Purpose, Vision, Action!

The title of today's message is Purpose, Vision, Action.

Purpose, Vision, Action. When I was a kid playing out on the playground in the school yard, we used to have fun. You know, you get out there with your friends and you hold up your hands like you're looking through a camera lens and you say, lights, camera, action. And then the scene unfolds, and as we were as boys in the school yard, it was usually a fight scene. Nothing terribly spectacular, but really has nothing to do with my sermon. The title, again, is Purpose, Vision, Action. And I'll show you how I actually wrote it out in my notes. I actually have a little bit of an arrow between each of these points, as in purpose leading to vision leading to action.

And then as we finish up the message today, you could even put an equal sign and by God's blessing write success. Purpose, Vision, Action leading to success.

It's been an unusual week for me. This week I have to admit to you, in addition to my regular responsibilities for the congregations here on the circuit, I was busy formulating, instructuring, and national advisory council in Ghana. Because we no longer have two, three, four congregations in Ghana, we have nine. And actually one of those congregations just broke into two locations because of the distance. So we actually have 10 meeting locations in Ghana, nine general congregational areas. And as that area has grown, it became apparent to me that there's a need to be able to collect input from everybody, to make sure the bases are being covered in terms of the needs and all of the areas, to be able to have the leaders come together as up to this point, what takes place generally comes out of a craw. But we need to be able to work together and to coordinate our efforts, collaborative input, and to hopefully work in a way that brings a unified coordination to the planning and the implementation of things in Ghana that relate to everybody, like Youth Camp, Feast of Tabernacles, Leadership Conferences, those sorts of things. So that was a part of my week as well. It was emailing back and forth. It was getting input on how we wanted to develop this this council. It was connecting with various individuals and receiving their input and their ability to serve in this way. So I did have that going on this week as well. And I was also called in for jury duty two days this week. I think I mentioned my original summons put it right on the week of Passover in the Days of Unleavened Bread. I said, that's not going to work.

I pled my case online for an excuse for religious purposes, and they said, the law doesn't allow for a release for religious purposes. You can't explain it to the judge.

So, okay, that's what I'll do. But they did let me at least bump that date down the road a little bit. So that was this week. I was called in for jury duty two days this week. And honestly, I would say it was my biggest distraction of the week, but it was not without merit as well. Because, honestly, I had an opportunity to give multiple answers for the hope that is within me. And honestly, speak up. I fell in a respectful and a positive way as to why I did not believe I would be a suitable jury serving on the juror, a suitable juror, I would say, in the cases that I was being interviewed for. I got to give the response to the judge and my whole group, which was about, I think, 55 people or so in my jury pool. Then a little later, the prosecuting attorney had some questions for me related to why I was asking for to be released from jury service due to religious reasons. And so I had to give further explanation there. And then later, the defense attorney wanted to know as well. And I'd actually joked with Darla in advance. I said, I'm just going to go into jury duty and say, my kingdom is not of this world. And they won't want me at all. And, you know, I kind of laugh about it. But honestly, that is the answer in a nutshell. And as I gave an explanation and then a follow-up explanation and then a final explanation, and I felt I walked through it in a very well-representative way of what we believe in the church. And I said, you know what? I serve in the ministry of Jesus Christ, and I see my service in support of this court, helping people to find positive solutions to life's issues so they don't have to wind up here to begin with. So I do believe with all due respect for the work of this court, it is my desire to support it outside these four walls. And the final follow-up was, so then you can't sit on a case. And I said, my kingdom is not of this world. And that's where, that's honestly where it ended. But it was a good opportunity to, I believe, give an answer and to express.

But I did have to sit through the process. It wasn't like I was removed from showing up. I just was not placed on a jury in that way. But I got to walk through the process for two days this week. So I combine all of that, the Ghana work, our local work, the jury work, and honestly this was somewhat of a busy week. And at some level, I felt like I was being pulled in multiple different directions with a number of things going on, almost like a piece of taffy, you know, you can kind of, you can kind of pull and stretch. Have you ever felt that way? I think probably we all have, right? And probably more often than, than we would like. But, you know, honestly, for me, whenever I feel like I'm running in multiple directions at one time, I have to take a mental pause and I have to ask myself the question, why? Why am I doing what I'm doing? What's the motivation behind what it is that I do? And honestly, this week I felt everything that I was engaged in including jury service. I could go back to the why and say, no, this is still part of my purpose and my service, even as a representative of Jesus Christ. But it's important for us from time to time to ask the question, why? Why am I doing what I am doing? And I would just say, you know, if you wrote your notes with the title like this, you could just draw a little dash down under purpose and you could write why with a question mark here. Because the why is our purpose.

It's why we do what it is that we do. And if you don't understand the why behind what you're doing, you're going to easily get swallowed up by the variety of life, by the clutter, frankly, that comes at us through life and in multiple ways we're pulled in different directions, by various circumstances. And you may even become lost. And you may even become to the point where you wonder what the point even is. And even more than that, you may come to the point where you just walk away altogether from matters that are truly important. Because you've just kind of run through this mill of exercises and pulled in other directions and you haven't stopped to ask why am I doing the things that I'm doing and what is indeed the most important. Why helps us to prioritize our life?

Let's go to Proverbs 29 and verse 18. I want to use this as a springboard scripture for the message today. Proverbs chapter 29 and verse 18. It's a very familiar verse to us.

And in Proverbs 29 verse 18 it says, where there is no revelation the people cast off restraint, but happy is he who keeps the law. Now God's law gives us direction and gives us something to work towards and to work on and it actually indeed brings joy when we live his way. So happy is he who keeps the law, but understand where there is no revelation the people cast off restraint.

And this word here, revelation, means a prophetic vision and ultimately it is something that has been given to you by God. It's the why of our lives. It's the purpose of our lives.

And without such a revelation we'll simply cast off restraint. We'll live our lives in an unrestrained fashion. We'll live our lives just sort of walking as if in this is all randomness that we're doing. Point here, point there, but how does it really connect to my life? Where there's no revelation that people cast off restraint and brethren we live in an unrestrained world.

We live in a world that does not understand nor embrace its purpose. So from time to time it's important for us all to go back to the basics in our lives, ask ourselves why, so that we can make sure we are focusing our energies on what it is that truly matters, and even bringing into what we're doing our focus of what truly matters. You know, jury duty, I tried to get out of it from the start for specific reasons, but then as I saw I wasn't going to be excused that easily. I thought, you know, this is an opportunity actually to express my purpose and what it is that God has given me to do.

Today I'd like to talk about the why, which is the purpose, leading to the vision, leading to the action, and I want us to see and understand how these three points work together in our Christian lives, ultimately to bring about success. But most fundamentally I want to focus on the purpose, as the foundational starting point, because you can have elements of the others. You can have vision, you can have action, but apart from a purpose it's incomplete, and frankly it's weak. It'll falter, and it'll crumble in the face of adversity. It starts with the foundational point of purpose. When you consider the business world around us today, there's a mindset that actually elevates certain businesses above the others, and as they've analyzed businesses that are wildly successful or ahead of the pack, there's actually a attribute that is often traced back, and it's their core cause. It's their purpose, and it's the why of their existence as a company.

You know, think of where you work or who you work for, maybe you're self-employed. Why do you do what you do? What's the purpose of your business? Is it just to make a paycheck? You know, that can be an outcome, but what is the why behind what you're doing? What is the driving motivation? Every organization knows what they do and how they do it. They know whatever widgets they develop, how they design those, and how they produce those. They know what they do and how they do it, but very few understand the purpose or the why behind their company or their product outside of maybe the CEO or the upper management, but it doesn't really honestly filter down to employees and many companies exactly what they're doing. You know, what would an employee say the purpose of his job is? Well, it's to earn a paycheck, to make my employer rich. It's, you know, whatever it might be, those are often the common answer, but those businesses that really take off have a clear purpose that is driving their vision and their actions forward, and it's understood throughout the organization. You know, this is who we are as a company. This is what we stand for. This is why we are doing what we are doing. This is our, you know, vision for changing the world, and the employees buy into the story of the company and why it actually exists, and those are the companies that are most innovative in many ways and surge forward with leaps and bounds. I'll give you an example a little bit from the past, and I'm not endorsing any product. This is just a company that Darla and I have had a little bit of, say, connection with for probably about close to 30 years. Her longer than me, but about 30 years because we've used a number of their products over the years, but Herbalife. You may or may not have heard of Herbalife. It used to be quite a big name. It's still around, but that company was started by a young man who watched his mother try health product after health product. That weren't actually health product is too strong of a term. Let me say diet after diet, program after program, to try to manage her health and to lose weight because she had a number of health issues, and as the result wasn't coming about as it should, she tried riskier and riskier methods until ultimately it killed her.

So she died trying to manage her health in a certain way. And after her death, this young man had a vision to start a nutrition company that would allow people to manage their health through natural supplements, protein shakes, vitamins, herbal products, rather than chasing after, again, dangerous drugs, certain surgeries. If you can, you know, head those off in advance, if possible, let's try to do this in a healthy way. And so that was his vision to have this company that would provide a healthy and hopefully effective alternative. And he put that vision into action.

His follow through was to travel the world, and he studied the effects of vitamins and herbs, and he hired professionals in those fields, and he formulated a product line then that rolled out from there to be successful. So his vision was to produce a certain product line. His action was to follow through and to do so, but his purpose, as you can imagine, was always the driving force behind what he did. His purpose was to not see others struggle over their health as his mother did, again, trying dangerous method or dangerous product after dangerous product, and end up in a similar type circumstance. And I'll just say that story, because of the connection we've had in the past and over the years, I've heard that story told over and over and over again. It was told with the rollout of each product. It was told during marketing meetings of those who were part of that company, and it was known all the way down the line. This is what the company's purpose was. It was to seek to, from their perspective, change the world through something that would lend to the health of people. And it was rather innovative, and it was revolutionary for its time. We're talking 40 years ago when a lot of this rolled out. So again, I'm not endorsing a product, but I'm trying to show you somewhat what a purpose behind a vision, behind the action, how that motivates success in life. That company went on to be quite successful. Again, it was motivated by a purpose, not just a product. Understand, brethren, people don't only buy into what you do, they also buy into who you are and why you do it. And, you know, this is maybe a topic for another time, but I've been trying to reason through this in my mind in terms of the church's function and the preaching of the gospel, the preparing of people. Certain things that we do are tied to a vision and action, but it comes back to our purpose as to who we are as a church and who we are as the people of God. But again, understand, people don't only buy into what you do or what you sell, we could say. They buy into who you are and why you do it. And there's oftentimes a connection that people will make with a company because of their purpose, just as much or sometimes even more so than their product. So purpose always comes first. And so I want to define these terms just a little bit. Purpose. Purpose helps us to understand who we are and why we do what we do.

Okay, I'm talking about an individual level now, but it can be corporate or church-wide as well.

But purpose helps us to understand who we are and why we do what we do. Vision is where we are going.

Okay, you have a vision. It's forward-looking and it's usually a goal or some type of end destination or somewhere that you want to achieve this benchmark. Vision is where we are going and it's what the future looks like if our aim and our goals are accomplished. And then action is what is necessary in order to achieve success in the end. It's purpose leading to vision, leading to action, but purpose is always the foundation and it always comes first. And it's not a principle just for business, it's a principle for the people of God. And I say for each and every one of us, our purpose must be the driving motivator behind our vision and the actions that then come forth from us as we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. But it starts with our purpose.

I want to go through a few practical exercises from the scripture just to see how this pattern works, how this process works, and again we'll see how it works in our spiritual lives as well. Let's go to Genesis chapter 6. Genesis chapter 6, I want to look at the story of Noah. We'll just take a brief overview of Noah's story, but let's again consider purpose, leading to vision, leading to action, ultimately by God's mercy and blessing, equating in success. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5 says, The Lord saw the wickedness of men was great on the earth, that every intent and the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. Verse 7, so the Lord said, I will destroy a man whom I've created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. Verse 8, but Noah, a righteous individual on the earth, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Let's jump down to verse 13. God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. He says, make for yourself an ark of gopher wood, make rooms in the ark, cover it inside and out with pitch. As you go forward, he gives sides and dimensions and what this boat is to be like. Verse 17, he says, and behold, I myself am bringing flood waters on the earth to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life. Everything that is on the earth shall die. He says, but I will establish my covenant with you, with you, Noah, and you shall go into the ark. You and your sons, your wife, your sons' wives with you, and of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sword into the ark. To keep them alive with you, they shall be male and female, of the birds after their kind, the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, to where every kind will come in to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, you shall gather it to yourself, and it shall be food for you and for them. And thus Noah did according to all that God commanded him, and so he did. So this is kind of a snapshot of the circumstance now, right, that Noah has found himself in. And as we go have gone through it, we can actually look at what we read, and we can consider that there is a purpose that Noah is given. He was given this purpose by God. There's a purpose. There is a vision that he is given, again by God. And then there is action as well. I want to define those in here for a moment so we can see, again, how this progression works.

First purpose, and I'll kind of open it up maybe for a little bit of interaction here.

What was Noah's purpose in this account, in this dialogue, is given to him by God? What was his purpose? Anybody have any thoughts on that? I say rewind it back to, you know, the beginning, the foundational purpose, because it'll go forward from there.

Okay, to build an ark, to help people make it through the flood, help the animals to make it through the flood. Okay, okay, in part. Yep, it's part of his purpose. It's part of vision and action as well. I would say it boils down, okay, and we can each look at this perhaps in our own way, but come to the foundation. Noah's purpose was to preserve life. Okay, right? So that's wrapped up in your answer. Noah's purpose was to preserve life. God was going to send a flood that would destroy our all life, and Noah's purpose was to preserve life through the flood, and that purpose then led to a vision. How was this going to be accomplished, and how was this end goal going to take place? Well, his vision, I would say in part, was to see life on the other side of the flood, wasn't it? Flood's coming. Your purpose is to preserve life. Your vision is to see life on the other side of the flood, mankind and animals, to repopulate. The ark was also, I would say, part of the vision that God gave him. This is how we're going to do this. Your purpose is to preserve life. The life's going to be the other part on the other side of the flood. How is this going to be accomplished? God says, here's what you will do in order to fulfill this purpose you've been given.

And so God gave him this vision as well, the ark and the boat that would preserve his family through the flood. And then, what action then followed through? He had to build the ark. Right. He had to get to work. It wasn't going to happen on its own. You know, you could have a purpose, you could have a vision, you could know why God put you here and where you need to go. And if you do nothing, the floodwaters are still coming, but the outcome will be quite different. So Noah jumped into action. He built the ark and he brought the animals aboard. And as a result, life was preserved and his family was preserved. And they came through that process.

What do you think kept Noah motivated all those years? What kept him from, you know, just getting distracted by various elements of life? What kept Noah from waking up in the morning and spending six hours on Facebook instead of getting out and going to work? You know, whatever it might have been.

Okay. Okay. Vision. Yep. To see what God would do. And how about his purpose? Right? His purpose was to preserve life. And just consider if you were given that purpose each and every day, wouldn't that be a motivator to even get out of bed and put one foot in front of the other each and every day?

God was going to send a flood on the earth and Noah's purpose to preserve life led him to, again, embrace the vision God had given him and to be stirred to action until all was fulfilled.

And again, that's why purpose is so essential. You have to have a purpose. It is the motivating factor behind why it is we do what we do. You can have a vision. You can have action. But think about companies that go along without a clearly defined purpose. And even the employees don't really even know what are we here for, ultimately. Purpose is the why behind all that we do. So let's notice the result. Genesis 7, verse 5, Noah did according to all the Lord commanded him.

And Noah was 600 years old when the flood waters were on the earth. So Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives went into the ark. And the waters of the flood then, as we understand, came upon the earth. Genesis 7, verse 23, so God destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground, both man and cattle, creeping thing, bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. And as you would continue reading on, you would see then God brought them through.

Right? God fulfilled his promise. And the blessing was they were brought through. Purpose, I'll get my paper, Purpose, leading to vision, leading to action, and putting equal sign past that if you like, equates to then success by God's mercy and God's blessing. If indeed we follow the direction he has given us. But understand it's a package deal.

It starts with purpose. And that has to be the motivator behind all that we do.

If all you have is vision and action without the motivation to back it up, then it'll be easy to become discouraged and to quit when the challenges come, when trials and difficulties come. Because you see it becomes tied to then now what it is you are doing, what it is you want, and what you reach for, not necessarily who and what you are. Again, purpose is tied into who and what you are. I do this because I am this. It comes really from your personality, from your drives and motivations in life. And if it starts with a vision and action, you can get distracted.

It becomes then what you do, not who and what you are that is tied up in this process. And so there's a challenge in that. And that was ancient Israel's problem when you think about it.

Think about vision and action without understanding your purpose. And you'll have ancient Israel in that story as a prime example. Oh, Israel liked the vision God gave them, didn't they?

A promised land, flung with milk and honey. You can have your own property, abundant crops, your own home, stays in your family generation by generation. That was their vision. They liked that vision. And they even took some action towards it. They walked out of Egypt. They walked across the desert. But what happened when they came up to challenge, distress, things that challenged them? How badly did they want what it was that God held before them? Well, I guess they wanted it, but why were they willing to, in their hearts, turn back to Egypt?

Because they didn't understand their purpose. They didn't understand who God had called them to be.

These people were brought out of Egypt to be the covenant people of God, to be a model nation to the world. And if they looked to God in faith, if they trusted Him, if they believed Him, they could have embraced the vision, realized it. They would have put the action in necessarily, but they never truly believed who they were and the why and the purpose behind what God was doing.

In their hearts, they turned back to Egypt.

I'll read to you here from a website. It's klaxsis.com. I want to read to you an excerpt from an article. It's a business website on helping businesses be successful. And they have an article on their titled, Purpose is the Why Behind Vision. Again, you can have a great idea, a great vision, but what's going to get you there and see you through the action, through the adversities, and get you there? It's got to be the purpose. The purpose is the why behind the vision.

And it's by Mark Milotik. And it says, quote, having a vision motivates us and others to pursue a goal. And that is as long as things go according to plan. Okay, so he's talking about the vision to start with. As long as things go according to plan. He says, we can see our project team delivering results on time. We can imagine our organization leading the industry and consumer service. We picture ourselves crossing the finish line in a local 10K run. But what happens when life or the markets or your boss or a colleague gets in the way? He says leading by vision is like using, navigating using the stars. He says it works well as long as the skies are clear and the sailing is smooth. But when the clouds roll in, a deep seated sense of purpose is what comes to the rescue.

Purpose is like an inner compass, and it points us in the right direction when we can no longer see the way forward. It's like, you know, here's what I'd like to do. And if it's your vision, I'd like to do that. But if it's not really who and what you are, you're going to get blown off course when clouds and adversity and challenge comes. But your purpose is your compass. He goes on the quote from Simon Sinek. Simon Sinek is a motivational speaker, and he talks about successful businesses and what brings about a successful business through motivating of employees. But this quote from Simon Sinek says, average companies give their people something to work on.

In contrast, the most innovative organizations give their people something to work towards.

So there's a difference. You know, if you're just the next person on the assembly line, take part A and put part B together and send it down, and that's what you're doing all day, and you can't see beyond maybe even the purpose of what's being accomplished by this product. It's very limiting. He says, innovative organizations give their people something to work toward. This is why we're doing it. This is what we're about. He says, nothing builds a team faster than a shared purpose. I'm not talking about a formal mission statement. A sense of purpose is a feeling held by individuals or groups. He says, the most powerful technique I have found to identify purpose is to simply ask why. Very important question. Why are you doing what you're doing? He says, don't stop at the first answer you come up with. Ask why again, and keep asking why until you arrive at the answer for which there is no further reason why. He says, it is just so. I think we've forgotten that as big people. Our kids understand this, right? Why, Mommy? But why? Give them an answer. But why? Give them an answer. But why? And they're searching for the purpose. And eventually, if you just say, because I said so, you know, that's not very gratifying, I suppose, either. But we need to become like a little child, right? Ask why. Why are we doing what it is that we do?

And so again, purpose is key to carrying forward, even when others are lost, when others turn back.

And that's what Joshua and Caleb did, right? They understood who they were. They understood what God called them to be and what God called the people of Israel to be. And as such, they embraced the vision. They put in the work that was necessary. They took action. But again, it came back to knowing their purpose, knowing the motivation behind all that was taking place. They were the covenant people of God. And they came back from the Promised Land and said, yeah, there's giants. Their city's walled up to heaven, but, you know, they're our bread. We'll just eat them up. God has delivered them into our hand. And they could see it when the other 10 spies said, there's just no way. Let's go back to Egypt. Again, it comes back to purpose. Hebrews chapter 11, we won't turn there today, but I encourage you to look at all the examples lined out in Hebrews 11 and study into people throughout the Bible and see this pattern in place, an understanding of purpose, followed by the vision that was set before them, followed by the action then that took place to achieve success.

Let's consider another positive example in this pattern, Jesus Christ.

Right? You can't go wrong with Jesus Christ. He did what it is that we've been called to do, and he did it perfectly. Luke chapter 4 and verse 16. Did Jesus Christ understand his purpose?

Of course he did. Luke chapter 4 and verse 16. This is early in Jesus' ministry.

It says, So we came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And as he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it is written. Now here's what he's going to read aloud. Verse 18, it says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Verse 20, and then he read this, he closed the book, he gave it back to the attendant, sat down, and all the eyes of those who were in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus Christ clearly understood what his purpose was as the anointed of God. And that purpose motivated him, didn't it? Each and every day of his ministry, it motivated his teaching, motivated his actions, motivated his unwavering determination, all the way up into ultimately the crucifixion. It is the purpose in which he came that was the driving force behind his life. John chapter 10 verse 10, Jesus stated, I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. And that was his vision, life more abundantly for all those who would follow him. Ultimately, eternal life in the kingdom of God, as the glorified children of God. I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly was the vision that Jesus Christ had. His purpose was to be here and to bring us along in that, but that was the goal, the vision he sought to accomplish by everything that he did. And his actions then followed through in support of that. Luke chapter 9 and verse 51.

Luke 9 verse 51. Again for Jesus, the purpose and his vision directed his steps each and every day. Luke 9 and verse 51 says, Now it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up, that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers before his face, and as they went they entered the village of the Samaritans to prepare for him. But they did not receive him, and says, because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.

Jesus knew his time was approaching for his crucifixion, and he needed to be there. He knew where he needed to be, and he knew what needed to take place in order to bring about what ultimately was his purpose. Okay, but it says he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.

And he was not going to be wavered away from that focus. And even though it would take some time to get there, and as you read through the account, a number of events took place between here and there. Jesus Christ was unwavering, motivated by what I must accomplish in the flesh, what it is my Father sent me to do. And again, it resulted in his action, ultimately to our benefit. Luke chapter 22.

Luke 22 and verse 19, breaking into the middle of this final Passover with his disciples. Luke 22 and verse 19, it says, and he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of my betrayer is with me on the table. And truly the Son of man goes, as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.

Verse 22, here again, Jesus said, Truly the Son of man goes, as it has been determined.

He knew what his purpose was here on the earth. It was a purpose that had been determined from the foundation of the world that was recorded in the scriptures. It was declared by the prophets. And as he walked through the three and a half years of his ministry, he says, This is why I have come. And it led up to this point. He set his face unwavering for Jerusalem. And he says, As it has been determined, it will be fulfilled. Purpose leading to vision, leading to action, ultimately resulting by God's mercy and blessing in success. And brethren, you and I then have been the recipients of that success. If indeed we will embrace it, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is for us all. But again, his vision encouraged him. His purpose was the foundation. And his actions kept him committed, indeed to the very end. Purpose, vision, action. I should have brought a white word today. Followed by, ultimately, success as the outcome by God's blessing in his mercy.

Brethren, for you and I, God has called us to emulate this pattern of success. It starts in Genesis, and frankly it goes through the end of Revelation by the work and the purpose of God. And all that it is, he will accomplish, and it must be accomplished in us as well. In John chapter 8, verse 14, Jesus told the Pharisees, I know where I came from and where I am going. And I would just say, for us, as we emerge from the Passover in the days of Unleavened Bread, let us understand clearly where we came from and where it is that we are going. Because this is our purpose, this is our vision, and our action has to follow it up. We came from slaves of sin, sold under the penalty of death, but we're heading towards the kingdom of God. As slaves of righteousness, by God's blessing we indeed will be successful as well. But we have to know where I came from and where I am going. For you and I, God didn't intend this physical life to be simply about growing up, getting a job, taking a few vacations, retiring, and then we die. Okay, there is a purpose behind our existence. And brethren, I know I have come back to this over and over and over in sermons, and it may seem like I hammer on our purpose as the children of God time and time again, but this is foundational to our life. Why are we doing the things that we are doing each and every day? It comes back to our purpose, and we can never lose sight of that vision.

I want to read you a quote from Psychology Today online titled, Living on Purpose.

You live with a purpose, but you live on purpose. There's purposeful intent behind what we do.

Living on purpose. It says, don't waste any more time stumbling through life. Posted September 23rd, 2013 by Dr. Brad Klontz. Again, Psychology Today online. And he says, why is purpose so important? A purpose sets the entire context of our lives. Without a clearly defined purpose, we are just a haphazard combination of goals and non-goals, actions and non-actions meandering through time and space. Again, it reminds me of Proverbs 29 and verse 18, where there's no revelation that people cast off restraint. If you don't have that purpose, and if you don't have that vision, what's the driving direction in your life anyway? Really what he's saying. He says, a purpose is a master plan for our life. Knowing our purpose helps us to define our goals. It helps us to avoid getting lost in the minutia of daily life by keeping our eyes on target. And it can make life much more enjoyable and effortless. He goes on to say that defining our purpose helps us focus. So I guess I would come back to this week for me. I was going this direction, doing this, going that direction, doing that, taking off over this way for jury duty. And at some point I'm like, why am I doing everything that I'm doing? Because I'm actually busy enough, I'm looking to trim out non-essential elements of my week. And again, if we're in that place, we come back to why. Why am I doing what I'm doing? What has God given me to do? How can I incorporate what God has given me to do in these other aspects to really make them meaningful? Because we still have to work a job, provide for a family, keep a roof over our head, but work your purpose into all of those aspects and relationships of your life, and they will become more meaningful. Again, defining our purpose helps us to focus. And just like Jesus Christ, we must be a people of purpose, vision, and action resulting in success. And our purpose, ultimately, is to be the glorified children of God in His family for eternity. And this is the training ground. This is where we run our course developing the character of God through His blessing and His Spirit. There's a couple of booklets of the church that I carry around the world with me. They've been to Africa and back a number of times, and I give them out, and then I have to replenish them again. And there's actually two booklets that I commonly carry with me. One of them is the Fundamental Beliefs of the United Church of God because it's a summation of our 20 fundamental beliefs. Obviously, we believe more than that, but it's a good to the point when I'm in a conversation with somebody and they say, what does your church teach? And we engage in conversation maybe on a plane in more parting ways. Well, here, if you're interested in more information, it's kind of a calling card. But there's another booklet that I keep that is actually, I would say, truly the calling card booklet that I hand out. And I've gone through multiple copies. I'm getting down to only one or two left on my bookshelf, so I need to restock.

Why were you born? And you might say, well, yeah, okay, I read that like day one of coming into the church of God. If you haven't read it in a long time, pick it up and read it again. And if your life seems like you're getting pulled in multiple directions and you don't understand why you're doing the things that you're doing, pick up the booklet and read it again. I believe it's the most important book we've ever written in the church of God. And you can sit down and read it in an evening. You can look up the background scriptures that go through it. God's own literal children.

Again, the purpose of your life, the question of the ages, the family of God, adoption or sonship, life in God's family, and on and on it goes, the likeness of God, in the likeness of God. But again, why were you born is foundational to everything we do in life and why it is we do what we do. And so, like I said, that's actually my calling card that I'll give out to people as sort of an introduction to our church and what it is that we stand for. Again, if it's been a long time, read it. And there are multiple scriptures. Look them up. Find your purpose. Reinforce that in your mind and wake up every day remembering why it is that God gave you breath to wake up each day and what it is we ought to be doing with the breath and the strength He's given us.

First John chapter 3, I want to conclude here today. This is just one of the many scriptures you'll find in that booklet, but it is very succinct and frankly it outlines our pattern for us, such as we're discussing today as well. First John chapter 3 and verse 1, For behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, and that we should be called children of God.

Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. It says, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself just as He is pure. Take some time to mull over these verses. There's a lot packed in here. They're interesting, they're fascinating, but frankly they are very motivating as well. And there's three specific and remarkable statements that are tied up in here I want to draw our attention to. Number one, here John said, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. Brother, that's an incredible statement to consider.

That we, by the love of God, would be called the children of God, His very own children that He's bringing into His kingdom and into His likeness, and is not by physical creation only. Ultimately, it is by spiritual birth into His family. This is our purpose, to be the children of God. And this is what needs to motivate our steps each and every day as we walk through life. Wake up in the morning remembering this verse, I was created to be a child of God for eternity.

That is who I am that will direct my course, not only today but throughout my life. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Why am I getting up in court in front of the judge and two attorneys and 55 other people and looking rather odd to a few people, maybe, and what it is I have to say, because I've been called to be a child of God. And this is who I am. Point number two, beloved. Next statement I want to draw attention to.

So that was our purpose. Second statement, beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

That is our vision. Again, that is yet future, but that is our vision, that is our destination, that is what we shoot for, to be like He is of the same form, of the same character, of the same glorified eternal likeness in His family. It has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We're not in that form yet, but we shall see Him as He is. And that is our vision. And point number three, everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself just as He is pure.

That's the action step. Purpose leading to vision, leading to action, and each one that has this hope in Him purifies Himself just as He is pure. When eternal life in the family of God is our purpose and our vision, it will frame our perspective each and every day so that we don't just simply wander through life aimlessly, point A to point B, day by day, no real purpose. This is our guiding focus each and every day. It's the motivator behind all that we do. And we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Why? Again, because of who and what we are and what our purpose is. And it can't be just what we intellectually know. And what we intellectually see is the vision. Israel had the vision of the promised land, but it wasn't who they were. This has to be who we are. And why am I here? Why were you born? Is ultimately the point. It means pursuing a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ each and every day.

It means partaking in a proper decisions each day regarding family, life, job. All these circumstances come into play, and they must be part of our life. But again, they must be part of our purpose as well.

Living with purpose, leading to vision, leading to action, means getting up each day with the realization that today is what God has given us in order to grow towards the goal. And it is indeed the motivator in whatever we do. Brethren, purpose helps us to understand who we are and why we do what we do. Vision is where we are going. It's what the future looks like if our aims and goals are accomplished. And it is by faithful action, along with God's mercy and God's blessing, that success will ultimately come in our life. This is our calling. This is our purpose. This is why we get up each and every day and walk through the joy of life, the struggles of life, and indeed even the pain of life, because we understand that God is perfect. And so is His plan for us. Live with purpose. Embrace the vision. Go to work. Put your energy into action. And by God's blessing and mercy, you indeed too will live the internal benefits of success.