Passion Is for You, Purpose Is for Others

Sermon outline

God created us, blessed us, gave us authority and then supplied every resource for the purpose He set, so we do not choose our purpose, calling or assignment, only how fully we partner with Him to fulfil them.

1. Created, blessed, given authority, then resourced

   In Genesis 1 God made man in His image, then immediately blessed him, then gave him authority to be fruitful, multiply and subdue the earth, and only then pointed to the plants and trees as food. The blessing is the empowerment to do what is necessary on the earth, received when the Holy Spirit comes into a believer. The resources came after the authority and for it, so you lack nothing for the purpose God called you to. Repentance for a believer means constantly realigning our thinking with what the word says about us. Our dominion is over situations, never over people: manipulation and control are the devil's toolbox.

   “Every resource is here. You lack nothing to fulfill your God-given purpose.”

   • Genesis 1:26-29
   • Mark 1:15

2. The blessing is not money

   In modern terms we hear blessed and think of money or luck rather than the God who blesses. Those who wait on the Lord renew their strength and mount up on wings like eagles. The blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow, which is why Scripture speaks of buying without money. Money in the hands of a believing believer is a tool; in the hands of a carnal man it is his master, and a master that operates through fear.

   “Money is a terrible master but a wonderful servant.”

   • Isaiah 40:29-31
   • Proverbs 10:22
   • Isaiah 55:1
   • Ecclesiastes 10:19

3. Run in such a way as to win

   Paul tells us to run to win and to make the body a slave, so that after preaching to others he is not disqualified. You cannot love the Lord and do the Bible hit and miss, chewing the meat and spitting out the bones. The word is confrontational: when I feel beneath, I bring myself into line with being from above, rather than bringing God down to my thinking. A believing believer takes the word like a little child and runs with it, and stops making belief subject to background, bank balance, family, friends, job or education.

   Illustration: People who were on fire when first saved, then after a few rejections and church fights became offended and went back to drinking, while the people they led to the Lord are still in church.

   “A believing believer takes the Word of God as a little child and runs with it.”

   • 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
   • Psalm 115:14-16
   • Deuteronomy 28:13

4. Salt and light: why we exist

   Salt has a purpose only when it is on the steak in the pan, not on the shelf in the pantry, and left too long it loses its effectiveness whatever name it carries. Our purpose boils down to three things: we exist to glorify the Lord, to do good, and to expand the kingdom through the Great Commission. Your life is the pulpit: every handshake and every smile.

   “Your life is the pulpit.”

   • Matthew 5:13-16
   • 1 Peter 2:9
   • Ephesians 2:10
   • Matthew 28:19-20

5. Purpose, calling and assignment

   Purpose is why we exist. Calling is narrower: your gifts, talents and abilities, which may be professional and personal at once, like a florist who runs a weekly Bible study. An assignment is a specific, often temporary task you do with those gifts in a season. We do not choose our purpose, calling or assignments, but we choose how we partner with God, and with Him as partner there is an effectiveness beyond our own ability. Purpose is not a title and not a prison; it is a wide open field with a fence.

   Illustration: A father's calling never changes, but his assignment does: nurturing and protecting toddlers, holding authority over teenagers, and coaching adult children who now make their own decisions.

   “Purpose is not a title. Purpose is not a prison. But it is a wide-open field with a fence.”

   • Isaiah 9:6-7

6. The ten virgins

   The foolish virgins wake, check Instagram and TikTok, share a cat video to their status, work, have drinks, watch Netflix and sleep, and skip church when it rains. Are they Christians? Yes. Do they love Jesus? Yes. Do they walk in their God-given purpose? No. The wise took extra oil: they get on their knees when nobody is watching, pray for people as the Spirit leads, are faithful with what they have been given, and are actually present at the Tuesday prayer meeting. No one knows the day of the bridegroom's coming, and when it comes the door will be shut.

   Illustration: Leaving the phone connected to the prayer meeting on the bed with the camera off while you sleep.

   “Are they Christian? Yes. Do they love Jesus? Yes. Do they walk in their God-given purpose? No.”

   • Matthew 25:1-13
   • Revelation 1:7
   • Matthew 24:36

7. Unity, and the peg in the ground

   Churches are weakened not when the pastor sins but when the people around him are divided, so beware those who only criticise, and stop treating church like a consumer moving from offence to offence. Since all things work together for good for those who love God, he asks whether a tragedy, even the loss of his own father, is truly a tragedy for one walking in purpose. The enemy uses loss the way a circus trains an elephant with a chain and a peg, so that it never pulls free even when it could. When believers, and husbands and wives, put themselves and their resources together in unity, one puts a thousand to flight and two put ten thousand.

   Illustration: A fighting fish separated from a goldfish by glass stopped attacking, and when the glass was removed it never crossed to the other side of the tank.

   “A lot of us, we're waiting on the Lord, but the Lord is waiting on us.”

   • Deuteronomy 32:30
   • Romans 8:28

8. Faith is a fact and faith is an act

   Faith is a fact because God has already done miracles in your life, delivering you from accidents, robberies and sickness you never even knew were coming. Faith is also an act: you must walk into what He has provided, confess it and enact His kingdom on the earth. Like the woman with the issue of blood, take hold of what God has already given and come to prayer in agreement. Do not limit yourself by what the world says about you.

   “Faith is a fact, but faith is also an act.”

   • Mark 5:25-34
   • Psalm 23:5

In this message