Discovering Your Purpose -Pastor Hope Carpenter

Well, hello, everybody. We are so glad that you chose to join us tonight, wherever you are, all across the world, we never take it for granted when you choose to click on yes, won't you do this right now? Won't you share this? Won't you text your friends, tell them to join in with us? We're going to be talking about something tonight that is so important to all of us. It is about purpose. What does God have for my life? You know, I think we all ask that question. We all, all want to know, what is it that we're supposed to be doing right? We want to be happy. And there's nothing wrong with that. We all want to be fulfilled. There's nothing wrong with that. I think that's God given. I think he places that on the inside of us so that we will seek him, so that we will. We will seek out what God has for us. There is millions of things that we could choose to do in life. But I believe as Christians, our questions are different. What, what does God want from me? You know, when you have children, when they are little, you always say, what do you want to be when you grow up? And I know that was asked of me many times. What do you want to be when you grow up? And you know, we have to ask a different question. The question is this. What does God want for my life? Right? What does God want? I could do all kind of things. You know, when I was little, I wanted to be an ice skater. I don't know that I could do that very well. You know, what about y'? All? What did you want to be when you grew up? You know, all the little kids. I want to an ice skater. I want to be Belle. I want to be a mermaid. I want to be a football player. We all have that. But the thing is, we only have one life and we want to get it right. We want to know, as Christians, what does God want for our life? That's the main thing we're asking. And what does God say about our life? He says this in Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the plans that I have for you. It did not say, I know the plans that you have for yourself. It's, I know the plans that I have for you to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. So, number one, God has a plan. God has a plan for your life. Let's just you say, well, I'm nobody. I work over here in third shift. I don't impact anybody. No, the devil is a Liar. God has a purpose and God has a plan for your life. It's not your parents plan. It's not your husband's plan. It's not even your plan for your life. God has a plan for your life. And number two, God's will for your life. It will prosper. You see, we're always afraid that maybe what God wants for us is not going to be as good as what we have planned for ourselves. We're afraid to submit to the plan of God because we're afraid that God I want to do this and this was my plan. And I'm afraid to submit to you God because I'm afraid I won't like it. I'm afraid it won't be any fun. God's plan is to prosper you. And it's also to give you a hope. It's to give you a hope. What does that mean? You'll be excited about it. When you're hopeful for something, I'm hopeful for Thanksgiving. I'm hopeful for Christmas. Why? Because it makes me excited. And the Bible says that God's plan for you is to prosper you. And it's to give you a hope and a future that ensures you that it's good, going to be good, that that it's going to produce his plan for you is good. It's to prosper you, to give you a hope and a future.

That's so good. Pastor, I have a question.

Yes?

How do you know though? Could it be one thing or can it be many things? How do you know what it is?

Okay. The story of Naomi and Ruth. I don't have time to go back and tell the whole story. Go read the book of Ruth. But the story of Naomi and Ruth. Naomi was Ruth's mother in law. Like I'm Jordan's mother in law. There's Jordan Jordan, she's my daughter in law. Naomi and Ruth, hard times hit and what happens? Naomi loses both of her sons. Both of her sons die. And it was hard. It was hard times. And I can only imagine if I had lost. I have two sons, if I had lost both of my boys, I mean, I would just be devastated. I think that's one of the most horrible, unimaginable losses in life is when a parent loses children. I can't imagine that feeling. I feel like I would want to get in my bed and never come back out again. Because everything you do as a parent and for your children is to make sure that they have more than you ever had and to make sure they succeed. And here she is. She lost both of her boys. But here's the thing. Life was not over for Naomi. Life was not over. And as special as her sons were, they were not assigned to her purpose. Ruth was the missing link for her purpose. Isn't that crazy? That is so hard for us to wrap our brains around because we think life is supposed to be A, B, C, D, E, F, G, you know, and God will come in and he'll mess up all of those letters. And for us people who want our life to be A, B, C, D, E, F, G, that's when we start wigging out, right? That's when we start freaking out. So, see, this is what happened. Ruth then goes on to marry. Who? Boaz. Okay? So she had to lose her husband. Listen, she had to lose her husband so that she could go on to marry Boaz. Because out of Boaz came Obed, and out of Obed came Jesse. Out of Jesse came David, and out of David came Jesus. If she had not had that loss in her life, we would not have the lineage of Jesus, right? And we look at loss. Oh, you don't make me talk about loss right now. But loss is usually all a part of purpose, too. So things change in our life, right? So, Jaslyn, you ask, is it one thing or is it many things? Yes, it's many things. Our life shifts, our life changes. I believe that purpose is progressive. You have no idea at 25 years old what 35 is going to hold and what it's going to take to get you to 35. I had no idea I would be doing today what I'm doing today at your age. No clue, no clue what I would have to go through to get to the purpose of God. So things change in our life, and we can't view that as bad. We can't view that as horrible. God has to shift you and change you many times so that purpose can come about in your life, right?

So I'm young, obviously, and I was married young. I have three kids, so I've got four kids, basically. So, you know, sometimes things are just overwhelming and they just. It really seems like pulling teeth, you know, I want to please God, but, you know, sometimes we just struggle to pay bills, you know, and it's really hard.

I understand that. I was there, been there, done that, got the T shirt, ate the potato chips, tore up the potato chips, tore up the shirt and wanted to start over again. So, yeah, I remember that feeling. I had three children just like you. My three were under the age of Four. Which one of them is your husband? So that tells you everything you need to know right there. Right? So the whole time I had these three little things in my house, I knew that greatness was on the inside of me. I knew what God had called me to do. I knew when I was 15 years old that God had called me to stand, to minister to people, to preach the word, to minister to women. Had no idea how that was going to happen. Then I get married. Then we don't have any money. Then we have three children, two of them with no insurance. We owed on Chase till he was seven years old. We didn't pay Chase off till he was 7. Many times I thought, can I take him back? You know, I wonder if they'll take him. Just kidding. Chase, I love you so much. You taught me how to pray, so I remember that feeling. I knew greatness was on the inside of me, but I felt like all I was doing at that point in my life was just washing another load of clothes. Really. You know, I just felt like all I do is wash clothes and change diapers and take care of them and make sure that supper's on the table. How can this be all that God's called me to be? How can this be? And let me tell you something. Timing is everything. Timing is everything. God told David that he was going to be king, but it was not that day. God said, you're going to be king, but he was not king till many, many years later. See, God moves you in stages your life. It makes a difference. Listen, it makes a difference when you're a grown woman having a baby and raising a baby than when you're 14 years old having a baby and raising a baby. Same person, but a different time. You handle it differently. You respond differently. Timing is everything. Say that out loud, girls. Timing is everything. Same person, different timing. It just matters in your life. Look at David. He spent so many years on the hillside writing poems, just writing in his journal. Writing poems, doodling around, writing songs. What do we call that today? Psalms, one of the biggest book. The biggest book in the Bible. He spent so many years doing that. And just like you, you may be spending years, what, wiping heinies, making meals, washing clothes, doing bottles, doing little things at church, working in a job that you hate. Training. But it's called being faithful in the small things, being faithful in the little. Not doing the thing that you were created to do, but the thing that you're doing will open the door to the thing that you are created to do. My God Faithfulness will open the door for you. Faithfulness in doing those little menial tasks that you know it's not what you're called to do. But you know, if I do this right, and if I do this right, the person above me is going to open the door. And then if I do that right, and then if I do that right, then God will promote me to the next thing. Listen, no time is wasted in your life. There is no time wasted in your life. Don't be that person who manipulates situations and circumstances and self promotes to get to the place you think you're supposed to be. It does not work like that. When God has ordained something for your life, you don't have to say suck up. You don't have to pay to play. You don't have to manipulate. You just keep serving. You keep being faithful. You keep building your relationship with God. And God is going to take care of you. God is going to take care of you. You'll look around one day and say, how did I get here? How did I get here? You may have even said that about where you are today. How did I get to where I am today? Because of your faithfulness. Because you served. Because you did not despise the day of small things. Faithfulness. Listen, like I said earlier, I never dreamed that I would get to live the life that I live today. Never. Never dreamed anyone would call to have me come speak. I'm writing books. I get to pastor the greatest church on earth. I have the best staff in the world. I am so blessed. My husband, my family. I never dreamed I would be this happy. But guess how I started off? I started off leading worship. Then I'd put the mic down and then I would run and say, come on children, let's go to children's church. All three of them. All three of them. The only three. Then it went to four, then it went to five. Then we lost a few families and went back down to three. And so I led worship. I did children's church. I typed the bulletin back in the bulletin days, right? I would go pick up people for church. My car was a church van and it didn't even half run. That is how we started out. Now we oversee a worldwide ministry. Like I said, writing books, I'm living my best life. But it did not start out that way. At 25 years old, to whom much is given, much is required. And see, God is going to make sure that you can manage what you have right now before he will drop more on your plate. If you can't manage the hundred dollars. Do you think he's going to give you the thousand if you can't pay tithe, the $90 tithe that you're supposed to pay right now? Do you think he's going to bless you and give you more salary somewhere else so that you won't tithe on that? God is watching to see if you're faithful with what you have. And the Bible says in the parable of the talents, if you don't use it for God, if you don't do what he's asked you to do, he will take it away from you and he will give it to the next person in line who he knows is faith.

That's so good. Well, Pastor, it's purpose just sounds really overwhelming, I'm afraid, you know, to miss out, you know, is that.

How does that work?

Whole word? Because just hearing the word purpose, you're like, oh, my gosh, I gotta choose, right? I gotta make sure I do this right. You know, it is. It's overwhelming. And especially that's why I wanted people on this stage, in this age bracket, in their 20s. Because this is where you got to get it right? This is where you have to get the foundation of your life, right? So that God can promote you. Will you get it all right? No, none of us do. Right? But that does not hamper or hinder God's will for your life, right? It's what you do with the failures. It's what you do when you mess up. It's what you do when you have not been paying tithe with that little bitty salary. It's like, you know what, God, I got to. I got to get myself right. It's what you do when you fail, right? So you need a plan. This is huge. You need a plan. You need a strategy. God designed us to rule and to reign on this earth. We are ambassadors from heaven on earth. We are kingdom citizens. We are the ruling agent on this earth. But listen, if you are the ruling agent on this earth, what is power if you don't have a plan and a strategy, if you've got all the power in the world available to you, but you don't have a plan and a strategy, that power is null and void. So you have to have a plan. So your life is assigned to a purpose, right? You have a divine purpose from God. So you've got to get focused on God number one, that is foundation. That's number one. I've got to plug into the power. I got to plug into God. So That I can please him so that he can trust me, so that he can know my heart, trust that it's pure, so that he can use me. You've got to get focused on what God loves. What's God purpose? You've got to get in the word of God to know what the purpose of God is for your life. People say, oh, well, that's too elementary. That sounds too churchy, you know. No, you've got to know the Word because the word is your. It's your manuscript, it's your model, it's what you live by. And if you don't know what the word of God says for your life, how can you obey? The Bible says, the word is a lamp unto my feet, and it is a light unto my path. What is a lamp? A lamp does not, when you turn it on, it does not light up the entire room. It just lights up a small area. So like I said earlier, it's progressive. The plan of God, the purpose of God is progressive in your life. So by the word of God, you turn it on in your life and you see a little step and then you learn another biblical principle in life. And then you, then you advance to another step, to another degree. So I don't know how people live, I don't know how people flourish without the word of God in their life as a guide, leading and guiding them. Right. What is God's purpose? You got to get into God's word to know what he loves. What does God love? He loves people, number one. So if you don't love people, you're in big bad trouble. You have to love people he loves. And he wants us to spread the gospel. He loves taking care of the sick. He loves taking care of the orphans. He loves taking care of the widows. He loves for us to be givers. He wants us to be obedient. What does God love? You have to get all the foundations first. For what does God want? What does God require of you? When. What does God love? And he wants you to love first. Samuel 30. I'm not going to recount the whole story, but write it down. You can go back and read it. David has been off to battle. He's tired. He's weary. It's bloody. It, it. It's. Even when you win, you're tired after battle. So he's tired. He and the people who have been fighting with David now have turned against him and they're wanting to fight him. Don't make me start talking about people. So what did David say? He said this he said, I will encourage myself in the Lord. I will encourage myself. And really what he's saying right there is he's saying, I will discover myself in the Lord. That's what that word really means. I will encourage myself. I will discover myself in the Lord. What does that mean? Only when you're working, when you're serving, when you're fighting, you have to keep going, and you have to keep going, and you're tired and you're frustrated and you think this is menial, and this is really not what I'm called to do. Only when you're really in a fight do you see what's really in you. You see your attitude when you're not making enough money. You see your attitude when you see somebody else getting promoted and you feel like you were the one. You see what you're really made of. You see that nasty attitude that comes out, right? So it's when you're squeezed and when you're pressed, do you really see? And not only do you see, God is seeing what's coming out. And so he's saying, mm, oops, not time. You're not ready. Stay right there. That's a spanking, ain't it? I know. So when you're squeezed and when you're pressed and you've been fighting and you've been warring, you've been like, God, I've been serving you. Well, why did they get the job? You see what's on the inside of you, and God says, you're not ready. I can't trust you with more. You can't celebrate somebody else. Oh, my goodness. Only when you are pushed up against a wall do you really see what you're made of. Pressure comes to squeeze you, to see if you're ready to go to the next level in God. And when you're in that fight, listen, if you've never had the blessings of fighting and overcoming stuff in life, that's why I just kind of look at young people and I'm like. I want to say, like, God, you ain't ready. If you can't get through this, how do you think God's going to bless you with more? Listen, when you. When you have to go through fighting, raising kids, marital problems, money problems, learning how to budget, if you don't win these things small battles, God cannot bless you with more. He's watching you. The Bible says. Where? In the furnace of affliction. He doesn't watch you when you're on the mountain. He watches you when you are in the furnace of Affliction. Pursue. Pursue. Press. Press. Be faithful. Be faithful. Have a good attitude. Love what God loves. God wants to bless you more than you want to be blessed. God has a purpose. He already has an established plan for you. It's a good plan to give you a future and a hope to prosper you. Did you know that? God does not have one bad day planned for you. God does not have one bad day planned for you. He's got. He's got a future. He's got a hope. It's supposed to give you hope. It's supposed to make you prosperous. It's supposed to establish you on this earth. But there are things that you can do to sabotage the plan of God. I want to pray for you right now. Thank y' all so much for asking these questions, for being here today. There's so much more we could talk about, but I want to pray for you today. I want you to know that it doesn't matter where you are on this journey. If you're just starting out, you say, I'm 18 years old. I'm entering college. I don't know what to choose. I'm 25 years old. I just got married. I'm scared to death. I'm 35 years old. I just had a divorce and I'm having to start over. I'm 55 years old and I'm entering retirement. And I still don't feel like I have really fulfilled the purpose and plan in my life. Listen, as long as you are breathing, there is a purpose for you. God's not finished with you until you are six feet underground. You still have a purpose on this earth. And I just pray right now over those who are listening, that you've been encouraged, first of all, that you know that God's not done with you. God, I pray right now that you would just help every person listening under the sound of my voice to encourage themself, if they have to, to to rediscover who they are today, tonight, wherever they are. All over this world listening to this broadcast. Rediscover who you are. Get into God. Get into God's purpose. Get into the word of God. Obey where you've been disobedient. Get yourself lined up and let God bless you. He wants to prosper you and give you a future and a hope in Jesus name. I love you so much. I pray this has encouraged you. Share this. Send this to as many people as you can, and we will see you next week. God bless you. We love you. Wow.

I love how Pastor Hope breaks down the word. I also love following her on social media because she always drops truth bombs and motivates me to get through my week. So make sure to follow her on Facebook at Pastorhope C and on Instagram. Pastorhope Carpenter we'll see you next week.