Rick Warren - How To Know Your Life's Purpose, According to the Bible

One of the most beloved verses in the Bible is

Romans eight twenty eight. So verse you've probably heard many, many,

maybe hundreds of times. It's one of the great promises

of the Bible. And it says this, we know that

in all things God works for the good of those

who love him. And usually we stop right there, we

leave off the second half of the verse, and we say,

what a great promise. We know that in all things,

not just the good things in life, but even in

the bad things, the ugly things, the terrible, the tragic

things of life. In all things, God works for the

good of those who love him. Doesn't say they're good.

There's a lot of bad in life. There's a lot

of bad things happening in your life, not all things

that happen to your good. But God says all things

God works them together for good. He can bring good

out of even bad for those who love God. And

usually we stop the verse right there. But the rest

of the verse says this, we know that in all

things God works for the good of those who love Him.

Who have been called circle the word called, who have

been called according to His purpose, and circle the word purpose,

circle called and circle purpose and draw a line between

them because calling and purpose go together. Now, if I

were to say to you, what do you think of first?

When I say the word call, make a call, get

a call, be called, you think of a telephone and

maybe they calling out for pizza, you know, something like that.

When I have to be honest with you, a little

true confession, as your pastor, I don't like telephones. I

never have because telephones to me represent two things. Number One,

they represent an interruption. And maybe they don't seem like

an interruption to you, but if you were a pastor,

you would be on call twenty four hours.

A day, like doctors are.

I get calls twenty four hours a day, often in

the middle of the night, and so when the phone rings,

it usually means it rings when I'm busy or I'm relaxing,

or I'm studying, or I'm sleeping, or I'm talking with

somebody else or whatever. But it represents the interruption. The

second thing reason I don't like it is because in

my case, it often.

Or normally means bad news.

Somebody's calling to tell me about somebody's just died, somebody's

just lost a loved one, somebody's gone been rushed to

the hospital. Somebody's just found out a cancer test. And

as a pastor, of course, I deal with people in

pain literally every day of my life. And so when

the phone rings, I'm not thinking I wonder if I

just won the lottery. First place. I don't use the lottery,

which you shouldn't either. By the way, if you want

to do the lottery, here's what you do. I'm outside

and just give me the money, okay, because you're not

going to get anything out of it. I might as

well put it to use and use it for the

peace plan. But but you know, let's say the phone

rang one day and you thought this is an interruption

or it's going to be bad news. But somebody who's

calling to tell you had just inherited fifty million dollars.

You would not want to miss that call. What if

God called you? Let me give you a little tip.

When God calls, you do not use call waiting. When

God calls, you do not put it on the answer voicemail.

When God calls, you do not let it ring and

ring and ring and ring. Pick it up on the

first call. When God calls you. Now, the Bible says

you have already been called. You have been called according

to His purpose. A couple verses down from that verse

Romans eight thirty, it says this, look here on the screen.

Those that God predestined he also called, and those he

called he also justified, and those he justified he also glorified.

Now that's a lot of big theological words. But the

word I wants to focus on as we begin live

your calling is that word called. The Bible says you

have been called by God. What does that mean? The

word in the Greek is the word kalao k a

l e o calaioh. It's almost like calleaioh call. And

the word calaoh means God is calling you. And it's

used about one hundred times in the New Testament, over

one hundred times, and most of the time it's talking

about your assignment in life, your purpose in life, your

mission in life, the reason God created you. It is

called your calling. The Greek word is the word calaoh

for calling. The Latin word is another word you've heard

of for calling, and it is the word vocation. You've

heard of that a vocation. Vocation comes from the Latin

word vos vosa. It means to speak, it means to call.

We get the word voice, we get the word vocal.

Vocalized comes from the word vocation. It is your calling.

So your vocation and your calling are the same thing.

Now here's the problem today. The word vocation has been

so reduced and so minimized to just mean my job,

my career. Your calling is not your career. Your calling

is far.

Far, far far far far.

Far more significant, far larger, far more all encompassing than

your career. So your vocation is misused when you say

my vocation is my job. No, you have a job,

but your vocation is your calling in life. And we

are going to study that. The Bible, this book is

the story of God calling people, and the whole Bible

is about God calling Noah, God calling Abraham, and Abraham responding,

God calling Moses for a purpose in life, and Moses responding,

God calling Nehemiah, who was a builder, God calling Isaiah

and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and Hoseiah and Joel,

and God calling David, and God calling Solomon. In the

New Testament, God calling Peter and Paul and Mary. And

if you laughed at that, you are incredibly old. Okay,

some twenty something Peter Paul Mary, I don't get it.

I don't get it.

Okay, God calling Paul, and God has a call on

every person's life. Now, as your pastor, m my prayer

for you is this Ephesians chapter one. My prayer is

that light will flood your hearts. You know when we

sing that song open the eyes of my heart, Lord,

you know that song that's from this verse, that's from

this verse. My prayer is that light will flood your hearts,

and that you will understand the hope, the hope that

was given to you when God called you. Now understand

the calling on your life. When you understand you, when

you understand your call in life, is going to give

you incredible hope. And he says, I want you to

understand that. He says, when you do, when you understand

God's calling on your life, then you will discover the

glorious blessings that will be yours together with all of

God's people. So let's look at eight things I need

to know about my calling in life? Why God put

me here on earth?

Right? He's down number one.

The first thing we learned from God's word is this,

my calling is a gift from God. My calling is

a gift from God. I don't earn it, I don't

deserve it. I don't work for it. I don't bargain

for it. I don't barter for it. It's just a

flat out gift of God's grace. It is His present

to me. When He created me, he called me, and

it's all by grace. Galatians Chapter one says this, God,

by his grace through Christ, has called you to become

his people. Now circle the phrase by his grace. What

is grace. Grace is undeserved kindness. Undeserved kindness. It's when

God gives you what you need, now, what you deserve.

If we all got what we deserved, we wouldn't be here.

The fact is, God says, I give you what you need,

not what you deserve. Grace is the fact that God

knows every dumb mistake you're going to make in life,

and he still chose to create you. He knew all

the times you were going to disobey him, and he

still chose to create you. That is the grace of God.

The fact is grace is that God knows all the

things I've done, and even when I was thumbing my

nose to him and rejecting him. God was saying, I

love you, I love you, I love you. Now your

calling is actually a part of your salvation. The calling

to Christ is also the calling to your purpose. Two

Timothy one nine says He has saved us and called us.

Notice they go together, saved us and called us to

a holy life, not because of anything we've done, but

because of his own purpose and grace, his purpose and

his grace. So God give gives me a calling in

life simply because he wants to give me a calling life.

I don't deserve it. He just gives it to me.

Now circle the word purpose that verse, because that leads

us to the second thing we learn, and is this.

I am called for God's purpose, not mine, but God's.

I'm not called for God's God's I'm not called for

my plan in life. I'm called for God's plan. God

did not make you for you. You think God created

you just to live a selfish little life of self centeredness.

It's all about me, me, me, me, me. Are you

kidding me? No?

God didn't make you for you. You were made by

God and you were made for God. And until you

understand that, life's never gonna make sense, and you're gonna

get bored, and you're gonna get frustrated. You're gonna have

all kinds of difficulty because you don't understand. You were

made for God. I am called for God's purpose. God's

calling is about His plan for my life, not my plan.

His dream for my life, not my dream. His purpose

for my life, not my purpose, or my parents purpose,

or my boyfriend's purpose, or my husband or wife's purpose,

is for God's purpose for my life.

Now.

A good example of this is the story of Jacob

and Esau.

In the Bible. They were twins.

There was a guy in the Bible named Abraham and

he had a son named Isaac, and Isaac had two

sons who were twins, Jacob and Esau. Now, in those days,

the firstborn child, particularly the firstborn son, got all of

the credit, got all of the glory, got all of

the love. The firstborn son was the one who he

would inherit the family inheritance.

And it's like you're special.

Number one, you're great, and number two, Oh, we're glad

you're here too.

It was kind of like an aside. God didn't like that.

And in the case of Esau and Jacob, Esau was

the firstborn son, and God said, you know what, I

have a calling for Esau's life, and I have a

calling for Jacob's life.

But just because I want to do this, we're going

to reverse it.

And I'm choosing Jacob to get blessing of the firstborn son,

even though he was born second. And he told this

to their mother, Rebecca, before she even delivered. In Romans

chapter nine, it says this before the two boys were born,

God told Rebecca, the older will serve the younger. Now,

that's exact opposite of culture. And this was before the

boys had done anything. In other words, they didn't deserve it.

They hadn't merited anything good or bad. God said this

so that the one chosen would be chosen because of

God's own plan as his purpose. He was chosen because

he was the one God wanted to call, not because

of anything he did. Unfortunate that I learned my call

in life at a pretty pretty young age. I hadn't

done anything. I hadn't deserved anything. I certainly wasn't worthy

of any kind of call. When I was sixteen years old,

I was actually working at a camp in northern California, up.

In the mountains and the Redwoods. And one night I went.

Back to my cabin and I got down on my

knees and I said, God, I don't understand it all,

and if you're there, don't I just I want to

trust you, and so God, I need to know what

you want to do with my life. And I pray

a prayer that night and said, God, I'm signing my

name on the check. I don't even know what the

amount is, but I'm saying to you, I'm yours and

I'm going to serve you the rest of your life,

and I'm going to fulfill the calling you have for me.

And I prayed that prayer and as soon as I

finished praying that PRAIERD, do you want to know what's happened?

Nothing?

No angels came down and flapped their wings. There's no

blinding light, no thunder, no lightning. My hair didn't turn

white like Charleston Heston. You know, It's like nothing happened.

But that was the turning point in my life when

I recognized God's rite and call on my life.

And from that moment on.

I became by vocational, which means I would have a

job in which I would put food on the table,

and I would have a job in which I would

pay all my bills. But I would also have a calling,

and my career and my calling might match sometimes but

might not match other times, because my calling was from

God and the career was just how I was making

a living at that point. Career makes a living, calling

makes a life. And so from that point on, I

was by vocational the rest of my life, and I

did a number of different jobs even though I had

this call on my life. At one point, I was

a dishwasher. At one point, I was a cook. At

one point, I was a lifeguard for three years. At

one point I worked in a butcher shop that was

a whole lot of fun. At one point I picked fruit,

I picked grapes, and I picked pears. At one point,

I was an editor of a magazine. Another point, I

taught college. I actually taught college. At one point, I

was a youth pastor, and then for the last thirty

years I've been a pastor.

My job has.

Changed many, many, many times, but my calling has never changed.

Regardless of what my job was, you have a calling

that is unique to your life, the Bible says in

Ephesians two ten for we are God's workmanship, created in

Christ Jesus to do good works. In other words, we're

made for a purpose to do good works which God

prepared in advance for us to do. Now, this verse

is filled with some important truth, so let's look at it.

Versus says, we're God's workmanship.

Circle.

That word, the word there in the Bible, in the

Greek is the word poem. It's the word we get

poem from. You are God's poem. You are God's work

of art. You are God's craftsmanship, workmanship. Many translations of

the Bible translate this. You are God's masterpiece. He said, well,

I don't think i'm much of a masterpiece. Well, then

you don't realize how much value God has put in

your life. He said, well, I'm not a masterpiece. I'm

pretty beat up piece of junk. You're not junk. Jesus

didn't die for junk. If you look at Jesus on

the cross, arms outstretched and his nail pierced hands, and

he's saying, this is how valuable you are. This is

how valuable I'm You're valuable enough to die for. You're

not junk, because God doesn't create junk. Jesus doesn't die

for junk, and the Holy Spirit doesn't live in junk.

You are a masterpiece. You're God's masterpiece. But it only

shows when you fulfill your calling. If you try to

be what somebody else wants you to be, you're gonna

miss it, and your true beauty, your true greatness, won't

come out. You are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.

To do good works.

Those good works are your contribution to the world. You

were not put on this planet just to breathe and

take up space and die. You weren't put here to

simply be a consumer. Oh there's a new kind of makeup.

I think I'll get that. Oh there's a new clothing,

I'll get that.

Now.

You were put here to be a contributor, to make

a contribution with your life, and the Bible calls your

life contribution, your good works. It's part of your calling.

Now here's the cool thing. We all have different good works.

Your contribution, your good works are going to be different

than my contribution. My good works and my contribution good

works are going to be different than the person sitting

next to you. And God makes us all different, gives

us all different callings so that everything in the world

gets done.

It's all a part of it.

Your God's workmanship, created to make a contribution which God

prepared in advance. That prepared in advance for us to

do that means a long time before you thought of it,

God had thought of your calling. In fact, here's the

third principle. Number three, God chose my calling before I

was born.

My calling is a gift from God.

I'm called for God's purpose, not mine, and my calling

was before I was born. God chose it. Let me

show you some verses on this. Galatians chapter one, verse fifteen.

Paul says, it pleased God in his kindness to choose

me and call me even before I was born.

What undeserved mercy.

Here's another example, Jeremiah and Jeremiah chapter one, verse five.

Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all

about you, before you saw the light of day. I

had holy plans for you. God called you before you

were even born, and the Bible says God uniquely shaped you.

You are a custom made baby.

So don't overestimate what God or underestimate what God wants

to do in your life. Isaiah forty four, verse two

I am your creator. You were in my care even

before you were born. It says three things. First, it says,

I am your creator.

What does that mean?

It means you're not an accident. You were uniquely chosen,

created and called by God. He said, why is it

important for me to not think I'm an accident? Because

if you think you're an accident, you're going to live

like it, and you're going to accidentally just kind of

go through life without any purpose, without any direction. You're

not an accident. I am your creator. You're not an accident.

You were in my care. That means you're deeply loved.

You were in God's care when you were in the womb,

he says, even while you.

Were growing inside your mother.

You realize this is why abortion is wrong, because that's

not a fetus in that mother. That's a baby that

God has already numbered that baby's days.

Chose that baby to be born.

Accidental parents, yes, accidental babies.

No.

God chose to create and call you before you're even born.

So you weren't a fetus before you were born. You

were a baby already chosen, already called, and already created

by God for a purpose and a calling and then

it says you were in My care before I was

even born. God plans you before you're born. Now, there's

a fourth thing that the Bible teaches us about your calling,

and it is this.

This is a big one.

My sins and my mistakes don't change my call. Oh,

I'm so glad for this one. My sins and my

mistakes don't change my call, God's call for my life.

It doesn't matter how messed up your life has been,

whether you messed it up or somebody messed it up

for you. No matter how screwy it got, how difficult

it became, no matter how many dumb decisions you've made

in the past, it hasn't changed God's call on your

life at all. The call that God gave you before

you were born, the call that God gave you when

you were saved and reaffirmed when you're saved, is a

calling that God says it's there forever. It's a permanent calling,

and God doesn't change it now. A good example this,

of course, was Paul. I mean he was Paul was

a pretty rude dude in a crude mood before he.

Became an apostle.

God called him to be an apostle, and in one

Timothy Chapter one, Paul says this, by calling me into

his service, Jesus has judged me trustworthy, even though I

used to be a blasphemer and a persecutor and contemptuous. Mercy, however,

was shown me because while I lacked faith, I acted

in ignorance. I love that phrase, the honesty there. While

I lacked faith, I acted in ignorance.

You know what I'm saying.

Then I did a lot of dumb stuff growing up.

How many of you would admit I did a lot

of dumb stuff growing up. Okay, I did a lot

of Okay, that's apostle training. Okay, congratulations, Okay, do you

know what Paul was. Paul was a terrorist before he

became an apostle. He was a religious terrorist. He was

going to people's homes, dragging him out in the street,

throwing him into jail, killing people. He was a murderer,

God said Paul. That didn't change the call that I

had for you from the day you were born. I

had a plan for you, and even the bad stuff

fits into the plan. The fact that I love most

about God is that he never wastes anything, and he

fits it all into his plan, even my sin, even

the stupid decisions that I've made that I will regret

the rest of my life. God says, you know what,

I'm going to even put that in the plan. We'll

make it work. I can bring all things can work

together for good for those who love God, who are

called according to His purpose.

I can fit that in there too.

And not only can God say, your sins and your

mistakes don't change your calling. The sins of other people

against you don't change your calling. Some of you may

feel a little bruised, a little battered, a little beat

up by the world. Maybe you had somebody who was

unfaithful to you. You had somebody walk out of your life.

You had somebody be but betray you, reject you. Some

of you have been molested, some of you have been raped.

I'm sorry, I am, but you know what, that did

not change one bit of your value. And that did

not change one bit of God's call on your life.

It has not changed.

You are still God's workmanship, God's masterpiece created in Christ

Jesus to do good works. And you know what, God says,

you know what, I can even take the ugly stuff,

and I'll take.

The stinger out of it.

And you know what, I'll even bring good out of

it in your life if you'll let me. The Bible says,

my sins and mistakes don't change God's call. I want

you to write this down on your outline. God has

no Plan BE for me. A lot of people think,

you know what, I really screwed up on that one.

Therefore I got to live with Plan B the rest

of my life. No, you don't, It's part of Plan A.

God has no Plan B for me. When I think

about this, I think about Chuck Coulson. Chuck Colson was

one of the most powerful men in the world in

his day. He was assistant to the President of the

United States of America, and then he got involved in

a scandal, Watergate, and he went to prison, and in

prison he found Christ, became a believer, saw the need

for people in prisons to know the Lord. Started prison Fellowship,

Whi's now in like one hundred and fifty sixty countries

has blessed millions of people. But when God created Chuck Colson,

he knew he would be going from the presidency to

prison and back out all in one life. And he said,

I'm going to fit it into the plan. I'm going

to fit it into the plan. Number five. The fifth

thing we learned about God's calling is my calling is permanent.

This is a further extension of what I just said

and what I mean. Permanent means nobody can take it

from you. When you were growing up, your parents tried

to probably make you something that you didn't really want

to be, or your girlfriend or your boyfriend tried to

make you something you didn't want to be, or your

boss or somebody in your life. You're always trying to

pressure you and conform you to take away your true calling.

Your calling cannot be taken from you. Satan can't take

your calling away from you. You can't take your calling

away from you. Other people can't take your calling away

from you, and God won't because he says I've given

it to you permanently. The Bible says in Romans eleven,

verse twenty nine, God's gifts and his callings are read

it with me irrevocable circle that they cannot be taken away.

They are permanent. The calling on your life is never

ever gonna change, no matter what you've done, no matter

what you've messed up. The expression may change, the timing,

the when, the war of the how, but the calling

will not change. You still have the same gifts God

gave you from the beginning. Now, what does this verse

teach us? If my calling is permanent, it means this

my job is not my calling because your job changes.

How many of you have ever changed jobs? How many

have ever lost a job? How many have ever been unemployed? Yeah,

you're going to have many many jobs in life. Your

job is not your calling. Jobs change all the time.

Calling never changes. This is an eye opener for some

of you. The Bible says God's gifts in his call

can never be withdrawn, so no matter what happens, they're

permanent in your life. Number six very important point. My

calling is connected to others. My calling, my assignment from

God in life, my purpose, my vision, the dream God

has for my life is connected to other people. What

I mean by that You cannot fulfill your purpose in

life by yourself. It is impossible. You can only do

it connected to other people. Calling and community go together.

You cannot be what God wants you to be. You

cannot fulfill what God wants you to fulfill. You cannot

enjoy your destiny on your own. You have to do

it connected to other people. It's like the parts of

your body. They're worthless unless they're connected. You have an eyeball,

which is extremely gifted. It has the ability to take light,

translate that to your brain and you see things. But

an eyeball outside of a socket is worthless. It can't

see anything because it's not connected. You have an ear,

which is an amazing gift of God, where your ear

can take waves turn them into impulses to your brain,

and your brain here sounds. If your ear is disconnected

from your body, it's worthless. That ear can't hear anything

unless it's connected. You have a hand, and that hand

has an amazing ability to grasp, to write, to fix things.

But that hand, if it were cut off, it has

no use. A hand has no power, no talent, no ability,

no purpose without being connected to the body. You have

to be connected to the body to fulfill your calling.

The Bible calls the church the body of Christ, the

family of God, but it calls it the body, and

we're all members like a hand, eye, nose, feet, everything

connected to the body. Look at this verse on the

screen Roman's fourteen seven. None of us lives to himself alone,

and none of us dies to himself alone. You gotta

be connected. How do you get connected to a church family.

It's why we talk about small groups all the time,

because in that small group there's a connection there where

you learn from other peop people. They help you in

your weakness, you help them in their weakness. Let me

show you a couple verses Pesians.

Four to four.

We are all one body, circle, that all one body.

We all have the same spirit, circle, same spirit, and

we have all been called circle that all been called

We're all one body, all have the same spirit, all

been called to the same glorious future.

Hope.

It is only in connection, in community that I will

fulfill my calling Hebrews three to one. Brothers and sisters,

you are a holy You are holy partners in a

heavenly calling. The other people in your small group are

partners in a heavenly calling. We're better together, We're better

as a team. That's why church, you have to be connected.

We'll talk about this more in the future. Number seven,

God empowers what he calls me to do. That's the

seventh thing I need to know about my calling, that

whatever God calls me to do, he's going to empower

me to do God empowers what he calls me to do.

In other words, if God has given me an assignment

in life, He's going to enable me to do it.

He's going to equip me to do it. He's going

to empower me to do it. He's going to strengthen

me to do it. He's going to give me the

ability to do it. God would never ask you to

do anything with your life that he doesn't give you

the power to do.

So here's how it works.

Once I understand that God has a calling on my life, okay,

and I understand that, what I do is I commit

myself to him. And when I commit myself to God's

calling for me, God, whatever time I've got left on

this earth, I want to use it to fulfill your

calling for me. Whether it's a week, a month, years,

or whatever decades, I commit to your calling for my life.

God commits his resources to help you do it. He said,

I don't even know what it is. I commit to

your calling for my life. God says, then I will

commit the resources what you need to get it done.

Look at this verse Ephesians four to one.

I urge you to live the life to which God

called you. Now notice the calling is a lifestyle, and

you are to live the life to which God called you.

Now here's my prayer. Second Thessalonius, chapter one. This is

why we always pray for you, asking our God to

help you. That's in power, to help you live the

kind of life he called you to live. God says,

if I call you to live this kind of life,

I'm going to help you with the power.

We pray that with his power.

God will help you do the good things you want

and perform the works that come from your faith. Notice,

do the good things and perform the works. That's the

good works we were talking about earlier. And God says,

I will give you the power. You can count on

God to give you the strength you need. First, Tessaloni

is five. The one who calls you is faithful and

he will do it. He'll give you the power to

help that person. He said, I've never helped anybody. He'll

give you the power to help somebody else. And here's

the last point. There's a prize. There's a prize for

living out my calling. God has promised the reward for

those people who discover and live the calling he made

them for here on earth, and that reward's going to

last forever Philippians three fourteen. I press toward the goal

to win the prize circle, that to win the prize

for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus,

What is the prize?

Oh man?

It would take me months to explain all that God

wants to do in Heaven for eternity with you, But

let me just say this. The prize is that you

get to share in everything God has in heaven. You

get to share in his kingdom, you get to share

in his glory, you get to share in his power.

It all becomes yours. You See, life on earth is

a test. Why didn't God just create you and take

you to heaven? If you're going there anyway, why didn't

just take you there first? Because He puts you here

on earth to test your faithfulness. And he gives you

a few things and puts them in your care, opportunities, relationships, things,

and he says, let's see what you do, and if

you're faithful of the little then I can trust you

with all of my riches and all of my power

and all of my glory in heaven for eternity. Faithful

little you'll be faithful much. This is a test, and

God is testing to see if you are going to

fulfill the calling he put you here on earth to fulfill.

And if you do, then He's gonna share with you

everything that is his. This is the most amazing thing.

Look at the next verse one the Salonians two twelve.

Live the kind of life that pleases God. Who calls you,

who calls you to share? And what are we going

to share? Who calls you to share in his own

kingdom and glory. That's amazing that for eternity God will

share his kingdom and his glory if I live out

my calling. It's hard to even explain this, get your

wrap your head around it. So let me just say,

like this, Imagine on Broadway in New York City, a

giant marquis lit up at night with bright lights and

it says, now, starring for eternity Jesus Christ co starring

your name, you will share in His kingdom and glory.

Now you got my attention.

Now I'm interested in fulfilling my calling.

I don't want to get Tavin go.

Did you famil your They didn't even know I had one?

Well you do, and if you fulfill your calling in life,

and you do what God.

You make the most of what you're giving.

God says, you're going to share in My kingdom in

glory forever.

Are you interested in that? I am? I am.

That is a big time prize that goes on and

on forever. Now, we talked earlier about answering the phone

if God called. The fact is God has already called.

He's already called you. That phone has been ringing in

your life since the moment you were conceived. Are you

going to pick up the phone? It's been ringing. God's

call for you has been ringing from the point of

your conception, and so you've just been ignoring it.

Ring, ring, ringing.

God said, I'm not hanging up. Will you pick up

the phone? And today say I'm going to begin to discover, develop,

and live the call that God made for me. That

I will learn what on earth am I here for?

And I will spend the rest of my life learning

to do that. Let's vow for prayer as we close.

Pray this prayer in your heart. Dear God, thank you

that you created me, that I'm not an accident. Thank

you that I've been in your care even before I

was born. Thank you that you're not just created me,

but you have called me. You have a purpose and

assignment for my life. I'm not here just to waste time.

Thank you that you called me for your purpose. I

want your plan, not mine. Thank you that that plan

began from the moment of my birth. And even though

I made many mistakes and I've senn a lot and

other people have hurt me, it hasn't changed my call

one bit. Thank you that my calling is permanent, and

I realized today that I cannot fulfill my purpose disconnected.

I need to be connected to.

Others in your body, in your family, with the same

spirit and the same calling. I thank you Lord that

you've promised to give me the power to do what

you've asked.

Me to do.

That you won't ask me to do something you won't

enable me and strengthen me to do. Lord, I want

that prize in life. I want to live the rest

of my life that Monday I may share in your

kingdom and in your glory.

If you've never.

Invited Jesus into your life, said Jesus Christ, come into

my life now. I want to learn to love you,

and trust you and serve you in your name, I

pray amen