Summary
“What is the purpose of my life?” In this talk, Deacon Larry Oney discusses how God gives us all a sense of purpose in our lives, and he shows us how we can identify that purpose with the right prayer, disposition, and strong faith and hope in the Lord.
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Reflective Study Questions
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you.”
Jer.1:5
- Many people struggle with the question of what their purpose is in life. Deacon Larry says that the answer to this question can be difficult to find if our hope is in something other than Jesus Christ. How firmly have you placed your hope in Jesus? Are there other more worldly ends that compete for first place in your life?
- Deacon Larry discusses some areas of our life we can look at to help us know what our purpose is. What are some things that make you laugh, make you cry, or move you deeply? What things do you think about most often in your free time?
- Even after we have discovered our mission, sometimes God gives us a change in plans or tweaks our mission along the way. Has God ever surprised you in such a way before? How did it change your life or the lives of those you interacted with?
- It is never easy to carry out the mission God calls us to because the world, the flesh, and the devil often get in our way. What are the biggest obstacles you face in your life and in carrying out what God calls you to do?
Text: Divine Hope & A Sense of Purpose for Your Life
What Is Your Purpose?
Hi, I am Deacon Larry Oney with Hope and Purpose Ministries. And today, I have been privileged to be talked to you about divine hope and a sense of purpose for your life.
A lot People struggle with their lives because they have a sense of hopelessness or they don’t have an idea about what God has called them to do with their lives. And even people who have no faith at all, they struggle with a sense of hopelessness too, because they think that, well, we die, we live, we die and then that’s it. Because we live in a secular society we’re always particularly those who are as believers have to be answering the question and have form in our mind, “What is the object of our hope?” Our hope is not in the economy, is not in our education, is not in our political connections, is not in our family connections, but our hope is in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth; that’s a powerful thing to know. Because Jesus is a King of an unshakable Kingdom, so when we put our hope in him, there’s no wavering. We don’t have to worry about what’s going to happen tomorrow or a 1,000 years from now because our hope is in the person of Jesus Christ.
Most people want to get to that purpose. “Lord, what am I supposed to do? Why have you made me?” Or even people who are not believers, they want to know what is “my calling in life.” But before you can get to your purpose, we have to be firm and what is the object of our hope? -Because hope and our purpose goes together. Once we know what our purpose is, then we can be about taking care of our mission upon the earth as a child of the most high God. And of course we know that all of our mission, our ultimate mission is to get to heaven.
Knowing Your Purpose
So today, I want to challenge you! Are you firm and what your hope is all about? Is your hope in the things that you have?- the education you have?- the connection you have? or is your hope in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth? And if you can say yes to those things, then you’re ready to deal with: “What is my purpose?” How has God made me?
We can know our purpose by looking at what features do you have? How has God made you? What’s your general disposition? What do you love to think about? What do you love? (Of course, if you’re married, you’re going to say you love your spouse) but what do you love individually? We want to look at what is your specific mission? What is your purpose that God has called you for upon the earth?
One of the keys to knowing what your purpose is, the Jeremiah Chapter one says this, “Before you were in your mother’s womb,” Jeremiah 1:5, “Before you and your mother’s womb, “I knew you, I dedicated you, I pointed you.” So God is saying to us, before you were even a twinkle in your father’s eye or in your mother’s womb, I knew you, I had a plan and a purpose for your life. This is not just for our evangelical brothers; this is for all people of faith. God is saying that I had a purpose and I have a plan for your life.
Once you have the hope part down of path, now we can look at “What is my purpose?” We know that God has one for you. How do I determine what it is? Here’s some keys: What do you love? What do you love to think about? What makes you laugh? GK Chesterton says that “the reason why angels can fly is that they take themselves lightly.” What makes you laugh hard? What makes you cry? What is ever before you, what’s on your mind? What do you always think about? What are the things that move you? What do you want to give relief to? What people do you want to give relief to?
Your purpose is always attached to a person or persons. Sometimes your purpose is attached to a place but it’s not just the place itself but it’s the people in that place. Once you know your hope in the person of Jesus Christ, you have an idea of your purpose. Now you as a part of the body of Christ is ready to move out into your divine mission upon the earth.
Participating In The Priestly Prophetic Kingly Mission of Jesus
See, all of us are called to participate in the priestly, prophetic and kingly mission of Jesus. But what does that mean? It means that we’re supposed to do what Jesus did or what did Jesus do. Principally, Jesus was involved in healing, preaching and teaching. All of us are not called to preach but Jesus was about elevating people, that elevation of people that are bowed down may manifest itself in you feeding the hungry or touching someone who is a might need physical healing, praying with them. There’s many manifestation of Jesus’s ministry upon the earth. We know that he loved people.
He raised up the woman that was caught in adultery. He heal the woman with the issue of blood. Bartimaeus was blind and he asked Bartimaeus very specifically, what do you want me to do for you? He said: “I want to see.” This is a powerful thing to know, – what your purpose is.
Relating To Jonah
Within your purpose in life, Jesus knew his very clearly. The scripture said that he resolutely headed towards Jerusalem because he knew that Jerusalem was a city of destiny. It’s very important to be in the city that you’re supposed to be in or the country is supposed to be in. Remember Jonah? Jonah was called by God to go to Nineveh and to preach to the people there but Jonah was much like many of us. He wanted to do what he wanted to do.
So Jonah got on a ship, headed in the opposite direction of Nineveh, he was going to Tarshish. Nineveh was over there, Tarshish was that way. He was going away from the purpose that God had for him in his life. So Jonah got swallowed up by a whale. See Jonah had to go to Whale University so he could get his bearings straight again. And once he had the experience of being in the belly of a large fish, some think it was a whale, then Jonah did what God said to do. He got his mission and his purpose straight again.
So what about you and me then? What’s your purpose in life? How has God made you? How has God made your thoughts? What’s ever before you? What problem do you want to solve? What do you think about all the day long in your free time? -This is a powerful key to how God has made you. I hate poverty; I hate to see people hungry. So my work that I do is going to be connected with raising people up so they have food to eat. I hate to see people downtrodden. So our ministry is to heal the broken hearted, not only physically heal but emotionally heal them to lift them up, to give them a sense of purpose for their lives.
Struggles Into Entering Our Divine Mission
This is a powerful thing that God has given to us. In the midst of your divine mission, there will be some unannounced divine appointments. Remember when Jesus was going to the house of Jairus’ or Jairus’ daughter to heal her? On the way, the one with the issue of blood interrupted him. So we can’t get so busy with our big mission that God has assigned us to, that is to participate in his mission; that along the way, we don’t see some opportunities for divine appointments. We have to leave a little room for God, the Holy Spirit to tweak what we’re doing. That’s what he did in his own life. So we should be available for that too.
So get our hope straight first then God will reveal to us what our purpose is. And then God will send us on a mission. Every believer should be involved in the mission of Jesus Christ. And what does that mission? -Salvation for the whole world. God wants to lift people up that are turned around and get them solid in Him. So once you know your mission then that’s the beginning of our preparation.
Now, let’s be honest here, it will not be easy for you and I to enter in our divine mission, why? -Because of the world, the flesh and the devil. Because the enemies of God are always trying to push back against you. Let’s look at the world for it first. There are many allures in the world, many things trying to distract us from our divine mission even though God has given you one, it is very difficult to stay on that mission. So we have to be firm about what our mission is. So we don’t get distracted.
The flesh, as Saint Paul said, “The flesh has a mind of its own.” He says the thing that I want to do, I don’t do, the things I don’t want to do, I do do, why is that? Because the flesh has an agenda, is to trip you up. And the devil, the devil is real. The scripture says that the devil, the enemies of God, -the devil comes to kill, to steal and destroy. What is it he wants to kill? He wants to kill your future; he wants to kill your destiny.
One of the first things that the devil did when Jesus was led out into the desert was to attack his identity. He says, “If you are the son of God, then throw yourself down. If you are the son of God then turn these stones in the bread.” The devil is always trying to attack. If you attack Jesus’ identity, well then He certainly will attack the identity. He comes to kill, to steal and to destroy. He wants to destroy our future. What future? Our future in the heavenly places.
All of our mission, all of our mission activity should be about getting to heaven and to bring others along with us. So as you meditate today on this presentation, a sense of what is your hope. We pray that your hope is in the person of Jesus Christ but what is your mission in life? What is your purpose and what is your mission that God has assigned you to do that nobody else can do? What unique features, characteristics, insight that God has given you to be a part of his divine mission upon the earth?
Ending Prayer
Hopefully and ultimately, your activity is to help yourself to get to heaven and to help others to get to heaven too. So God bless you. Father, we pray that you would reveal your divine mission to all of our listeners today, that you would show us your purpose, that you would give us strength to execute our mission upon the earth so that we can ultimately see you and have it and you’ll be pleased with us and you’ll say, well done, good and faithful servant come down and enjoy all that I’ve prepared for you. Amen, Alleluia.
About Deacon Larry Oney
Deacon Larry Oney is the chairman of HGI Global, founder of Hope and Purpose Ministries, international motivational speaker, host of the “Life and Spirit” podcast, author of Amazed by God’s Grace (published by The Word Among Us Press), Divine Mission: Discovering Your Hope and Purpose, Reflections on the Kingdom of God, and UP FAITH! God loves a faith that is always looking up!, and co-author of two books. Larry Oney infuses positivity and inspiration into his work and ministries. His dynamic presentation style and message of hope has led to hundreds of speaking engagements across the globe. Over thirty years of experience making critical business decisions while helping to awaken the faith of others has uniquely equipped Larry Oney to present lively, invigorating, knowledgeable, and life-changing presentations.
The mission of Hope and Purpose Ministries is to participate in the New Evangelization through preaching, teaching, leading retreats, conducting parish missions, and fostering the Baptism of the Holy Spirit using excellent media initiatives thereby offering hope and purpose to all individuals through encouragement and knowledge sharing.Through Hope and Purpose Ministries, the team is working to further the ministry of Jesus to proclaim the Kingdom of God (Matthew 10:7), encourage others that God has a plan and purpose for their lives (Jeremiah 29:11), and to help heal the broken-hearted (John 10:10b).