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<p>I am aware that the subject of purpose file living is the tired causeway for motivational speakers. Notwithstanding, the difference between facile motivational talk and the word of God is that skin-deep motivational talk can get you excited and the next morning when you check as to why you are excited you will struggle to pin your excitement on any solid base. However with the word of God, you will get uplifted, challenged and inspired and your “why” base remains sustainably unassailable. </p>
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<h2> Potential Versus Purpose </h2>
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<p>Let me open with this quote: <br>
As the will of man cooperates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings. (Our Father Cares page 308)</p>
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<p>One of the draw cards of motivational talk is the “achieve your potential” mantra. The life of Christ teaches a radical concept about life. Jesus did not achieve His potential, however He achieved His purpose within the 33 and a half years He spent on planet earth. </p>
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<p>Jesus could have potentially been a great ruler of Jews if He he wanted to pursue that but He did not exhaust his potential in that line because he did not pursue that. He could have pursued His full potential as a healer and set up a ministry to do much healing work for at least 40 to 50 years or so but He did not pursue that and therefore He did not achieve his potential in that.</p>
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<p>Here is the point of departure, when the human will is aligned to the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. “Omni”  means “all”, “potent” means “power” or “powerful”. In other words, when the will of a human being is alined to the will of God there is no limit to what the human being can achieve. If you understand the import of the foregoing then you would understand that even two thousand years would not suffice for one to achieve their potential because once the human will is alined to the will of God the possibilities can not even be quantified. </p>
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<h3> Jesus himself did not achieve his potential but He achieved his purpose.  </h3>
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<p>Anchor Verse: John 17:4  “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.”<br>
This Jesus said just before he was crucified. He could look back into Hi slide and work and confidently say, “I have finished the work which you gave me to”. </p>
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<p>Also, at the apex of his  earthly ministry while hanging on the cross and shouldering the frightful mass and weight of the iniquities of the human race, He declared that He had finished the work God had given Him to do. <br>
At 33 years Jesus could look at His life and work and declare that He was done with His purpose on earth. This fact alone is profoundly instructive on purposeful living. </p>
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<p>Do you know why  this was possible for Christ: It’s because at the age of 12 Jesus already knew his purpose. </p>
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<p>Luke chapter 2 verse 48-49 </p>
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<p>48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.</p>
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<p>49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?</p>
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<h3> What do you want to be when you grow up? </h3>
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<p>Most people will be quick to dismiss the sterling success and accomplishments of Christ in the short time he was down here as mere outworking of His limitless divinity. Christ however demystified this notion when addressing hid disciples: </p>
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<p>John 14:12 <br>
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.</p>
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<p>So friend, there is no excuse actually for mediocrity in any front. God promised that we can do it so long as we plug to the same power He was plugged too. As we are soon to discover poverty, a poor background, inhibiting socio-political factors, rejection etc did not even stop Jesus and thus they should not stop me and you.</p>
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<h3> Let’s look at the odds that were staked against Jesus when He achieved His mission: </h3>
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<h3> 1. Poverty </h3>
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<p>Jesus came from a poor family. <br>
Luke 2:24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” </p>
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<p>Remember that according to Leviticus 12:8, for the ritual Mary and Joseph were performing upon the birth of a male first born child the ideal sacrifice model was a lamb for the burnt offering and either a dove or region for the sin offering. The sacrifice model brought according to Luke 2:24 was an insignia of poverty. </p>
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<p><strong> Chances are high me and you have more resources and opportunities that Jesus had any grind and drive of life </strong></p>
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<h2> Jesus Hailed from the Ghetto </h2>
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<p><br>
In John 1: 43-46, when Philip is interacting with Nathaniel and draws the attention of Nathaniel to the Messiah from Nazareth whom Moses in the law and the scribes have written about, Nathaniel’s reaction is, “What good can come of Nazareth”. Studies indicate that Nazareth was a community notorious for poverty, crime and violence, a slum or Ghetto if you like, and this was Jesus’ hood. </p>
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<p>So Jesus did not hail from some opulent or leafy suburb proving the fact that your address of birth is not necessarily your destiny and neither can it hinder  your dreams and drive if you are determined to achieve your purpose. </p>
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<p>Jesus was born in the era when Jews were under Roman rule. Do you know what that means, it means “apartheid”, or imperialism (colonialism) if you like it, did not stop him. <br>
We can not be previously disadvantaged, currently disadvantaged and forever disadvantaged. Somewhere we must break the vicious cycle.</p>
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<h2> Jesus had no family support </h2>
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<p>Oh by the way, Jesus did not have family support in his mission. John 7:4 declares that he was rejected neither did His brethren believe him. Jesus’ family thought their very own was a huge embarrassment and disgrace to the family. </p>
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<p>Going with this:  Jesus was embarrassingly rejected home and away.  John 6:42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?</p>
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<p>The religious leaders dismissed Him as the son of Joseph. By asserting his sonship to Joseph they were casting aspersions on His divine birth. </p>
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<p>In the book of Luke, other than Simeon and prophetess Anna (Luke Chapter 1) who acknowledged the messiahship of the baby Jesus in the temple, the first entities to acknowledge Jesus’ holiness were demons (Luke chapter 4). The take home: none of the excruciating rejection from the very race He had come to save discouraged Jesus. Her trudged on and accomplished His purposes regardless.</p>
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<p>Jesus did not enjoy church support. As a matter of fact, He  ultimately left the church and started a new church in the upper room. The church he had referred to as as “my house” (Mathew 21:13) he later distanced himself from it. “Look, your house is left unto you desolate.” Mathew 23:38</p>
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<h3> Jesus had no Funding </h3>
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<p>One scribe admired what Christ was doing and verbalized that he would like to follow Christ. </p>
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<p>And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Matthew 8:20)</p>
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<p>Do know what that means? It means Jesus had no funding for His start up.However that did not stop him. How many a young person out there are languishing in lack of purpose and decisiveness in their enterprises and the default let off is, “Only if I could get funding. You can’t seek to use some one else’s yield (harvest) as seed for your untried and tested dreams. Funding is for scaling. It can not be called before it is. You scale what is already established. Even the notion of “seed” funding has its place. Back to the spiritual import: Little is much when God is in it. “Oh But I’ve got nothing…”, you say. God loves working with nothing. He has a tracked record of achieving wonders with “Nothing”. At one time He stepped onto nothing and spoke to nothing and this our world came to be. Oh and God does know how to put “nothing” to good use. Ask Elder Job. When God had finished creating planet earth do you upon what he hung it? “Nothing. Job 26:7 (He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.)<br>
If you you’ve got nothing, God says, bring it, and you will see what we can do with it. </p>
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<h2> Against All Odds </h2>
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<p>What can you achieve with 30 years of preparation/planning and 3 and half years of execution!</p>
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<p>Jesus’ sterling accomplishments are beyond enumeration. However the 5 below are enough home work for us when we appreciate them in cognizance of the fact he achieved the, against all odds. </p>
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<ol><li>Jesus turned the world upside down. In a world with over 7 billion people more than 2 billion of these are Christians. You have over 2 billion people called by the name of a man who did lived down here for 33 and a half years and had no biological offspring to see to his legacy and posterity. When Jesus said they will come in my name and cast demons and ultimately I will reject them and tell them I never knew them, He was not a celebrity. He was an instagram influencer. Hid had no followers on facebook neither did He have a Twitter handle. He came and changed the world in an era when there no cars and means of mass communication. He worked from the ground up and achieved His goals against all odds.</li><li>Jesus trained 11 disciples successfully. Notwithstanding that the team He worked with did not get the object of his mission until He died, resurrected and left for heaven, Jesus had the wisdom and the grace to identify men that had the potential to grow and transform and be similarly on fire for the gospel as their master was. Jesus had a strategy for his 3 and a half years of public ministry and what would happen when He was no longer down here. </li><li>Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, preached, taught and reached out to outcasts and the downcast. While he had a very span of time for Hi ministry He was never too busy for those who needed him. </li><li>He conquered sin. <br> Never was He at any point tempted to impatient or to cut corner on the basis of the weight of mission and its urgency. He  had normal “down time” as me and you in that He also got tired and retied to sleep </li><li>Lastly: He died for us. Jesus accomplished the complex mission of avoiding murder while committing to die for us without being suicidal about it. If you were to ask Jesus what He wanted to be when He grew up His dream was neither to be a pilot nor an engineer, HE dream was die. He ultimately accomplished that. On the very cross before he gave his up His spirit he declared “It is Finished”. That mean quite a mouthful and part of what it meant was that his earthly mission had been accomplished. </li></ol>
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<p>When He said “It is finished the essence of 53” had been accomplished. </p>
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<p>Isiah Chapter 53 </p>
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<p>When I grow up </p>
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<p>When I grow up, I want to own a big car, when I grow up I want to own that big house and live with my big happy family. When I group I want to obtain a prestigious qualification and excel in fronts academic and in professional.</p>
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<p>But to grow up I need to grow down and become as humble as a child. To grow up I need to aim higher than that. To grow up I need to aim higher than high. To grow up I need to aim high than the clouds. To grow up I need to aim higher than the crowds.</p>
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<p>When I grow up I want to deal with bigger things. Forget politics, terrorism and global warming. When I grow up I want to deal with bigger things. I want to fight sin, I want to conquer lust and pride and ultimately, through Christ I want to conquer death. I would like ultimately to have an interview when death and pose a question, death where is your sting. When I grow up I want to deal with real issues. </p>
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<p>But to grow up I need to aim higher than high. To grow up I need grow down and be as humble as a child. </p>
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<p>When I grow up I want to go places. I mean real places. Forget table mountain, Dubai and the Grand Canyon. When I grow up I want to go up, fly across the sun, scale neptune and explore orion. When I grow up I want to go planets. When I grow up I want to follow the lamb wheresoever he goes. </p>
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<p>But to grow up I must realize that I am destined for greatness. <br>
But to grow up I need to aim higher than high. To grow up I need to burry all excuses to grow up I need to realize that my time is now. To grow up I must realize that “Yes I can”. </p>
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<p>What do you want to be when you, Finally; grow up. </p>
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