David Ravenhill emphasizes the importance of understanding God's purpose for our lives, likening it to assembling a jigsaw puzzle without the box. He encourages believers to recognize that being saved comes with a calling to actively participate in God's mission to bless all nations. Ravenhill warns against becoming so engrossed in religious knowledge that we lose sight of our responsibility to share the gospel and fulfill God's purpose. He highlights that obedience is key to fulfilling this calling and urges the audience to seek their role in God's plan, ultimately leading to a life that counts for eternity.

David Ravenhill actually spoke at a Chi Alpha meeting at USL about 11 years ago and was a tremendous blessing and I still have the notes from that particular meeting and have preached that message several times since and so but I believe he's been a blessing to you and will continue to be. Please give a good warm southern salt welcome this morning Mr. David Ravenhill. Well you can tell how good I was that this is the first time in 11 years I've been invited back. Well wonderful. I understand last night's meeting was a tremendous time and praise God for what he's doing. I've appreciated the times of worship. One of the things I've always been very grateful for are those that can lead us in worship. I do not have that ability. I am what somebody referred to as a prison singer. How many know what a prison singer is? That's somebody who's behind a few bars and missing the key and so I am part of the prison singing ministry and appreciate those that can get it right and get it on tune and so on. Not that I could tell if they were off tune anyway but anyway praise God for those that have led us this morning. I want to share with you this morning on the purpose of God. The purpose of God we've got a lot of ground to cover and so I'm going to try and reduce down about an hour and a half or thereabouts of teaching to the next hour so you can pray that I'll be able to do that so that you can get the essence of this message. I want you to imagine this morning that you have in your lap a plastic bag and in that plastic bag there are five or six hundred pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and we are going to assemble that jigsaw puzzle. You've all got the identical jigsaw puzzle. Now the problem is you don't have the box. Now imagine how frustrating that is to try and put all those pieces together not knowing where each piece goes because you don't have the big picture. You don't know if the blue is the the sky or if it's a sea or if it's a woman's dress or if it's a you know a car. You don't know if the red is a rose or if it's blood or if it's some other thing and here you've got all these unrelated pieces and you're not quite sure what they look like when they're all put together and I'm convinced that the average believer has if you like 500 pieces of knowledge concerning the Word of God that you get by going to church on a Sunday morning and somebody hands you a piece. In other words you go on a Sunday morning and the minister is speaking about prayer and so you go away with your little piece on prayer. You come back the next week and somebody's speaking about the family and so you get another piece. You come back the next week somebody's speaking on end times eschatology. You get another piece. Somebody the next week is speaking about faith and so you get another piece. Somebody the next week is speaking about evangelism so you get another piece. The next week somebody's speaking on healing. You get another piece and you've got all these pieces of sort of unrelated information that you've accumulated over the life that you've spent in church whether that's 20 years or whether it's five years or three months or whatever and what we're going to do at least this morning is try and place all those pieces together and give you something of the big picture. Again I'm going to call it the purpose of God. God has got a purpose. One of Paul's favorite statements writing to the Corinthians he says, I would not have you ignorant brethren and I think there's a tremendous amount of ignorance when it comes to understanding what God is doing and because we don't understand what God is doing we don't get involved in what God is doing. How many of you know the Bible says we are to be laborers together with him and most of us don't know what he's doing and so therefore we're not involved and the whole point of the message this morning is to get you involved in the purpose of God, to know what God is doing, where he's going. I was asked recently to teach one of the classes on leadership at our school there in Pensacola and I was just filling in as I do for most of my classes now because I'm on the road so much but I said you know you need to know where you're going as a leader if you're going to be a good leader. I gave them a poem that I heard many years ago. It's supposed to be a true story. I don't know if it's I've never been able to validate it but it was a story of a soldier in England that was passing a graveyard and as he was looking at the various tombstones he came across one tombstone that sort of fascinated him and it had this poem on it remember friend as you pass by as now you are so once was I as now I am so soon you'll be prepare for death and follow me and so he read that and mused on it for a while and went back to his barracks came back with a chisel and a hammer and he put an extra couple of verses on it and he said this to follow thee I'm not content until I know which way you went. Now there's a lot of people that uh you know that don't know where they're going and the first thing about leadership is you got to know where you're leading people. There's been some tremendous leaders in the world as far as their leadership. Hitler was a great leader. He was able to take the whole nation basically and lead them. Unfortunately he was not leading them in the right direction and so we need to have some sort of direction, a sense of destiny, a sense of vision as to what God is doing in order for us to be followers. After all this is a the emphasis of this group is discipleship and a disciple is a follower. We need to know what God is doing. Where is he going? What is the purpose of God? I read a statement a number of years ago from Jay Sidlow Baxter's wonderful book called Awake My Heart. If you want a devotional book I would recommend that and he says in one of his devotional readings there you can have a saved soul but a lost life. You can have a saved soul but a lost life. In other words you can know that you're born again of the Spirit of God and yet your life at the end of your life it has not counted for anything as far as God is concerned and how many of you know that all of us will stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. The Bible says we will give an account of how we have spent our life. There is a judgment for believers. There's a judgment for unbelievers but there is a judgment for believers and the Bible says take heed how you build. In other words be careful how you build. You can build with gold, silver, precious stones or wood, hay and stubble. Wood, hay and stubble when the fire tests it it will be reduced to nothing but ashes. Gold, silver, precious stones all the fire does to it it does one thing it purifies it. It enhances it. It makes it better but you can have a saved soul but a lost life. In other words your life has not counted for anything. Somebody else says that as Christians most of us become so engrossed in the subject that we lose sight of the object. We get so engrossed in the subject matter we lose sight of the object. For instance somebody that goes into college and wants to become a medical doctor and so they get to a place where they finally got their GP, a general practitioner and then they decide to study one of the disciplines, another discipline and they pursue that and then they pursue another one, another one, another one, another one and here they are now 99 years of age. You go up to this person and you you say listen I understand that you know everything about the brain. I understand you know everything about the intestinal makeup of the body. I understand you know everything about the skeleton makeup of the body. You know everything about the circulation of the body. You know everything about the nervous system of the body. You know everything about the heart. You know everything about the lungs and so on and so forth and the man says yes I've got a degree in this and a degree in that and I've studied this thing and I've studied that thing and so on. Then you say well listen have you ever delivered a baby? No. Have you ever fed anybody with a pair of glasses? No. Have you ever done open heart surgery? No. Have you ever helped anybody that's had some some intestinal disorder? No. Have you ever taken out somebody's appendix? No. Have you ever removed anybody's tonsils? No. And the man has become so engrossed in the subject he's lost sight of the object and one of the great tragedies in the church is that we got become so engrossed in the subject of Christianity. We read, we study, we look at you know books on the gifts of spirit, books on healing, books on you know eschatology, books on this and that and the other thing but we never really fulfill what God is wanting us to fulfill. In other words all of that is to bring us to a place where we can minister to the needs of men and women and so God has got a purpose. I want to just read off a number of scriptures. I'm going to do this quickly because of time and you can either get the tape if you want all the the scriptures later but 2nd Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9 the Bible says he has saved us and called us with a holy calling. If I were to ask how many are saved here chances are that 99% of you would put up your hands. If I were to say how many of you are called chances are some of you would have to think about it. The Bible says if you are saved you are called. Every single person that is saved is automatically called with a purpose in mind. Acts 13 verse 36 it says David served the purpose of God in his generation and afterwards he slept. In other words here was a man that understood what God was doing in his generation and he got involved with God in God's purpose and then eventually he died. I don't think there's anything greater than that. I love that verse it's got my name in it. You can put your name in it but David served the purpose of God. My intention is that I am going to serve the purpose of God in my generation. I need to understand what you are doing Lord. In this generation I want to be involved in what you're doing. There's no greater joy no greater thrill than knowing that you're a laborer together with him. Acts 20 verse 27 Paul says I did not shrink or hold back from declaring unto you the whole purpose of God. Paul says you and I made known to you that God has a purpose. Hebrews 6 and verse 17 talks about the unchangeableness of God's purpose. Somebody has made the statement that the instruments may change but the purpose never changes. Let me say that again the instruments that God uses change but the purpose never changes. The instruments change sometimes because of death sometimes because of sin and disobedience but the purpose remains the same. For instance if my purpose was to build a house in the process of building that house I'm going to use a number of instruments. I'm going to use a hammer, a saw, a screwdriver and so on. Let's say I'm using the hammer and the shaft of that hammer breaks. The instrument has failed but my purpose remains the same. I either replace the hammer or I repair the hammer but my purpose remains the same. And there have been instruments that God has again used that have failed and he's had to raise up other instruments but his purpose remains an unchanging purpose. Romans 8 and verse 28 of course it says that all things work together for good to those that love God to those that are called according to his purpose. Ephesians 1 and verse 11 it says having called us to his purpose. So God has a purpose. He has got a plan. He's got intentions that he is wanting to fulfill. Now the purpose of God begins in a sort of a major way back in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 12 and it begins by God appearing to this wonderful man Abraham. Abraham as you know is the the father the Bible says of all those that believe. He is a prototype. He is a role model. He is an example for each and every one of us. Fathers set the standard. They set the value system and Abraham is the role model for every single believer. Abraham is an interesting character. He is the father of the Jewish nation but he was a Gentile. He was a Gentile that became a Jew not through works but through faith. The same way you and I become Jews in that sense. The Bible says he is not a Jew that is one that is circumcised outwardly but he is one that has had a circumcision wrought in his heart by the Spirit of God. But he is the the father of every believer and what we see modeled in the life of Abraham invariably we will see modeled in our own life. At least we will see principles that God is wanting to work out in our own life and that's a whole sort of message in itself. But let me move on. God appears to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 and he makes a covenant with Abraham and I'm sure that most of you are familiar with this covenant. Let me read it to you. The Lord said to Abraham go forth from your country and from your relatives from your father's house to a land that I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and I will make your name great and you shall be a blessing and I will bless those that bless you and the one that curses you I will curse and in you all the nations or the families of the earth shall be blessed. So God says to Abraham, Abraham I am going to put a blessing upon you and because of that blessing you then in turn are going to bring blessing to all the nations of the earth and we find here right in the very beginning of the Old Testament God's burden is for the nations of the earth. God's longing again is for every single individual to be touched with the message of salvation and so we find that God reiterates time after time after time this promise to Abraham. How many of you know that when God repeats something he is serious about it? He comes to Abraham again in Genesis 18 and verse 18 and he repeats basically these same words. He says in you Abraham all the nations or all the families or all the ethnic groups if you like of the earth will be blessed. Then over in Genesis 22 the same thing verse 17 and 18 says indeed I will greatly bless you and in you all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Now if God came to you on three occasions in fact more than that really but on three major occasions and he spoke to you with an audible voice and he said to you David or Sam or Joe or Mary or whatever it is I am going to bless you but through you all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. Once you take that seriously I think I would. This is a very serious thing that God establishes here for the nation of Israel. In fact what you have here you have in seed form God's purpose for the nation of Israel. This is a sort of a prophetic seed that God reveals his intentions for the nation of Israel here. That this nation is going to bring blessing to the nations of the earth and then God not only repeats it to Abraham but he repeats it to Isaac in Genesis 26 and verse 4. He says by your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed and then not only does he repeat it to Isaac but he repeats it to Isaac's son Jacob in Genesis 28 and verse 14. He says and in you and in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So here with this family and these incidentally these men Abraham Isaac and Jacob are called the fathers. I'll deal with that a little later on but these are the fathers. When the Bible speaks about the fathers it always refers to three men Abraham Isaac and Jacob and so these three fathers are told very clearly by God that they are going to be a means of blessing to the nations of the earth. In Acts chapter 3 and verse 25 again we have the verse repeated and in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Now what did God have in mind then when he spoke that to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob? Paul gives us further insight in Galatians chapter 3. In Galatians 3 in verse 8 Paul makes reference to all these promises and he says this in verse 8 and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles or the nations by faith preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying all the nations shall be blessed in you. In other words what God was saying to Abraham to Isaac and Jacob is that you are going to be a means of bringing the gospel to the nations of the earth and so God again spoke he foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles and he preached the gospel to Abraham again saying all nations shall be blessed in you. Now we need to understand what the word blessing means. We use the word blessing somebody sneezes God bless you or you know some little kid runs up and we say bless you my child or whatever. But what does the Bible mean when it says all nations shall be blessed? In Acts chapter 3 we have the blessing defined. Let me read verse 25 and 26. It is you who are sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your father saying to Abraham in your seed all the families of the nations of the earth shall be blessed. For you first God raised up his servant speaking of Jesus and sent him to bless you. Now notice Jesus came to bless us and now he defines what that blessing is. He sent his servant to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways. In other words the blessing was the blessing of repentance of justification of salvation that you and I have experienced. That is the ultimate blessing of God. It has nothing to do with your checking account and so on. The ultimate blessing has to do with your spiritual bank account if you like your relationship with God. He sent us Jesus to bless us by turning us from our wicked ways. Now if you want to further proof of that Romans chapter 4 verses 6 through 9. Just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. So you see again the blessing is the man whose sins has been covered. The man who does not have an account of his sin he's been forgiven. And so God said to again Abraham Isaac and Jacob I'm going to use you to bring blessing to the nations of the earth. Now let me read to you a statement concerning Israel's role. This is so important that we get an understanding of this. This is by written by a man called G. Campbell Morgan. Some of you have read some of his books considered one of the great expositors. And G. Campbell Morgan says this concerning the nation of Israel. It cannot be too often emphasized that it was not the election of a nation from among others in order that upon that nation God might lavish his love while he abandoned the others. In other words he's saying God did not choose the nation of Israel simply to lavish his love upon them and not care about all the other nations. That was not God's intention. He says the purpose of God was far wider than that of the creation of this nation. It was the creation of a testimony that through this nation the divine intention was for a people who under his divine government should reveal in the world the breadth the beauty and the goodness of that government. A people who gathered about in their national life about his throne and his altar obeying his commands and worshiping him should reveal to outside nations the meaning of the kingdom of God. It was not the selection of a pet but the creation of a patent. Let me say that again. It was not the selection of a pet but the creation of a patent. You see God's intention for Israel it was not that this was a sort of the teacher's pet. Here are all the nations of the earth. Let's assume that these are all the nations of the earth here this morning and I select one of you and I lavish all my love and all my attention and all my goodness and all my favor upon that one person and I don't care about anybody else. That was not God's view of Israel. God wanted to establish a patent. In other words what he wanted to do with Israel he wanted to establish a patent that all the other nations could follow. That all the other nations could look to and they would become caught up in what Israel was caught up in. In other words it was to work this way. God selected the nation of Israel and he gave them certain laws. Judicial laws, dietary laws, governmental laws and so on. Those laws were all very unique because they were from the heart of God with all the wisdom and understanding that God had put into them and as a result if the nation of Israel walked in obedience to God. Now the key word is obedience. As long as they walked in obedience to the laws of God there was blessing upon them as a nation. They were blessed as far as their physical bodies were concerned. They didn't have the same diseases that the other nations had. They were blessed in their social life and their family life because they didn't have the same rebellion with their children that the other nations had. How many of you know if you had a rebellious son in the Old Testament or daughter took them out to the gates of the city and rocked them to sleep. And that was the end of that. But just making sure you're awake. I know the lights are low and it's very easy to fall asleep this morning. And what was to happen then the other nations were to look on and they were to look at the nation of Israel and say listen what is it about you people? You know you don't have the same diseases that we do. You don't have the same rebellion. You don't have the same divorce rate. You don't have the same amount of you know drugs that you know our kids are caught up in. Every time you go out to fight you win. Your crops never seem to fail. You've always got the the rain of heaven that falls. There's always blessing and prosperity everywhere you go and even when you're up against armies that are greater than you and more numerous than you you still seem to defy the odds and you win every battle and so on. All of that was contingent again upon their obedience. And in turn the nation of Israel was to say well listen it's nothing about us in that's special but we have a God that is a loving God, a compassionate God, a God of incredible wisdom, the God that made the heavens and the earth and so on. And if we put him first in our life all these other things just automatically fall into place. And then the nations were to say well listen you know we our gods we live in fear of our gods. I mean our gods we're always trying to appease our gods. We bring them little bowls of rice. We even have to sacrifice our children you know on the altars and so on and so forth. We're constantly in fear never knowing if we're measuring up. We don't know anything about a God that loves us and so on. And you know we've been devastated by famine. We've been devastated by wars. We've had plagues that have gone through our camp and so on and so forth. You guys seem to be immune from all of that. I mean is there any opportunity of us joining you? And that of course was God's intention. The nation of Israel was to say ha ha you've got it. Yes come on in. Are there any requirements? Well you've got to be circumcised to identify with us. But apart from that you've just got to you know lay aside all your former gods and worship the living God and so on. And you can become a part of us. You see Israel was never to have a monopoly on God. That was never God's intention. God was creating a pattern for the other nations to follow. They were to be a light to the nations. Now let me give you some scriptures. And there are dozens of them. But let me just give you a few scriptures. Psalm 67 where the psalmist says God be gracious to us and bless us. And it goes on to say that thy way may be known upon the earth. Thy salvation among all nations. In other words David understood God I'm asking you to bless me. But ultimately if you bless me I want to be a blessing to the nations of the earth. Isaiah 42 verse 6 and 7. I will appoint you as a covenant to the people. As a light to the nations. To open blind eyes. To bring prisoners from the dungeon. Those who dwell in darkness from the prison. Isaiah 49 verses 3 and 6. He said unto me you are my servant Israel in whom I will show my glory. And I will make you a light to the nations. So that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. In 1 Kings chapter 8 verse 41 to 44. Solomon is praying the great prayer of dedication at the at the temple there. And he makes mention of the fact he says Lord even the foreigner is going to come. And he is going to see what is going on here. And he is wanting again to. Well let me read it to you because I can't quote it totally. In 1 Kings chapter 8 verse 41. Also concerning a foreigner who is not of thy people Israel. When he comes from a far country for thy namesake. In other words the name of God has attracted this foreigner from the ends of the earth. And it says for they will hear of thy great name. And of thy mighty hand. Of thine outstretched arm. And when he comes and he prays towards this house. Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place. Do according to all that the foreigner calls to thee. In order that all the people of the earth may know thy name. To fear thee. To do as thy people Israel. That they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name. In other words Solomon says Lord answer their prayers. That they may know again the greatness that we know. So they understood. At least some of them understood. Let me put it that way. Some of the children of Israel in the Old Testament understood that God's reason for raising them up as a nation was that they would impact the nations of the earth. Now the great missionary book of the Bible in the Old Testament is the book of Jonah. And Jonah as you know was sent to that wicked place Nineveh. Now Jonah in a sense is a prophetic parable. And by parable I'm not saying it didn't happen. Obviously it did happen. There was a literal Jonah. He went to a literal Nineveh and pronounced judgment on it. They repented and turned and the judgment never happened. But it was also a wake-up call to the nation of Israel. Because initially when God sent Jonah to Nineveh what happened? He disobeyed. And he says I am not going to go to that wicked nation. I'm not going to go because somehow deep down in his spirit he knew that God may be compassionate. Now if God had not been compassionate he would have gone. Because he wanted to pronounce judgment. I mean there was nothing Jonah would have liked to have done more than take out his whip and sort of whip that nation. Say ha ha it's finally time. Vengeance is mine. I will repay saith the Lord. And now your time has come. I'm going to watch you squirm under all the judgments of God. And you know that's what he really wanted to do. But deep down in his spirit he thought you know I know something about God. And the thing about God is he's compassionate. And he may you know he may allow them to repent. And so instead of going to Nineveh of course he gets in a boat going in the opposite direction. And ultimately God gets his attention by taking him into captivity because of his rebellion. And the captivity of course was this great fish whether it was a whale or whatever it was we don't know. But this fish swallowed him and there in the belly of that whale or that fish Jonah repents. He sees the light and he cries out to God basically you know I'll do it anything you tell me to do. And the fish you know regurgitates and Jonah comes flying out. And you know he says okay I better do you know what God told me to do. And so he goes to Nineveh. Now the way that God got his attention was bringing him into a place of captivity. Let me share with you something now concerning the nation of Israel. In Jeremiah 51 and verse 34. And I said that Jonah really was a it was a prophetic statement concerning what would happen to the nation of Israel. In other words Israel if you do not fulfill my purpose. If you're going to rebel you're going to live in sin. You're going to you know worship other gods and so on and not fulfill my mandate. I will bring you into captivity. And in that place of captivity I hope to get your attention. Now notice what God says verse 34. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and crushed me. He has set me down like an empty vessel. He has swallowed me like a monster. He has filled his stomach with my delicacies. In other words the Babylonian captivity was like this great fish that swallowed up the nation of Israel. And they went down into the belly of this great fish. And his stomach was filled with all the delicacies of the children of Israel. Verse 44. And I will punish Bel in Babylon and I will make what he has swallowed come out of his mouth. In other words God says there's going to come a time when you as a nation are going to go into captivity because you have not fulfilled what I want you to do. And the day is coming when I can speak to that monster Babylon and it will release you. It will out of out of the stomach you will come and you will be free from your captivity. How many of you know that the nation of Israel after they came out of captivity never went into idolatry again. They still didn't fulfill their destiny but at least there was a part of a correction that took place. Anyway we've got all these verses. Psalm 86 and verse 9. All nations shall come and worship before thee. Psalm 117. Praise the Lord all nations. And I could go on and on and on with the the fact that the nation of Israel was called by God to bring light to the nations of the earth. They were to be a testimony. They were to be kings and priests. In fact the children of asked a question when they came out of Egypt. They said to Moses why have you brought us out here? Is it because there aren't enough graves in Egypt to bury us? They were complaining. The question was a good question. The tone of voice that they asked it in was not good. But God responded to their question. He says I brought you out here that you might be kings and priests unto me saith the Lord. Now a priest obviously has to have a congregation. And the congregation for the nation of Israel were the nations of the earth. They were to be priests representing God to the nations of the earth. That was their mandate. That was the only reason God raised up the nation of Israel was to reach the nations of the earth. Now all of this was contingent upon one thing. Their obedience. And the reason that God chose Abraham way back in the beginning as the father of that nation was because there was something about Abraham that whatever Abraham got a hold of he would pass it on. And God says in Genesis 18 I've chosen him because I know that he will command his sons and his daughters or his children after him and tell them to do the the will of God basically. And several times God refers to the fact that because Abraham obeyed me I am able to fulfill my purpose. In Genesis 22 verses 1 through 18 it says this because you have done this God tested Abraham. You recall with Isaac his only son and he says because you have done this thing I have not withheld your only son. Indeed I will greatly bless you and through you all the nations of the earth would be blessed. In other words obedience is the key to fulfilling the purpose of God. The same thing is true again in Genesis 26 and verses 1 through 5. Because Abraham obeyed me therefore I can use him to bless the nations of the earth. So obedience is the key. Now let me go over into New Testament and start putting this together a little bit. In Romans chapter 15 and verse 8 it says for I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers. Let me just take that two little phrases there from verse 8. That Christ has come to confirm the promises given to the fathers. One of the reasons that Jesus Christ came was to revalidate to confirm the promises given to the fathers. Now we've already established the fact that the fathers speak of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And if we had time I could give you the scriptures to back that up in the New Testament. There's two or three scriptures when it talks about the fathers it always refers to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But Jesus Christ came with one thing in mind and that was to re-establish or reconfirm these promises. So you can see in the mind of God he has never forgotten his purpose. His purpose to reach the nations of the earth. That has never gone out of the heart of God. Even though the instruments have failed. Israel has failed. At least largely they failed. In the mind of God again he has an unchangeable purpose. Here I've got those scriptures let me give you them. Acts 3 and verse 13. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The God of our fathers. Acts 7 verse 32. I am the God of your fathers. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So Jesus Christ came then to confirm these promises. Now let's go to Galatians chapter 3 and verse 16. It says now and this is a key verse here. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say and to seeds as referring to many but rather to one and to your seed that is Christ. Now here Paul gives us a greater understanding of what all these promises were referring to. He says to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob through your seed all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. Through your seed all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed Jacob. Isaac through your seed all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. And Paul says that when he spoke of that seed he was not referring to talking about many seeds. He was referring to one seed singular. That seed is Christ himself. In other words through Jesus Christ all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. Now some of you are sitting there and saying am I ever glad you said that. I thought for a moment you were going to say that you know somehow I had to fulfill that you know that mandate and now obviously it's going to be done through Christ. Well hold on. Verse 28 of Galatians 3. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ then you are Abraham's seed heirs according to promise. In other words if you belong to Christ again I'm sure 99 percent of you could put up your hand and say I am a Christ one. I am a Christian. I belong to Christ. If you belong to Christ the Bible says then you are Abraham's seed. And if you are Abraham's seed you are an heir of the promise. What is an heir? An heir is somebody who inherits. If your father is a millionaire when he dies and you're the heir you become a millionaire. You inherit that. If your father happens to be a debtor and he's got you know a hundred thousand dollars owing to the IRS or something and you become the heir then guess what you now owe the IRS a hundred thousand dollars and so there goes the country estate and the Cadillac and you know mother's jewelry and so on and so forth because you have inherited the debt if you like. They're going to confiscate it some way one way or the other. But in this case we are heirs and therefore not only do we inherit a blessing the blessing of Abraham but we inherit the responsibility that went with a blessing. There was a song popular a number of years ago I'm of the seed of Abraham and my complaint about that song it was this that it only talked about one thing that I inherit the blessing of Abraham but there was nothing in it about inheriting the responsibility that went with a blessing. See God said to Abraham, Abraham I want to bless you. I will bless you in a tremendous way but then through you all the families of the earth are going to be blessed. You're going to be a blessing and we need to remember that that when God blesses us he blesses us for one reason that we might be a blessing. Now what happened then to the nation of Israel? Matthew chapter 21. Now I'm going to leave quite a number of blanks here obviously concerning Israel and its future role and so on I'm speaking about right now. But in Matthew chapter 21 we have a very important parable and to put this in the context let me go back to verse 23. It says when he had come into the temple referring to Jesus the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching. Now he's addressing then the chief priests and the elders of the people. In other words he's dealing with the hierarchy if you like the government of the nation of Israel. These are the chief priests and the leaders the elders of the people. Verse 33 says this. Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it. He dug a wine press in it. Built a tower. Rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey. Now we need to understand that what Jesus is referring to here he's referring to the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel he likens to a vineyard and the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 5 that he went into Egypt and he took a vine out of Egypt. The vine being the nation of Israel and he planted that vine in their own land. He cultivated the land. He blessed the land. He removed all the rocks and anything that would you know destroy that vine. All the various inhabitants of the land they were overthrown cast out. He put his blessing around upon it and around it and his purpose for the nation of Israel was that as a vineyard they would produce fruit. That they would be fruitful and so understanding that obviously the nation of Israel or at least the leaders would have understood that and if you have a Bible like I do you'll notice that this is in bold type or caps meaning it's taken directly from the Old Testament. So let me read it again. Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. Put a wall around it. Dug a wine press in it. Built a tower. Rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey. And when the harvest time approached. Key word. When the harvest time. In other words God gave them time to produce fruit. How many of you know God does not demand fruit unless it's the right season? God's reasonable in other words. And so he gave them time when the harvest time approached. He sent his slaves to the vine growers to receive his produce. In other words he was looking for something from this vine. This nation. He was looking for fruitfulness. He was looking for increase. He was looking for blessing. And when the um sorry verse 35. And the vine growers took his slaves. They beat one. Killed another. Stoned a third. Again he sent another group of slaves. Larger than the first. And they did the same thing to them. Now the slaves we need to understand were the prophets. The prophets understood the mind of God. And the prophets message essentially is a message of recovery. That is the essence of prophetic message. It is recovering what has been lost. And the prophets in the Old Testament understood that the nation of Israel had lost their way. They'd lost their vision. They'd become aimless. They'd had no sense of direction. No sense of purpose. And so the prophetic message was get back on track basically. God has appointed you as a light to the nations. Isaiah says is it too small a thing Israel that you should be my servant? I mean are you despising the fact that I've raised you up to bring light to the nations of the earth? Are you despising that calling? And so they did not want to be involved in what God was involved in. They wanted just to live their own life very selfishly. Enjoy the blessings of God for themselves. The peace and the protection of having their own land and so on. They did not want to reach the nations of the earth. That was too much trouble. And so God sent again these prophets one after another. And what they did they stoned the prophets. And again God's patience is revealed here. He sends another group of prophets larger than the first. In other words God is incredibly tolerant when it comes to the nation of Israel. He waits for hundreds and hundreds of years sending prophetic voice after prophetic voice trying to get the nation of Israel back on track. Getting them to do what he's called them to do. And so they stoned the second group. Verse 37. But afterwards he sent his son saying they will respect my son. But when the vine growers saw the son they said among themselves this is the heir. Come let us kill him and seize his inheritance. They took him they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes what will he do to those vine growers? Now he's asking them a question. Here he is in the synagogue in the temple. And here are all the leaders and the people gathering around. He gives them this parable and he says listen what do you think would happen when the owner of the vineyard comes back? And they said well I know what I would do. And he says okay what would you do? And they said to him verse 41 he will bring those wretches to a wretched end. And will rent out the vineyard to other vine growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper season. In other words they say if I was responsible for that group I know what I would do. I would take away that responsibility from them and I would raise up somebody else that would that would give him the proceeds at the proper season. Notice they understood what the owner was after. He was after some sort of produce. He was after fruitfulness, increase, blessing. And they understood that. And so Jesus said verse 43 Therefore I say unto you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it. So God says okay time's up. I have been patient long enough with you. I've sent prophet after prophet after prophet after prophet with the same message trying to activate you to my passion for the nations. To try and get you involved in my burden to reach the nations of the earth. And you have stubbornly refused. Every messenger that I send you, you stone. And you've even stoned my son. Now I am taking that responsibility away. No longer are you going to represent my kingdom. I am going to raise up another nation that will, and notice a nation that will produce the fruit of it. That's the only reason that God raised up another nation is because he wanted somebody finally to become a partner with him. And get involved in what God is involved in in his purpose. And that is producing fruit. Now who is that nation then? God says I'm going to raise up another nation. Are we talking about an ethnic nation? We're talking about God saying listen I'm going to pick the Chinese this time. Or I'm going to pick the you know the Arab nation. Or I'm going to pick the British nation. I'm going to go down to South America and pick the nation of Argentina. Or I'm going to go down into the South Pacific and you know take the Fiji Islands and raise them up as the the nation. I mean was it a nation as we know it? No. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Now Peter now is talking to the church. The church made up again of Jew and Gentile, male and female. We're all one in Christ. But he says we are now the people of God. You are a chosen race. In other words we are a race this morning. Believe it or not. We are a separate distinct race. And yet according to God we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. We dealt with that yesterday. This is where the message yesterday and today sort of ties in together. We are His possession. And then notice this word that. That. This ties the two parts of this verse together. That you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. In other words the only reason that God has raised up this new nation now is that we might be the proclaimers of the goodness of God, the excellency of God who called us out of darkness. In other words we are to testify as to what God has done in our lives. He's opened my eyes. He's delivered me from drugs. He's put my marriage back together. He's saved me. He's redeemed me. He's cleansed me. Thank God. In other words we have a testimony now. And so we need to begin to proclaim it. This is the only reason for our existence you see. We are the nation but God is looking for a nation that will bring forth the fruit this time. We need to understand that. It's the only reason we exist. To bring forth the fruit. Now go with me to Luke chapter 24. In Luke chapter 24 we have this story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. This is following the resurrection. He meets up on the road with a couple of disciples. They don't understand who it is. And I'd love to be there. This is one little incident. I would love to you know be a sort of fly on the wall because they're walking along and they're talking about what has happened in the last couple of days in Jerusalem. And he said to them this is Jesus now. They don't know who he is. He's just sort of sauntering along the road. They meet up. He engages them in conversation. They're talking about you know everything that's happened in the last couple of days. The crucifixion and so on. And he says what things? You know he acts like he doesn't know a thing. Here he is. He was the main actor in the whole thing. What things? And they said unto him the things about Jesus of Nazareth who is a prophet mighty indeed and word in the sight of all the people. And how the chief priest and the rulers delivered him up to be sentenced to death and crucified him. We were hoping that it was him who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed all of this and it's the third day since these things happened and so on. And Jesus is acting like he doesn't know a thing. And eventually he makes himself known to them. And it says their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished from their sight. And then a little later on he appears to them again. And this is what I want you to see now. In verse 44 to verse 48. And he said to them these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you. That all things that are written about me and the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Now this to me is a very fascinating verse of scripture if you bear with me. Jesus is sitting here with his disciples and he says listen everything that has been written about me has to be fulfilled. Everything that was written about me in the law of Moses. That's the Pentateuch first five books of the Bible. And then the prophets that's the remainder of the Bible basically. And the Psalms that makes up the rest of the Old Testament. The Psalms talking about Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Psalms all the poetic books. In other words the only Bible they had at that time there was no New Testament. He says everything that was written about me in the entire Bible is going to be fulfilled. And then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. How many of you would like to understand what the Bible is all about? From the master teacher in fact the word himself the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean this is one of the most important passages that you can imagine. Jesus Christ himself explaining everything about himself in the entire Bible. And the essence if you like the essence of it because he says in the volume of the book it is written of me. In other words the volume of the word of God basically revolves around the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said to them thus it is written. Now how many of you have ever read Reader's Digest? I'm sure again most of you have. And in the back of every Reader's Digest there is a condensed book section right. And what they do they go to the New York best you know top 10 list or whatever. And they select a book and that book initially may have been 600 pages or 500 pages or 300 pages. And they reduce that book down to maybe 20 pages or 25 pages in Reader's Digest. And we call it the condensed section. And so the essence of that book again is reduced down. Now Jesus here is about to condense down the entire scriptures to two verses. That's the ultimate condensed book. Nobody could ever do it as well as Jesus did and make it so succinct as to take the entire Bible and reduce it down. And so he says listen let me tell you what is written in the scripture. Thus it is written. And then he begins that Christ if you like the seed should suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day. And that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. That's it. Fascinating though isn't it. You see the very heart of the message of the Word of God is God's passion for the nations. And it revolves around the seed the Lord Jesus Christ who God sent again to redeem mankind that he had to suffer. In other words there had to be an atonement for sin. And then God raised him up because if again if Christ be not risen our preaching is in vain. So that is absolutely essential. But now that we've got the essence of Jesus Christ suffering for the sins of the world dying again as a substitute for your sin and my sin being raised up seated at the right hand of God the Father. Now he says this message of repentance for forgiveness of sins has to be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. And you are the witnesses of these things. Now that doesn't mean you're going to stand back and witness like somebody would witness a car accident and say wow yeah I was standing there on the street corner when this Cadillac collided with this Jeep. You know it's not that sort of witness. You are to be the proclaimers in other words. You are to witness. You are to declare what Jesus Christ has done for you. And so here we have the essence of the Word of God. The heart of God again is for the nations of the earth. And we are part of that seed this morning. You see we are the body of Christ and we are to continue to do what Jesus Christ started to do. You see one of the problems with Jesus Christ if I can put it that way that doesn't sound right theologically but anyway you understand was that he was confined to a body and that body could only be in one place at one time. In other words if he was preaching in Nazareth he couldn't be in Bethany. If he was at Bethany he couldn't be in Jericho. If he was at Jericho he couldn't be at Capernaum. He was limited because of his body. But Jesus said this. He said listen this corn of wheat one day is going to fall into the ground and die. And when it falls into the ground and dies it's going to bring forth what? Much fruit. Just the same way in the natural you take a seed of corn and you plant it and then you get a full head of corn and that one little seed now becomes that head of corn. The same sort of DNA and everything else. You and I now are Christ's body. And now we are no longer limited. We can have the body of Christ in Africa, China, or India all over the place at the same time. You see you and I exist for one reason one reason alone to be in partnership with God to reach the nations of the earth. That is God's purpose. God's longing again is to reach mankind. He is not willing that any should perish. That's why he raised up again these disciples and he says as the father sent me so send I you. I am the light of the world you are the light of the world. Go you or go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. In other words we have a mandate as the church to reach the nations of the earth and we need to make sure that we do that job and we do that job well. In fact when Paul writes to the Romans he says in Romans chapter 11 let me read it to you concerning the nation of Israel. Verse 18 do not be arrogant towards the branches for if you are arrogant remember that it is not you who supports the root but the root supports you. You will say then branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. In other words this is the Gentiles talking and he says branches were broken off meaning God rejected Israel so that I could be grafted in and he says quite right. Verse 20 they were broken off because of their unbelief but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited but fear for if God did not spare the natural branches neither will he spare you. Now that's scary isn't it to think that God may reject us. He rejected the nation of Israel because they did not fulfill their mandate and we say oh well he would never do that with us. I mean after all they were broken off and I've been grafted in and so on we get a little sort of cocky about it and God says no listen don't be conceited you better live in fear because if I did that to the natural Israel I can do the same thing for you. Now obviously God doesn't remove the entire church but God does say he can remove his lampstand, he can remove his blessing, he can remove his anointing and individually we can miss out on the purpose of God because of our disobedience, because of our selfish attitude. You see basically Israel's problem was one of selfishness. I want God's blessing I don't want to be involved in being a blessing and how many of us fall prey to that very sort of philosophy. I want God's blessing in my life but I don't want to be a blessing. After all we've got a pastor that does that, we've got a youth worker that does that and so on and I'm in college now I'm getting my education because you know I want to have that house that I've always dreamed of, drive that car I've always wanted to drive, marry the woman that I've always wanted to you know have and have kids and and so on you know. Don't don't get involved in my purpose. You know I know where I'm going, I know where I'm heading and so on. There is a calling to which you and I are called. He has saved us and called us with a holy calling. Just as he called the nation of Israel he's got a calling on you. Individually he's got a calling on us corporately and we need to fulfill that calling. The heart of God weeps this morning over the nations of the earth. He longs again to pour out his blessing. The turning of them from their wicked ways and whether it's there with Saddam Hussein and the Arab nations or whether it's down in the South Pacific or whether it's the continent of China or Europe or whatever. There are nations today again that have no real witness and you and I have the light to take to them and we are responsible to whom much is given, much is required. The Bible says this, it even goes as far as to say this, he that gathereth not, anybody know the rest of this, scatters. In other words if we know we're not actively involved, the Bible says we're actually counterproductive. I would have thought you know if I'm not actively involved I'm just passive, I'm doing nothing. No the Bible says you're actually scattering. See we have got a calling, a destiny, a purpose and the great tragedy with so many believers is they have no sense of direction when it comes to spiritual things. They're aimless, they're sort of just wandering. There is a calling. Believers there is a calling upon you to take the gospel to the nations of the earth. You need to begin on your own campus. Obviously that's the reason you have various groups so that you can be a light. Not so you can just enjoy one another's company, that's part of it, fellowship together, but God's placed you there on that university campus as a light to the nations. One of the things about college campuses is that there are nations that are represented there, isn't that right? They come from the nations of the world in order to study and you have an opportunity again of reaching nations right where you are and God is wanting to anoint you and I believe that in these evening meetings as the Spirit of God comes and touches you there is a reason behind that. It is not simply for your sake, it is for the sake of the nations. In fact I am just presently trying to put a book together and the title of that book is going to be this, They Drank from the River and Died in the Wilderness. How many of you know that the move of God that we are experiencing now around the the world for that matter especially around the country is termed the river? More than any other term it's called the river and we've got songs about the river, you know the river is flowing and this and that and the river is a wonderful thing, the touch of God, there's nothing greater than that. But how many of you know that the nation of Israel on a daily basis drank from the river and according to 1 Corinthians 10 they died in the wilderness? In other words you can be touched in a very powerful way by the power of God and yet still come short of the purpose of God. The subtitle of that book if I ever get it totally out is Moving from Privilege to Purpose. You see the wilderness was never God's intention for the nation of Israel. One million, conservatively some say three, one million people came out of Egypt. God's desire was to take them into the promised land to establish them as a light of testimony to the nations of the earth and only two out of that million made it. Only two, Joshua and Caleb. And one million people perished even though they drank from the river because they did not understand or at least they may have understood but they did not fulfill the destiny that God had for them. And my great fear is that right now God is touching the church with the river again, with refreshing, with the presence of God, with the anointing the Spirit of God. And we need to understand it is not simply to give us goosebumps and give us some sort of experience. It is to motivate us and anoint us to fulfill the destiny that God has for us as a church. And my great fear is that we will simply camp around the river and never move into the fullness of God. I was just doing a summary of a book that's coming out in the next couple months by a man by the name of Tommy Tenney. And it's called The God Chasers unless they change the title before it goes to press. But he makes a statement today. He says some of us get so excited about the burning bush that we never go back to Egypt and deliver the people of God. And some of us get so excited about the river that we never move on. How many of you know that God took the nation of Israel, at least the army of Israel, down to the river and tested them. And those that put their face into the water and just gulped it down to satisfy their needs were rejected. And those that lapped it like a dog lapped as they scooped up the water and lapped it and they kept their eye on the goal because they were an army. God says these are the ones that I'm going to use. You see there's coming a test in the body of Christ. We may be in it right now. How do we drink? Do I drink selfishly? Simply because I want a touch of God and I want to experience what so-and-so has been experiencing. I want to shake. I want to go out under the power. I want to spend some time on the carpet and all of these things. Or are we drinking because we've got something in mind? God I want to be a greater blessing on my campus. I want a greater anointing. I want to have power to witness. You shall receive power when the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You see because it is that that is going to separate the men from the boys if you like. And you are here again partaking, thank God, of the river. This is not knocking the river. This book will not knock the river. It's simply putting things in a divine perspective. God is wanting us to partake of the river. But then in turn he's wanting us to be a blessing. You see God is coming. He's looking for fruit. He's looking for fruit from your life and from my life. Some of you I have no doubt that God is going to give you a vision of the nations. You're going to go overseas. You're going to sell your life to the cause of Christ. Know the joy of reaping a harvest in other lands. Some of you God is going to use again in this nation. But we need to understand that there is a mandate on this generation. This I think is it's got to be the last generation. Your generation certainly got to be close to the end. And there is a job that needs to be done. And Jesus again put it so succinctly there where he says in Matthew 24. This gospel again it's got to be proclaimed to all nations beginning in Jerusalem. And you are to witness these things. You are to be the messengers in other words at these things. The only reason the church exists. Let's close in prayer. Father we ask you today that you would take again this teaching, these words, and Father seal it Lord in the very fleshy tables of each and every heart. Father long after this conference is over we pray that Lord there would be the seed of God that would germinate. And Father just take root in each and every life. That Father you would raise up out of this gathering Lord dozens, hundreds of young men and young women. Father with a calling of God upon their life. With an understanding that Lord they exist for one reason alone. To be a laborer together with you. Father you cannot do it without first of all having a vessel. How shall they hear without a preacher? Father I pray that you would place your anointing Lord in a very powerful way upon each and every young person here. Lord as these meetings continue on that Father as we are touched by the power of your spirit we may understand Lord this is so that I can be a greater witness, a greater testimony. And so Lord anoint them we pray. We say Holy Spirit come in greater power, greater authority. Father give us again an understanding of the big picture Lord. That Lord we're going to stand one day with all the redeemed of all the ages from every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation. I'm going to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb and Father to think that we've had a part to play Lord in bringing lives Lord from these various places and being able to present them before you. Father we ask again Lord to increase our vision, increase our awareness Lord of your purpose we pray in Jesus name. Amen. I know I could give an altar call this morning but I believe the Word of God is sufficient to do that. And I challenge you to when you've got some time this afternoon just go to the Word, get down on your face somewhere before God, go for a walk and just say God how do I fit into your program? I feel so unworthy, I don't you know have the education, I don't feel I've got the personality, I don't have the you know the background and you know so often we write ourselves off don't we? I did that for many many years. I was so shy, so nervous when I was younger I mean I wouldn't say boo to anybody. I literally wouldn't. I was they said I was the most nervous student in the whole Bible school. I was just terrified in high school I wouldn't even read publicly if I could get out of it. I never did anything in a public way because I was so introspective, so nervous, so shy and you know for a number of years I used that as an excuse as to why God could not use me. You know the Bible calls that an evil report. When the children of Israel came back from spying out the land they gave to God a factual report. Isn't that right? Cities are fortified to heaven, they were, Jericho, there are giants in the land, there were giants in the land. In other words everything they said was true but God called it evil because overriding the truth was the Word of God and many times we come with the truth. God I'm nervous, I'm shy, I'm not very well educated, I'm not you know don't have much of a personality and so on so forth and we present God with all these facts they may be truthful and God says listen it's an evil report because my strength is made perfect in weakness and I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me and every single one of us here there's not one single person that's without excuse. God can and will use you if you make yourself available to him and all you got to do is present your body a living sacrifice and say God I want to be a part of this great end time purpose that you are involved in. I want to serve the purpose of God in my generation. I don't want to have a saved soul and a lost life. I want to have a meaningful life. I want to stand before you one day and hear you say well done that good and faithful servant and a servant has only one thing that's to please his master, to do his master's will. Not everybody's going to hear that. He may say to you you're my child, you're welcome, but he's not going to say to everybody well done that good and faithful servant you served with me, you understood what I was doing, you were involved, you were a laborer together with me, well done, welcome. But I think the greatest thing that you and I can hear are those words well done that good and faithful servant. Lord bless you.