose and use you anyway! That 's worthy of a shout! Somebody ought to shout and run around the building because God chose you regardless of your failures. The devil will try to make you think that God cannot possibly use you because of your failures, but the truth of the matter is that in spite of your failures, God can still use you. Thank you to the five of you who affirmed that; it 's such an important thing to understand.

Today, I want to talk about how you can know what your purpose is. How do you identify the signals or signs of what your purpose might be? I want to teach you that today so you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt what it is and why God has called you. You 'll be able to identify what it is, and we’re going to learn about this through the story of a fellow named Nehemiah. So if you have your Bibles, go to Nehemiah chapter one. We 're going to start by talking about Nehemiah.

Let me give you some background information: Nehemiah is living in a foreign country, working for a king. His job for the king was as the king’s cupbearer. What 's a cupbearer? I’m glad you asked! A cupbearer is the person who drinks from the king’s cup before the king does, just in case it has been poisoned; he would die first. I’m not applying for that job! Nehemiah is the king’s cupbearer, and there he is in a foreign country when he hears that his hometown is in disarray. The walls have been torn down; in fact, they have been in ruin for a long time. They have rebuilt the temple, and people want to go back to worship in the temple, but they don’t go back because they are afraid to do so- there’s no wall to protect the city. Nobody wants to return to a city without protection, but Nehemiah becomes worried about this and decides to go back home to Jerusalem. Somebody say, «Jerusalem!»

He goes back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. In fact, it becomes his life’s assignment to do so. He accomplishes this remarkable task and rebuilds the walls in just 52 days. Anytime God gives you an assignment and He is with you, He will allow you to accomplish things in record time and in a way beyond what anyone else expected or anticipated. So how did Nehemiah know this was his calling? Here he was, a man in another country, several nations away from his home, in another place, another city, in another community, yet he felt called to go back to Jerusalem. How did he know? I’m glad you asked.

Let’s open to Nehemiah chapter one, and I will give you Five Points today — one, two, three, four, five. I will get through all five; it might be three o’clock before I’m done, but I will get through all five! I know you' re saying that, but you don’t really mean it. Let’s look at chapter one, and I want to read verses three and four. This will give us the first way Nehemiah knew he was called. It says, «The survivors who are left from the captivity and the province are in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.» So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept and mourned for many days. I was fasting and praying before the God of Heaven.» Do you see that right there? Here 's the first way Nehemiah knew he was called to something: he had a passion for it. A burden might be another word for it.