This is a message I preached the Sunday before Ehtan was born premature. God was preparing me, by reminding me that Isabella and I have Grace to parent Ethan. Enjoy the message:
Here are my notes:
Today the Father wants you to know:
1. You have an Assignment in Life.
- This is the PURPOSE for why you were born.
- You are not here to just suck-in and breathe-out air, have a little fun, and then die.
2. Your Assignment is tailor-made just for you.
- The assignment comes with a specific PATH.
- The assignment comes with a specific PACE.
3. You have the Grace for it. Along with the Assignment, the Father has given you:
- The Grace to PERFORM it.
- The Grace to OVERCOME every obstacle along the way.
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#1: You have an Assignment in Life.
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This is the PURPOSE for why you were born.
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Your are not here to just suck-in and breathe-out air, have a little fun, and then die.
Your assignment was determined before the foundations of the world:
(Jer 1:5 KJV) Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Before you were formed in your mother’s womb you were:
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Known.
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Set Apart.
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Assigned.
(Ps 139:16 MSG) Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.
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All the days of of your life were prepared before you ever lived one day.
(Isa 49:1 NLT) Listen to me, all you in distant lands! Pay attention, you who are far away! The LORD called me before my birth; from within the womb He called me by name.
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Called BEFORE your birth.
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Called by your NAME from within the womb.
Isa 49:5 And now the LORD speaks—the One who formed me in my mother’s womb to be His servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to Him. The LORD has honored me, and my God has given me strength.
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Formed for an Assignment.
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With strength for the assignment.
(Rom 8:28,29 NLT) And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.
Rom 8:29 For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
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All of us have this purpose: To be conformed to the image of His Son!
(Eph 1:3,4 NLT) All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
Eph 1:4 Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.
Take Aways: You have a God-Ordained Assignment in life.
Before the Foundations of the World God…
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Chose you
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Assigned you
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Blessed you
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BY GRACE!
Your job now is to…
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Discover Your Purpose.
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Access the Grace by Faith.
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#2: Your Assignment is tailor-made just for you.
The assignment comes with a specific PATH and PACE:
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You must Discern the PATH.
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You must Discern the PACE.
(Heb 12:1,2 AMP) … Let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,
2 Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Pace:
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Patient Endurance
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Active Persistence
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It’s a long distance race
Path:
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The Course is SET before us
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Active Persistence
Jesus understood His Path:
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Born in Bethlehem
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Raised in Nazareth
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Ministered in Capernaum
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Died on Golgotha’s Hill
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Went down into Hell
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Rose with all Power!
Jesus understood His Pace:
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Jesus waited 30 years for a 3 year ministry
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Jesus took the time to mentor and develop the disciples
You will get off course worrying about someone else’s path.
You can wreck your life trying to live at someone else’s pace.
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#3: You have the Grace for it.
You have the Grace to PERFORM your Assignment (Purpose):
Let’s use the Apostle Paul as an example: He:
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Went on four missionary journeys
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Pastored Pastors
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Started churches
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Wrote half the New Testament
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Outside of Jesus, Paul was the MOST influential person of the 1st Century
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But he needed the Grace of God to do it.
(2 Cor 11:24-28 NLT) Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes.
25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.
26I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not.
27I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.
28Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.
Paul could endure so much, because he had discernment concerning his path:
(Acts 9:15,16 AMP) But the Lord said to him, Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the descendants of Israel;
16 For I will make clear to him how much he will be afflicted and must endure and suffer for My name’s sake.
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The Lord revealed to Paul what he had to go through for his assignment.
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The Lord will do the same with you.
Paul had Grace to do what he did:
(1 Cor 15:10 AMP) But by the grace (the unmerited favor and blessing) of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not [found to be] for nothing (fruitless and without effect). In fact, I worked harder than all of them [the apostles], though it was not really I, but the grace (the unmerited favor and blessing) of God which was with me.
Final Take-Aways:
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You were born WHEN & WHY you were for a reason — Your Assignment.
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Your assignment came with a PATH & a PACE.
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Your assignment came with the GRACE to complete it… no matter how hard it gets!
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You are Free to BE YOU! You have your OWN GRACE to run your OWN RACE at your OWN PACE!
