PURPOSE

If ever there was that which follows every story from Cinderella to Sleeping Beauty to whatever fairytale story you may think of. We are for sure of 2 typical things that are going to take place. One is, “And they lived happily ever after…” And of course, even more so that never fails which will follow is this standard reminder. “The End…”

I’m reminded of a life and a story of that life that consisted of those whose own lives was so connected to his, that 2-6 million people depended upon the decisions, and choices this one man would make. We know him of course as the man named Moses.

The word of the LORD, that so affected the them were a people in their lives that bound themselves in their hopes and dreams to that of the life of Moses… However, one day they heard what they never thought they would hear.

Josh 1:2 Moses my servant is dead;    KJV

Can you imagine the reaction of the people of GOD to this report???

What must of that day have been like?  

What must it have been to see Moses on the Mount? What a magnificent picture to have seen in real time as Moses came off the mountain with his face glowing to such extent he has veiled his face.

What would it have been like to see as Moses stood before the Red Sea with the staff of the LORD held up and to watch suddenly as the Red Sea parted before him?

What would have been the feeling as they fought below to look up times to see their fearless leader, the anointed of the LORD? To see Moses as he set upon the rock as Aaron and Hur stayed the hands of Moses upon the uplifted staff of the LORD. Victory was all but a given, just as long as Moses was in the postured and place for a guaranteed defeat of the enemy.

What must of it been like to see Moses declare the response of the LORD to his people, at given times?

What would it have been like to see Moses through meekness stand and to have been there to watch as the ground opened her mouth to swallow those who came against GOD’S man.

To be there and watch as Moses prayed… To be there and watch as Moses gave command when he came down the first time with those tablets of stone… Tables of stone wherein the very finger of GOD had carved HIS commandments.

To watch and see Moses, and to hear Moses expound, what thus saith the LORD.

And suddenly like any other day, a day comes, when one would never have thought would even happened. To hear the report for the first time as it circled through the camp.

Josh 1:2 Moses my servant is dead;    KJV

How can this ever be a “and they lived happily ever after” moment? How could this be but the one description that one would have never even thought possible. “THE END…”

Moses the servant of the LORD; is dead…

·        Can you imagine their reaction?

·        “Anybody but him.”

·        “Moses no way.”

·        “He’s GOD’S man…”

·        “He’s GOD’S chosen vessel…”

·        “Moses dead?”

“How can that be possible?” “He’s as stable as the sun.” “He’s as much a fixture as the moon on a clear night.”

Moses dead, it can’t be so… Anything but that…

Moses dead before we even get to Canaan? We may as well turn around now. If Moses can’t get us there, no one can. Moses has been our everything.

Dreams tied to another’s dream… And Moses is dead… It begs the question, what happens to my dream? What do I do now? Where can I go? My dream of Canaan is tied to the Moses who has died…

Goals, aspirations to be, and to become, yet dead because we think that they can’t live without Moses…

That is the reaction, that is in face of great loss. That is the facing of defeat when your Moses has died…

If your dreams are tied to what you have whether money or name or to another. There needs to be one question asked.

·        Are you about GOD’S purpose?

God loves people, that is a given. Jesus chose the way of the cross for people. However, Christ’s purpose was GOD’S purpose. If what you have tied your dreams and your goals to, is not the purpose of GOD. You are tied to the wrong thing. You have connected your dreams, desires and agenda to the wrong thing.

GOD has a purpose, and if your walk and if your prayer isn’t tied to HIS purpose. Whatever you have accomplished, or gained in this life without HIS purpose involved in your life. Know this, your GOD has simply allowed your accomplishments just because you didn’t interrupt HIS purpose.

Only when you tie yourself to HIS purpose, is that which counts.

·        You want to meet your goals?

·        You want to see your dreams come to pass?

The answer is tie your goals, desires, and dreams to HIS PURPOSE.

Prov 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.    KJV

Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.    KJV

Rev 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.     KJV

For thy pleasure… That word “pleasure,” doesn’t mean a feeling, or fun… The word “pleasure,” here means “PURPOSE…” HIS PURPOSE…

·        If GOD is going to have a church? And we know HE has and HE will…

·        If HIS church is going to be powerful and filled with HIS glory? And we know HE will and HE has.

The answer of such a church being present, is that the church is made up of individuals that have tied themselves not to a Moses, but GOD’S PURPOSE…

Baalim could not curse GOD’S people no matter how he tried. So Baalim did what only he could do to get GOD’S people cursed. And that was to get them out of GOD’S purpose.

·        The blessed church is the church that is all about GOD’S purpose…

·        Blessed people that have miracles, signs, favor and blessings of GOD… They are about, GOD’S PURPOSE.

One writer said it this way. “This is a big world, but it has never wasted one single drop of water or one single grain of sand or one single weed or one single flower since the morning stars sang together. That is a big sun in the yonder in the sky, and when it set out to draw water this morning it taxed the seven seas, the Mississippi, the great Nile and the Amazon. But it was not to big a sun to drink from the cup of the rose, and it wasn’t to dainty of a sun to dip its golden rays into the stench of the mudhole to lick up the remaining water.”

Because all that GOD has created, is for HIS PURPOSE… Each one from the delicate rose, to every multiple mud hole… PURPOSE.

GOD doesn’t just want to save people… HE wants people that have connected their lives in every aspect to HIS purpose…

They tied themselves to Moses, not to GOD nor HIS PURPOSE… When HIS PURPOSE becomes OUR PURPOSE… Moses while significant and worthy of our remembrance. We only know him because of GOD’S PURPOSE.

It is as always, everyone’s Moses dies, or moves on. If your tied to Moses rather than to GOD, you have not GOD’S PURPOSE in mind. Your Moses is going to come to “the end.” What it will tell is this, is it your end, or is it a means to GOD’S PURPOSE?

Josh 1:5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.    KJV

Joshua wasn’t to be another Moses. Joshua was another means to fulfill GOD’S PURPOSE…

Joshua wasn’t simply to be another Moses. If that had been the case GOD would have kept the Moses HE had.

WHAT GOD WANTS TO KNOW WITH ALL OF US IS THIS. ARE WE TIED TO THE MOSES THAT IS ABOUT HIS PURPOSE? OR HAVE WE TIED OURSELVES TO HIS PURPOSE WITH OR WITHOUT MOSES?

NO ONE CAN ANSWER THAT QUESTION UNTIL. Josh 1:2 Moses my servant is dead;    KJV

WHAT OR WHO IS YOUR MOSES? CAN YOU LIVE WITHOUT YOUR MOSES AND STILL MEET YOUR GOD GIVEN PURPOSE? CAN YOU WALK WITHOUT YOUR MOSES AND STILL STAND FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS? CAN YOU LIVE WITHOUT YOUR MOSES AND STILL WALK IN TRUTH? CAN YOU FACE THE TEMPTATION TO GIVE UP WHEN YOUR MOSES DIES OR IS TAKEN FROM YOU?

 

 

 

Perception

 

Luke 15 records for us a particular parable that we know as “The Prodigal Son.”  We somewhere have heard of it, hopefully read it. Perhaps even some have read it multiple of times.

What sticks out to me is there is an inability of the younger son to really believe. To believe, that the way that he left and too, the condition in which he returned in to be worthy of his previous place and position.

He is dirty, he has nothing to show save the ragged, thread bare, and smelly clothes on his back. His shoes have long worn out and on blistered and sore feet he has come home. Yet, his Father does what he didn’t expect his Father to do at his return. We know the story, his Father loves him and welcomes him as a son, rather than the slave he hoped to be...

In the prodigal’s mind, he has become because of his sin, unworthy to be a son any longer... This view is an error not just of himself but more so in his perception of his Father…

What the prodigal son knows…

·        He recognizes his sin...

·        He recognizes his rebellion…

·        He knows his failure…

·        The son understands that he has resisted his Father’s love…

·        The son knows that he has chosen the wild ways of living over his Father’s house and all HIS Father stood for.

·        He also knows he has forsook the farm, and his heritage.

Where else can the prodigal’s perception take him to? The perception of the prodigal is he has arrived at the viewpoint; that he is no longer worthy to be called a son…

The contrast of perception between the younger son, the prodigal and that of his elder brother is also present within the parable… It is quite easy to see that the elder son, is angry, upset, and jealous of the reception and the gifts given to his returning younger brother. The elder brother knows his brother has wasted his inheritance. We see his answer and his attitude at his Father for his welcome of his younger brother. He does on one instance share his younger brother’s perspective. No way should his younger brother be allowed back on the farm, much less his Father to return his younger brother to his place. And even more audacious, throw a party for his younger brother who has embarrassed his Father and despised the farm. Yet, the perspective of the elder brother is also seen.

Luke 15:29 But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'    

They each share this one perception. They both see themselves as slaves… They also have this mistake in common. They don’t know their Father. They are out of touch with their Father’s love and compassion. They don’t know the perspective of their Father. They know not what it’s like to be a father.

It is with that stated, the error in their perspective of who their Father is, and that in turn means they share in error of who they are.

Neither son, grasped the understanding of who their Father was…

I believe if we could ever recognize the way that God should be recognized. The way that God wants to be recognized and too, if we could ever recognize who we are to HIM. There would be victories and there would be blessings that we would have if we could have a right perspective of our Father.

There is a perspective that if we loved the Father and we loved the farm that there is a party anytime awaiting us. How is it that the farm has become a place of rules and regulations? How is it that the farm has become a prison rather than what it really what GOD meant it to be?

Living for God is the best life. How can the farm be a place of slavery to the point that one runs away, and the other stays with the farm but never shares in what the farm has? The farm is that of the kingdom of GOD, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. This can only come in a right perspective of our Father, and of HIS farm.

Today, much of the religious world preaches about Christ and his love promoting God’s grace with sin… They see no need of distinguishing marks between the world and the church… There has never been such a thing as GOD’S GRACE with SIN… The younger brother, to live his way, even he knew he had to live it outside his Father’s house.

And on the other side of the coin what the religious world promotes… Is the attitude and spirit of the elder brother “I’m just a slave…” He has become a son that never recognizes the blessings, the benefits of being a son in their father’s house…

Neither knew who the father was. If they could only see with the perception of the Father…

·        You are my sons and what is mine is yours.

·        You don’t have to leave to get what you think your missing or you don’t have to leave thinking that the farm has no joy, or no love.

There is something awesome to being HIS child and to know that the Father says, you are mine and what is mine is yours, no man can pluck you from my hand.

·        Younger brother, you don’t have to leave to go and get what you think your missing.

·        Elder brother, you don’t have to sit on the back porch stewing over what is going on in the house for your brother… You are just like him, you are also a son and you have access to everything that he has access to…

Get off the porch and enjoy who you are; you’re HIS son…

“Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent of how you take it…”

Living for GOD, loving HIM, and loving HIS kingdom. What perspective do you have of the Father? What to is your perspective as HIS child?

Come home prodigal. The Father is waiting and so is the farm. Let’s throw a party.