Place, People, Purpose
#findingyourplaceseries
Written by: Brigitta Tedja
Pastor Paul began this month’s sermon focus of “Finding Your Place”. Finding your place means that there is a place that has been prepared for each one of us. We need to discern, and find, and fit ourselves in the plan and place where God has placed us. Pastor’s sermon topic is “Place, People, Purpose”.
GOD MAKES A PLACE BEFORE A PEOPLE
The people are called to a PLACE and are connected to the vision of that place.
Garden of Eden, Promised Land, Jeremiah’s Mother’s Womb
Garden of Eden:
Genesis 2:8 HCSB “The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He placed the man He had formed.”
In Genesis 1, God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, subdue your enemies. and have dominion on the earth.”
God has put you in a place and put in you the potential, a capacity, the ability, the talent, and gifts inside of you and you are powerful. You have been called “for such a time as this.” He has a set place for all of us.
Promised Land: He prepared a place, not in Egypt, because your role is not as a slave. He promised to take you out of Egypt to get into the Promised Land. Some people are content on just getting out without the purpose of getting in.
Jeremiah’s Mother’s Womb:
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born, I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”God knew you before your arrival on earth. He prepared a place for you before you arrived. It is important to recognize that God did not wait for us to be born and then try to find something for us to do. In the economy of God, that was something that needed to be done, that was why we were born. You are an answer to some situation on the earth.
God was saying to them, "I put you in a place and I have put potential inside of you. There is a capacity, an ability, talents, and gifts within you."
God Places Us. We Do Not Place Ourselves
1 Corinthians 12:18 AMP “But now [as things really are], God has placed and arranged the parts in the body, each one of them, just as He willed and saw fit [with the best balance of function].”
This is God’s plan for us. He has a place for a people with a purpose. We discern where our place is. We do not make a place for ourselves in the body, but the Word says that He places us according to His will and pleasure. We are important. You are important. I am important.
** God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things through the ability, the gift of the Holy Spirit, that He has given to every individual. **
John 14:1-3 NKJV "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansion [dwelling places]; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
The Seven Miracle Stories Recorded in the Book of John
The turning of water into wine at a marriage feast in Cana
The healing of a nobleman's son who was at the point of death
The healing of a man at the sheep-gate pool
The walking on water
The feeding of five thousand
The healing of the man born blind
The raising of Lazarus (John 11)
John 11 gives us the background on why Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled.” When Jesus raised Lazarus from death, it was a crucial moment. Jesus spent most of His life in Galilee whose people are simple but 3X a year, He went to Jerusalem. Jerusalem had a more sophisticated and educated culture. People from Jerusalem looked down on the Galileans. Jesus purposely waited for 2 days so that Lazarus was dead for 4 days so that the people from Jerusalem cannot deny the power of God in Jesus.
Jesus is attracted to ordinary people. We often translate ordinary as meaningless. In 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, God chose the foolishness of this world to shame the wise. He chose the weak to shame the strong. God chose the despised, the base of this world to embarrass those who think they are smart. The key is: God is not opposed to you being smart or sophisticated but BE HUMBLE--it is an attitude. God is using ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Jesus can touch the simple as well as the smart, He uses the ordinary and the sophisticated because He uses all people from all walks of life. Everybody is important!
When Lazarus was raised from the dead, the people wanted to kill him and kill Jesus as well. Lazarus was not a threat when he was alive but once he died and came back to life—he became a threat. Is it possible, as you call yourself a Christian but you are not a threat to your friends who stand for things that are against the Biblical values. It was not until they recognized you were dead and God brought you back to life that you become a threat.
It was the resurrection of Lazarus that triggered Calvary because Jesus realized that He is headed towards purpose. Place. People. Purpose. Jesus not only HAD A PURPOSE but was ON PURPOSE. His purpose was not to do miracles but for the purpose of redemption, which is the product of an anointing from the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:18-19 states, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the Gospel. . . “
Redemption: delivered from sin, redeemed from guilt, set free from guilt and shame
Jesus’ purpose on this earth is not to perform miracles because when you look at the O.T., many performed miracles but none of them could do what Jesus did, which is REDEMPTION.
John 12:21-24 “’Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them, saying, ‘The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.’”
John 12:32-33 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." This He said, signifying by what death He would die.”
John 13:33-35 “’Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come, so now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.’"
Jesus shared about His death. The man they followed, experienced miracles with, their Rabbi, and the One they adored just stated that He was going to die. That was why Jesus stated for them to “not let their heart be troubled.” Jesus knew He came for a PURPOSE. His purpose was to bring redemption.
Jesus mentioned about the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son—the prodigal son. The word “prodigal” means “wasteful”. The prodigal son or daughter may be people in the church today because they wasted their capacity, energy, potential, ability, gifts, and talents. You are a people and, in a place, but perhaps you are not on purpose.
John 14:1-3, NKJV "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. . .”
Here Is a Mistranslation of This Passage
New King James: “In My Father's house are many mansions … “
If you deal with people who are ordinary, or people who have had nothing their whole lives and you promised them a big mansion, they will have no desire or passion for the present — because they will always be longing for their big house.
We discredit the church because we promised them something —that eternity they can have in the present. So, they live for the mansion and not for the purpose.
It was a bad translation of this passage.
“For in My Father's house are many dwelling places.”
John 14:3 NKJV “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
And notice what He says, “I'm going to prepare a place.”
I'm going to prepare a place for you. I'm going to prepare a place for you. So that where I am there you will be also.
And if I go to prepare that place, then I will come and receive you unto Myself so that we can abide together in that place.
In that place.
A place.
Jesus was teaching the people how to take their place. Know your place. Know your purpose.
If you stay in an isolated place, you cannot grow in faith. You need to be part of a community and have a ministry so that everyone has a place to serve.
Focus for the month of May:
This month’s focus is to activate everyone in the church to be involved in ministry.
We will have a Ministry Open House and there are ministries available for people to be plugged in, so that everyone has a place to serve. This is one of the ways to preserve the harvest.
How Does God Build a House?
1 Peter 2:5 “We are living stones: (key word), fit together to become the dwelling place or the habitation or the house of God.”
If you see a pile of rocks, you cannot say that it is a building, it is just a pile of rocks.
You need to place (assemble) those individual rocks together to make a building.
Just because we gather and sing and worship together, if you do not fit yourself in the body of Christ, you are just a “pile of rocks” and you cannot grow.
Hebrews 10:24-25 NKJV “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Acts 10:38 NKJV “. . . how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”
Doing good can be wearying. Some of you are tired of doing good. Come to the Holy Spirit. Sharpen yourself. To sharpen your ax:
Word of God
Worship—it is the only thing you give to God
Give thanks, do not complain
Pray—use your heavenly language
The word “assemble” means that every piece has a place.
1 Corinthians 12:18 NKJV “But now God has SET the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.”
This chapter speaks of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit and sets every member as He wills. You can have the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but if you are not SET or PLACED, you will lose your purpose.
The word “set” is past-tense. Something that is set is something that has already been done. It is past-tense in the English language. For example, the chairs in the church have been set or prepared prior to your arrival. You come and just sit so that means that previously, the chairs have been set, meaning what happened in the past is for your present so that you can sit in the right place at the right time and sit in the right seat because you are set in your place.
You cannot choose your place; God choses your place. We cannot copy anyone else’s success, dreams, businesses, major in college. Everyone has a potential that God gave you, it is God’s gift to you. What you DO with that potential is your gift to God.
If you are set in this place and you want to be set in another’s set/place, you are in the wrong place and can make people upset and you will not be happy or be upset yourself. Choose where you are going to sit (present-tense action) but if you sit in the wrong seat, you view the world from a position you were never meant to view it from, therefore, you will remain confused. God is not the author of confusion.
Jesus set the work of the Cross and the work of redemption to clarify and make an avenue for you to get to your place. “I've gone to prepare a place for you.” So, we read it like, “In my Father's house there are many places — and I made a place for you in HIM.”
With Legos you can make almost anything. Every piece is meaningful. Every building block is meaningful. Every one of you is important. Everyone has their own role. Without working together and being placed, we are just a pile of rocks. Same with puzzles, are you the missing piece? God designed all of us. Each of us has an important role to play, to solve certain situations, needs, problems that nobody else can fill. Jesus set that place. God made that place so we need to discern and recognize that place.
We are building a Ministry Center—a place. We will use this building for us and for the next generation. God is using us to build a building and God is using that building to mold us. God is preparing us as a body to build a place for the people with a purpose. This building was prophesied by credible prophets. It is God’s mandate because we have a purpose, we have a place, and we have a people with a purpose.
Prayer Points:
Pray to know your place
Pray to understand how powerful you are; your potential, capacity, abilities, talents, giftings
Pray to not be “wasteful” with them
Pray to maximize your potential as a gift back to God
Pray to do extraordinary things through the abilities (gift) and the anointing of the Holy Spirit
Pray to partner with Holy Spirit
Pray to know your purpose
Pray to remain humble (an attitude)
Pray that you do not grow weary, but sharpen yourself regularly through:
The Word of God
Worship—only thing that you give to God
Give thanks—don’t complain
Pray—utilize speaking in tongues
Pray to be fitted and set into your place, to know your role
Pray for the Ministry Open House
Pray for the church members to be part of community and be plugged into ministry to preserve the harvest
Pray to live with purpose and on purpose
Pray for all our pastors and leaders to be divinely protected and hidden from the enemy from all attacks, sicknesses, and harassments. – Psalms 91
Pray for the advancement and building progress of the Ministry Center; no delays, obstacles, or interruptions.