That It Might Be Fulfilled: Living Your Purpose | Claire Buntrock

This message explores the powerful idea that just as Jesus lived a life fulfilling God’s Word and purpose, we too are called to walk out a divine “script” written for our lives. Drawing from Scripture, it highlights how Jesus fulfilled prophecy with intentionality and obedience, and challenges listeners to recognize their own God-given purpose, speak it boldly, and submit to it fully. Through examples like John the Baptist and personal testimonies, it emphasizes the creative power of words, the importance of faith through testing, and the promise of promotion on the other side of obedience. Ultimately, it is an encouraging call to live with clarity, confidence, and conviction, trusting that God’s plan is already written and waiting to be fulfilled through us.

Transcript

The Pattern Of Fulfillment

SPEAKER_00 0:02

I have been so inspired lately, and I've been studying the book of John, and I couldn't help but notice, and I think this will bless you tonight, couldn't help but notice all the places when it is walking us through Jesus' life and ministry, it says the words that it might be fulfilled, or as it is written by the prophet Isaiah, as it is written, as it is written, that it might be fulfilled. And how many of you know that on earth we are Jesus's hands and feet? We have his mission now. He was our substitute on the cross, and now he is no longer on the earth. He is up in glory, and we are his substitute on the earth. And so the things that Jesus did, the things that Jesus was called to do, many of those things we are also called to do. And uh, and so I want to live a life, I don't know about you, but I believe I'm surrounded by people who want to live that life of purpose where you know with every step that you are fulfilling God's call on your life. And uh, and so let's just walk through that tonight on that on that theme. Um, you know, Jesus fulfilled, it said that as many as 300 Old Testament prophecies, that he checked all of the boxes on those prophecies with what he did. And um, I'm just gonna read a few of them uh just to just to walk you through. All right, so first of all, um uh we knew that the messiah would teach in parables, that he would be like Moses, who was a prophet and a leader and a deliverer. We knew the messiah would be humble and meek, that he would have a father and son relationship with God, that he would uh be despised and rejected, that he would be silent before his accusers, that he would be mocked, that he would be stripped of his clothing, that they would cast lots for that clothing, that his hands and feet would be pierced, that his suffering would include thirst. Does that sound familiar? That he would cry out to God in that time, all of these things, that he would uh that he would be pierced, that he would intercede for sinners, that he would suffer and die for others. That's you and me, that he would be cut off from the land of the living. They it prefigured the entire crucifixion before the that method of of execution had even been existed and in existence. Uh it was said that he would be buried in a rich man's grave. I mean, it's like Jesus' life was scripted for him by God before the foundation of the earth. It was already written. And do you know that God has a plan and a purpose for you? And it is like a script. It is God has a plan for you. And if you'll submit to that script and walk it out, there is glory. Look at what Jesus accomplished not only for himself, but for you and for me. Look at his saving power and his work through all the things that even even though he suffered, he was ultimately victorious and is today victorious through you and me. And so we live in the in the power of that victory. So let's live a life like that according to the script, that it might be fulfilled, that it might be fulfilled. And um, and so uh I want to direct you to Psalm 139, verse 14. You've heard this before. It says, I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Some of us have to remind ourselves sometimes that this is true about ourselves, when our body doesn't listen to us, or when we don't like this or that about ourselves. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are your works. Uh, and then it talks about my frame was not hidden from you. I was made in secret. I skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Uh, and your eyes saw my substance. I mean, God was watching as you were being formed in the womb. And in your um, my eyes saw my substance uh being yet informed. In your book, they were all written. The day is fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them. God has a plan for you and for every human spirit, eternal human spirit that was ever created uh at conception, God has a plan and a purpose for that life. And he has one for you for sure. So one thing, so step one would just be to know that you have that purpose. In Ephesians 2:8. Uh and not only that, did God make your body to be on the earth, but he then he saved your soul, for by grace you've been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Listen to this, which God has prepared beforehand, that you should walk in them. There's a script. God has a plan, he has a path. Don't be discouraged that you didn't walk in it before. Don't say, Oh, I've been derailed, I could never live it. No, no, no. Get on the path today. There's redemption, there's plenty of redemption, and there's and God's waiting for you to get on his plan and accomplish his will. Um, and uh, and so Jesus in that way, he was the word made flesh, literally. That's how he he lived out that script, he lived out those things that were written of him on the earth, and we can live those out. Um, so know that you have that purpose, and uh, and listen to this in Luke 4. We know this is another scripture uh very familiar to us, verse 16. Jesus came to Lazarus, Luke 4, and there he had been brought up. Uh, and in his as his custom was, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read, and he he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it is written. Y'all know that what he said. Um, he found where it was written, and he knew that that that Isaiah scripture as is quoted from Isaiah 61, he knew that that was talking about him. How did he know what the word said about him? As because probably as from birth, Mary was a woman of the scripture, and she taught him, she trained him up in the scripture and in the word, not just the general will of God. Yes, he knew the law, yes, he was a rabbi and a teacher, but he knew those parts of the word that applied to him. And that's why we are as parents and even as spiritual leaders in the church with our kid, with the children here that God's entrusted in our church. We are to train them up in the way they should go. The way they should go. And then there's a specific will, and we have we're anointed to speak into our kids' lives. Even if our kids are grown, we can speak uh words of life into our kids. But anyway, so Jesus is here, he finds that that place, uh, and he starts to say, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and he gave it back to the attendant, and he sat down. Some accounts say that when he sat down, he sat down in this special empty chair in that synagogue that was only reserved for Messiah, and no man had ever sat upon it because it everyone knew that that was the Messiah's chair, and he read that book. I'm anointed to the to to minister to these five groups of people, and he sat down in Messiah's chair, and he said, Uh, today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Today the scripture is fulfilled. You know, there's a day of fulfillment where we can fulfill God's plan and when we can speak it out. Um, so that talk about a mission statement for our church, for your life. If you just take that right there and say, Jesus, that was your mission and I'm in Christ, that means this is my mission. I'm anointed. You could just meditate right there and take it right now and say, the Holy Spirit has come upon me. I can help the poor to preach the, I can preach the gospel to them, I can heal the brokenhearted. There's something that, you know, there's nothing I have in my physical self that's gonna help anybody. But when the anointing comes on me, I can help. I can preach the gospel to the poor, I can heal the brokenhearted, I can set the captives free and open the eyes of the blind. My Jesus did that because he was anointed, and I'm gonna do that because I'm anointed by the same Holy Spirit. So uh that's a purpose right there. We have a purpose and a plan. And uh, and so then uh so not only did he know his purpose, but then that day he got up and spoke his purpose. And you can all say, Well, Jesus, of course, Jesus knew his purpose, he is the Messiah, he is God, he would know. What but what about a man? Well, you know how how about John the Baptist? John the Baptist was a man, not God man, just a man, and he knew his purpose. Um, what was his purpose? People would ask him all the time, why are who were who are you and why are you here? Why are you eating locusts and and wearing camel's hair and you're kind of weird? And who are you? And they would ask this of John the Baptist, and he would say, I am John 1.22. They said to him, Who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? What do you say about yourself? Oh, well, I'm just a just a weak worm of the dust. I'm just a guy from the wrong side of the tracks, I'm just uh uh dumber than a box of rocks and a bag full of hammers. I'm doing people say all kinds of terrible things about themselves and they think they're joking and they think it's funny, but you know that the devil's listening to enforce that that curse on your life. Don't don't give the devil a foothold. Instead, John the Baptist he was not bragging, he was just confident in the call that he had, and that is okay. The world sees confidence today as a brag or a flex or a you know, uh it they're uncomfortable with people who are bold. Have you noticed that? There is just such a watering down of uh, well, if it's okay with you, well, you speak your truth, and I'll speak my truth. But you know, there is an o, it's okay to be bold and to say, he said, this is what John the Baptist said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. And it's written in the prophets, I mean, look, this is the time. Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare the way before you. So he said, I'm I'm here to prepare the way for Messiah. I know exactly who I am. I'm gonna tell you who I am. And uh, and so when you have had that word from God, you can share that with other people, and it won't, it should not run them away, it should encourage them. Um, it should absolutely encourage them. So speak what that purpose is when God shows it to you. And again, this is this is someone who was raised up. What a benefit to have been raised up. You know, Jesus was John the Baptist's cousin. John the Baptist was actually the first person to recognize the Lordship of Jesus, and he did so in utero. He was uh people today use the word fetus. He was he was in his mom's belly and he leapt. He leapt for the because he felt the Holy Spirit move when Jesus walked in the room and he was in his mama's belly. So uh let that be a case for life if you're not pro-life enough yet. Uh that a fetus could hear, could feel the presence of God, and and was the first one to attest to to Jesus' lordship. So, anyway, know who you are and speak who you are. And um because there's power in in words. Um, I was reading in the Barclay uh uh commentary, the William Barclay commentary in 1975. He wrote that on the book of on the book of John. And this is what Barclay says to an Eastern people, a word. So when he when we speak and agree with what God said about us, we say that word. The eastern people who would have written the culture that brought us the Bible, uh, it's not a word, it's not merely a sound, it is a power that does things. Once when Sir George Adam Smith was traveling in the desert in the east, a group of Muslims gave his party the customary greeting, and this was a Muslim greeting. Peace be upon you. At the moment they failed to notice that this man was a Christian, and when they discovered that he had they had spoken of blessing over someone they considered to be an infidel, they hurried back to ask for the blessing back again. Because the word was like a thing that was sent out to do something and it could not be brought. So people from the Middle East, even today, even in modern times, even if they're Muslim, they know that words have power. Can we not at least agree that words have power? And it is duly noted that we are fighting, uh, you know, that there is a culture of people now among us who would like to kill us, who would not wish to bless us and would take back that blessing and call down uh uh a fight on and for our death, death to America and death to Israel. That's what they normally say. So we are definitely in a cultural battle against that. We should not allow that in our culture. Um, it is not compatible with our culture, I'll just say that. But but recognize though that words are even in that culture are powerful. Remember when, in about way back in Genesis, when uh you had Jacob and Esau, and they were twin brothers, and Esau was the older one, and he expected to have his father on his deathbed. He thought that his father, um, Isaac, would speak a blessing over him, the blessing of the firstborn. But remember, he had sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. He did not value the word, he did not value in Hebrews 12 calls Esau a godless person or a profane person like Esau, who did not who was always looking at the right now and was not did not care about the future or the eternal things or about God himself. And so he sold his birthright, and in the process of time it came that Jacob uh tricked Isaac, who was blind, into giving him the blessing. Remember that? And he's and so Isaac, the blind father, speaks a blessing over the younger son and not the older son. And do you remember the tears that came out? Esau, oh, you sought a place of repentance and could not find it. Dad, Dad, what about my blessing? What about me? Uh, son, I'm sorry. I've already spoken it, I've already spoken it over Jacob, and he shall be blessed. Do you remember that? Verily, he shall be blessed. When a blessing is spoken, when you speak words over your life, over your kids, over your family, over anybody, when you speak those words, they have a life of their own and they go out and they accomplish things, and you can't take them back. So, um, so it's just it's an interesting thing. Listen, the word of God. Uh, so it's a creative work, it created the whole world. Um, think about this. Um, by the word of the Lord the heavens were made, Psalm 33, 6. He sent forth his word and healed them. Psalm 107, 20. I love that scripture. He sent forth his command to the earth and his word runs swiftly. Psalms 147.15, talking about the power of the word. It's running to heal, it's running swiftly to do the thing that God sent it to do. Um, it's dynamic. It's that so shall my word be. Here's one. So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and prosper in the thing for which I sent it. My dad has been speaking that all week. I've been speaking to my heart, he'll say, I've been speaking to my heart, and the word does not return void. Therefore I know I'm healed. And he's been saying that until we saw it come to pass, and we're seeing it even now. So God's word is so powerful, and we need to speak that. When we know our purpose, we should not be ashamed of it. We should speak it boldly because there's a blessing with that. Amen. And um, and then my third point tonight, so we should know that we have a purpose, we should speak out that purpose, and then we should submit. We should submit to what that purpose is and what Jesus uh so humbly did. You know, he knew he was born to die, he knew he was born to give himself as a sacrifice for many, and he submitted to that uh all the way through, and not only just submitted to it, but it was a joyful thing. I like Psalm 46. Uh, you know, in other words, sacrifice and offering you did not desire. There was no amount, Jesus couldn't have just said, God, let me bring you another lamb or another ram or another ox, let me just offer that on the altar. Uh, that'll be fine, right, God, because I want to live my life. I'm only 33. I got feelings and I've got a drive and I want to live my life. Jesus did not say that. He submitted, he conformed himself to the plan of God. And uh, so sacrifice and offering you didn't desire, but my ears you have opened. Um, burnt offering, sin offering, you do not require. Then I said, Behold, I come, and in the scroll of the book it is written of me, I delight to do your will, oh my God, and your law is within my heart. So, my so as we spend time with the Lord, it it turns out that his will becomes our will. And it's easier and easier for us to accept his will because we just want what he wants, because we just love him so much, and we learn to trust him because he did us right. He did it, he did not fail us before, he led us into something hard. Maybe it was a test, maybe it was something hard, but we passed it and then we got promoted. And we passed it and we got promoted, and we passed it and we got promoted, and there's a cycle of that, or we can get into a downward cycle where we oops, we failed that test, we slept in that day, we did not put in the the we didn't trust God quite enough that day because we trusted our own plan and we wanted to do things our way, and we failed it, and then we had to repeat it and repeat it and repeat it, and we get stuck in that pattern. So break out of that and submit to God's purpose, it will do you good and not evil. Yeah, but Claire, Jesus died, yeah, but it was only it was three days, and and that was all, and for all eternity, he is forever the glorious Lord. There is a reward waiting for you at the end of this test. God promises it. And uh, and so anytime, uh, like what are things we can do to submit to God's purpose? And so I just looked up the things, a few things that said uh in the in the New Testament where it says it is written. Um, things that the church might do. Uh Romans 15, 9 said it's written that Gentiles will glorify God for his mercy. Uh, for as it is written, this reason I confess to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. Anytime a Gentile cries out to God and sings of his mercy and praise, you are fulfilling scripture. Isn't that cool? We are we are living according to the script when we do that. Anytime, anytime that God uses you to do something that you are not qualified for, you are not smart enough to do, you are not strong enough to do on your own, anytime God uses the weak things of the world to confound the wise, which he does, and he will do through your life over and over again, if you will let him, anytime that that happens, you are living, and it is written. Because in 1 Corinthians 1, it talks about many of you are not why not many of you wise or according to the flesh or mighty or noble or called, but God's chosen the foolish things of the world. And he goes through the whole passage for add as it is written, let him who glories glory in the Lord. So anytime we do anything that we're Not qualified to do. It's it's an it is written moment. God's written it in the book. You're glorifying him, you're living, you're living on that script, and it's bringing and it's delighting God, it's bringing agreement and harmony with all the saints and angels. I mean, you're living that harmony with his word and what he's called you to do. It's so fulfilling. Anytime, and here's another, it is written. Y'all remember 2 Corinthians 9 about the cheerful giver? Paul said, because it's if if you're a cheerful giver, you're agreeing with the with the former scripture out of uh Psalm 112, as it is written, he is dispersed abroad, he is given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever. So anytime we choose to cheerfully give, not only of our finances, but of ourselves, of our time, talent, treasure, of our will to God, of our will to our spouse, and we don't want to do that, but our our spouse wants to, and we just, you know, anytime we give and we and we don't make it a grunt, but we make it a cheerful, okay, okay, I'm gonna submit to that. I'm gonna do that thing. Um, have y'all had, I mean, we have a toddler around the office now because little yes, little Miss Person has turned uh one quite a while ago, and she marches around, and you know what? She is such a sweet little person and so obedient and well behaved. But she has a will, and she's gonna want to come into the office and she's gonna want to play with all of the dry erase markers. And um, you know, we're gonna sit there and we're gonna be nervous about it because we don't want her to get ink all over her face or something, you know. And so we're gonna be, but we just submit to her will, and it's a joy to do that because she's just she's so adorable and she's so you know, it's a joy. But um, but you know, to submit to anyone else's will is if for a minute you're like, oh, but I was busy, I needed to do this, I needed to do, and um, but you know, if we cheerfully give, there's a blessing there, and we're fulfilling God's call, and we cheerfully give. All right, so um, so submit to the plan. Submit to the plan. Do the word of God, don't just hear it, do it. And uh, and then the next point I would say would be to pass the test. Do you know that your purpose and your call will bring a test? Um, and not, you know, now temptations are are not from God, they are from the devil. But a test, a test is from God. God will test our faith. Um, He will see what's in your heart, and He will always give you the way of escape. James just preached on that. It was very awesome. Um, but uh sometimes God will test us. I look at David. David had a call from God, he later became king of Israel, and you can read about him in 1 Samuel. Um, but uh he was uh a man after God's own heart, and as a young man, maybe 16 years old, as a young shepherd boy, uh the prophet Samuel came and poured a horn of oil over his head, and said, and and everybody knew what that meant. The awe of God came on him, and he realized that he was being anointed to become king when the prophet poured the oil, and it was very, I'm sure, humbling, uh awe-inspiring. He was the youngest of his brothers, he was the least qualified, he was the the one no one thought, and here he was. Um, we know that later he killed Goliath. What an awesome story! How many of y'all read that to your kids? Amen. We love that story. But then uh, and but that he doesn't just get ushered right into the throne after that moment, does he? What happens? Well, the king that's on the throne right then, King Saul, wants to kill him, starts throwing darts at him and starts chasing him down, and he loses everything. He has to leave his family, he has to leave the sheep fields, he has to leave all of the glory of Israel, and he ends up in the land of his mortal enemies, the Philistines. And he has to pre-he that's the only refuge he has from Saul is to go there because he knows Saul's not going to chase him to the land of the Philistines. And then then, but the Philistines know that him as a dread champion. Oh my gosh, that's the guy that killed our giant Goliath. We hate him too. And so David's only solution there was to pretend like he was crazy. Many of y'all know that story, and so he let the drool like run down his beard, and he just acted like he and and he was not, so he had to leave all of his pride and dignity and all of that. Here he was, he's anointed king, but he's in the land of his enemies, having to act like a crazy man. And does he get depressed and throw a pity party? No, he writes Psalm 34. Will somebody please turn to Psalm 34 and tell me if it sounds like a pity party in Psalm 34? He said, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in my great power and awesomeness since I killed Goliath. No, he said, It might make my boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. I bet he wished that because right in this moment in his life, he was alone in the world. Alone. It wasn't until um just after that that he goes and flees to the cave of Adullam, and then God brings him all of these distressed and in debt uh and disillusioned uh men that become his mighty army that he raises up as soldiers. And then he has some companions, but right now he's alone. But he says, I sought the Lord and he heard me past hence. Not he's gonna hear me. Oh, someday Saul's gonna stop chasing me. God heard me and he delivered me past tense from all my fears. People say, Oh, David was a brave, he was a brave and courageous warrior. No, he had fears like you and me. And he was delivered from those fears because he knew how to praise God in the middle of them. And they looked to him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Everybody say all. And uh for him to use the past tense in that passage is a wonderful picture and illustration. I we can use Paul and Silas singing praise and praying in the prison cell. We can use, but this is a wonderful, another wonderful example that you can sing praise to the Lord to pass your test in the middle of any problem that you're facing. You can pass the test by singing praise to the Lord, and you can put your trust in him and he will deliver you. You've got to believe it, you've got to trust him, he will do it. Um, and then finally, and and and then enjoy that. My last point would be once you pass the test, you're gonna be promoted. Enjoy that promotion. Uh, in Philippians 2, 5, again, tracking with the plan of Jesus. Let this mind all be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being the form of God, so he's he is already exalted, he's in heaven. But he did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. Oh no. Now he's not glorified in heaven anymore. Now he's coming down to earth. He put his reputation below every other thing. Instead, he said, No, I'm gonna submit to the will of God. See, this is our whole pattern playing out here. Now he has found an appearance as a man. He humbled. Everybody say humbled, humbled himself, became obedient to the point of death. Everybody say obedient. Uh God does not want you to die for your faith, he wants you to live for your faith. But he wants you to live fully. He's Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ. Yet it's not I that live, it's Christ that lives within me. So it's it's not our physical body that's crucified, it's our will. Um, and so then he humbled himself, does it cross? Therefore, God has highly exalted. Everybody say highly exalted. So he humbled, he was obedient, and then he was promoted. There's the pattern. Um, and and now he has the name above every name which he gives to you and to me because we are in his family, we are called by his name. And uh under the so now every knee has to bow to that name of Jesus, and that's your family name. And the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow in heaven and in earth and under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord of the glory of God the Father. So he was promoted by that. Uh, he passed the test and he was promoted. I'm just gonna I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna give you my testimony in the it is written, and just as a as an example of the things that God, and you know, dad preaches out of his it is written a lot. He just told that story about uh not you know being down to his last ten dollars and yet knowing that he needed to go back in the building business, and he asked a man to pray for him. Where'd that man live? And King would, and dad had given him a scripture about the loose the loins of kings and open before you the two leave gates, and then he realized, oh, the man has a two-leaf gate. He got so just the funny things the word does when God speaks to you a word and how he applies that, how it can apply in your life. So I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna, and some of these are kind of personal, but I'm just gonna walk you through a few things. When I so my mom he she spoke the word over me, she taught me and my dad um the it is written. But my mom would pray over Jay and I every day before we left for school. We would roll our eyes a little bit, but it was Deuteronomy. We liked it. Deuteronomy 28. Oh, you're blessed coming in and blessed going out. Everything you set your hand to do is blessed. What's what my mom is Pollyanna, she is a cheerleader. Oh, you're blessed. Oh, and you're 10 times better, according to Daniel. You're 10 times better than the heathen, than the heathen children, she would say. Ten times the heathen. And uh we'd say, Okay, mom, we're 10 times, okay. Um, but you know, she put the word in us, and we had a feeling that God's anointing was on us, and it wasn't by our strength or power that we were gonna succeed, but we knew there was something special on our lives. God God, you know, put that in it's in the word, and you can take it. You take it for your kids, and you say it over your life, you say it. Uh my mom just took it and she said that over us, and until it she until it became true. Um, um, so then when I was so I praise God, I got a scholarship to college, didn't look like I was gonna be able to go to college, but God paid my whole way uh through a series of miracles. Um, but when I'm in college, what am I studying? I'm studying journalism, which was the trendy major of the day, and uh the one that now that ever no everyone majored in and no one could make any money in. I think there are some majors kind of like that today that people go to college for no reason. But anyway, but I would say Psalm 45, 1, my heart is overflowing with the good theme as I recite my composition concerning the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. I would say that my tongue is a pen of a ready writer. I knew I was gonna speak something about my composition about my king. I knew I was gonna, I had something to say about God, and that my tongue was a pen of a ready writer. That's the one little word that I had. And I would say that my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. I'd speak that over, I'd speak that over my girls, and one of them it took. She knows that her tongue is a pen of a ready writer. Um, so just little words that kind of helped give you a little path on your life. You know, what do I do? I do write sometimes, and I speak for on behalf of God. I didn't I didn't know that. I never did that before. I didn't like public speaking any more than James liked it. But I would say my tongue is a pen of a ready writer. When I was then I I get through school, um, life beats me up a little bit. I am productive in ministry, I'm in the youth ministry, but um, but I had some heartbreaks along the way, and as I was um passing quickly through my 20s with no prospects of a family, I mean I really my heart wanted a family, and I felt very heartbroken for what had happened to me before. And but Isaiah 54, that was my scripture, Isaiah 54. Um, and I won't read the whole thing, but it talks about the shame of your widowhood, you know, nobody died, but I just that I felt, you know, so bereaved. I felt like my future was just taken from me and I was gonna be alone. The devil would try to tell me, you're gonna be alone, you're gonna be you're never gonna be a mother, you're never gonna be a and but that whole scripture talks about you're you're gonna have kids greater as the children of the barren woman. I felt barren. I felt I felt like my life was barren, but greater as the children of the barren woman than the free, and your kids are gonna be taught by the Lord, and great is their peace. I knew I'd be a wife and a mother, I wouldn't be forsaken. I felt forsaken, but I knew I wouldn't be, and that scripture carried me through some years. Then I meet James, I meet the man who would someday become my husband. Um, and he is a scruffy tall ship sailor and a church sound man. And I had never met anybody in my I had never stepped foot on a sailing vessel of any kind, nor had I known anybody who had ever sailed on a boat. But I met James, he said, How many boats do you have? I said, I have two. They were kayaks hanging on the garage wall. I know. Um, but um, but friends introduced us, friends from church, and um that I respected. And um, so I just thought, well, I'm gonna find out if this guy is a real Christian. And uh, well, you have a favorite scripture or anything that you know, let me see what's at what's in there. And he comes out with a scripture. It's Psalm 107.23. Many of y'all heard me tell this story. And this Psalm 1027.23. Well, he he said, Well, he that goes to the sea in ships who does business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. That was his favorite scripture because it talked about ships. Well, that was a scripture that spoke to my destiny because it was the first scripture of our church founding. That was the very first message my dad ever preached in Glorious Way Church was Psalm 107.23, the most obscure scripture in the Bible. If he would have said, you know, I can do all things through Christ or John 3.16 or something, that's what I was expecting. But he came out with the most obscure scripture, and it turned out to be the destiny. And I knew, I mean, I didn't admit it yet, but I knew that we had a destiny. I knew that there was a destiny that we were gonna be sent on on doing business on great waters, that we were gonna see some works of the Lord and wonders in the deep. And it was nice to over the years now that that has happened, that we have seen it, we had that foundation that God had us together and there was a destiny, and it was tied together. He thought he liked that scripture because of sailing. I thought that scripture meant something about ministry, but God had a destiny, and so words, just words that the little the the way God leads you. In 2020, now we're we're married. We have our we have our kids that are taught by the Lord and great is their peace. We have, you know, I'm I'm fulfilling these words, I'm living this word, it works. And uh, and then 2020, it looks like we might get arrested. It looks like our church might get be on not solid footing because of the whole COVID pandemic and everything that entire situation is right now mushroom clouding, and it's Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is coming up this some this Sunday, you know, in my in its 2020, and uh and churches are shut down everywhere. And um, and and dad uh had a mind to stay to to be open, to be open on Palm Sunday. And uh we so we already knew that Lena Hidalgo didn't like it. She was maybe gonna send in sword rattling that she might arrest somebody or whatever. Well, I don't know. We were just getting some vibes, and it was dangerous. But you know what? A word, a word out of Luke 19, 44. Uh, I just was reading that that verse that day, and it just so happened that that was the first Palm Sunday, the one that Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the donkey, and people are throwing palms. And he said, It's your day of visitation. Israel, this would have been your day of visitation, but you weren't listening. And I knew that Palm Sunday was our day of visitation. And it was. We got visited by four different media outlets parked, you know, in the in the parking lot doing hit pieces on us, and people, you know, zooming in real tight if somebody shook hands or hugged each other or whatever we might do in church, you know, and uh, oh, we were we were super spreaders and renegade pastors and whatever else we were. But it absolutely launched us and solidified what God had us do to wake up the church, and we're still waking up the church, we're anointed to wake up the church, but that is what God has called us to do, and how He has used little, that's just my life, little words along the way. There are many more than that, but those are just some high points. And um what I'm trying to tell you is that if you let meditate on the word until it's real to you, until there's something that is destiny about it, until the and and you can hang on to it through whatever. Y'all, I hung on to Isaiah 54 for eight years. I hung on to that one. I didn't have it right now. I and it'll never it never did look like it was really promising. I mean, lots of things don't look like they're gonna work out. You gotta you gotta be you trusting in the Lord like David did. You gotta pass the test. We're still we still got tests to pass. I'm nobody's arrived, but we can speak this word, we can know where we're going. The Holy Spirit will help you, he will guide you. The disciples always had Jesus, and all they had to do was follow Jesus, and literally, he was there in the flesh, and they could follow him. Guess, and but Jesus is not here anymore. Who is the Jesus figure in our life now? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives on the inside, he will teach you all things. He will, John 16, he will show you what is to come. Ask him and he will show you what your what is your next step. He might not show you the whole plan, but he will show you the next step and your plan role in it and hold on, cling to it, say it, speak it until it comes to pass. Amen.