Everyone has an assignment in life, and I pray that in the days to come, you will continue to discover what God has assigned you in life. But that comes after you are established in Christ so that you don't think that God blesses you, or that God loves you because of your assignment, because you serve Him, and all that. No, no, no, no.
You need to understand your place in Christ; it's all by grace, amen? Even though, for some other people, they look at it and think, "Oh, there's a hard thing that you're doing," but for you, because God has given you the grace and the gift, you enjoy doing it. It's easy and light.
Don't do what God has not raised you to do, because you'll find it burdensome and hard. He says, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light," so it's light and easy—easy, light, easy, easy, light, light, easy. When the Lord tells you to do something, it's always easy and light.
I'll tell you something: those who utilize their gifts for the glory of God—do you know what God does? God rewards you. We already receive blessings by grace, amen?
But reward is also by grace. Why? Because if you think about Him rewarding you for what you do right, some people say, "How is that grace?
" No, what you do well is because the grace was first given to you. If you learn to use the grace God gives you, God rewards you for using the grace He first gave you. God sees that the grace He gave you is not in vain.
There's a verse like that—"The grace on me was not in vain," Paul says, amen? But when you use the grace God gives you, God rewards you for first using the grace that He gave you. No wonder those in heaven, when they receive the crowns, must have used some grace for such a thing that God gave them crowns that will last forever.
By the way, it means rule—they have a certain rule. Just to let you know, in heaven we're not floating along just singing, singing, singing. There are universes for us to have dominion over.
Do you know that? And that depends on how faithful you are down here. That's not salvation—salvation is by grace through faith—but even your position in heaven next time, whatever you're doing, depends on your works, your accomplishment.
But your accomplishment is dependent on the grace He gives you, whether you use it or not. If I were sitting here as a 12-year-old boy or a 15-year-old boy, and I saw someone like me standing up here, I would tell myself, "There's no way I can do that. Please don't bring me up there.
Please, I beg you! I'll give you all the money in my wallet, whatever I have—just never ask me to go up there. " Nothing frightens me like public speaking or even standing in class, right?
Until God gave me the grace. By the way, grace doesn't mean God gives you grace only from birth; there is grace that is imparted and given, amen? So that 15-year-old boy standing there—there came a time when God gave him the grace.
When the grace came, all of a sudden, he was able to stand. Yes, the feelings are still there—nervous and all—but the grace is there. When he speaks, the words flow; God gave him the words.
Later on, God gave him more grace to reach more people. By the way, you can write books, but nobody wants to read them. You can have podcasts, but no one wants to hear them, right?
For some reason, by the grace of God, sometimes I wake up—honestly, God is my witness—even recently, I still think, "What are they going there for? " to church, and I'm supposed to speak on that day. In the natural, I feel like, "You know, I'm still the same old person.
" You see, in and of myself—do you understand? Amen. But I know that when I stand here, God gives me words, even prophetically, that He knows you need.
All of us have a gift, and when we use our gift, it gives us fulfillment and joy, amen? It's part of grace. I heard a very wealthy businessman asked a question recently, probably one of the wealthiest—he's a Christian businessman in Singapore.
He was asked this question: "If you operate by grace as a Christian businessman," and he's the owner of a large conglomerate here in Singapore, "how do you reward people? " He said, "We give them a chance, even those who cannot perform; we give them one year. " Wow, that's a long time.
Very, very merciful. In some churches, even one year doesn't last—you let them go early. But actually, to me, for a businessman who is a Christian, how do you evaluate your employees?
If it's by grace, does everybody get promoted? If by grace, does everybody get the same amount of bonus at the end of the year? Right, right.
But still by grace, because we still have to operate by grace. How? I look at your works.
I know your works as your boss; I know your works. I look at the results. I don't have to see whether you're using your grace or not.
I don't have to, because if you use your grace, there will be fruit, there will be works, there will be harvest. If you are operating by grace, there'll be love, joy, peace. Even the attitude in which you are doing it—the spirit of excellence is there.
The Bible says Daniel in the Bible was preferred above every other governor in the land because in him was found an excellent spirit, amen? How can I tell what gave you the excellent spirit? It's by grace.
So, that employee did not let the grace of God be in vain. "I want to spend time, but Father, I can do it. The grace is there for me to do it, but I don't want to.
" Anyway, as a boss, I don't look at your D, D, D—I look at your result. At the last course of that year or whatever—right, the course of that particular year—I look at your fruit, your harvest. You cannot tell me you are using the grace if I don't see the result.
How can I use the grace of God? It's a grace gift, and there's no result? It's from heaven, not this grace gift.
Your grace gift is made in heaven. Come on, whether it's a gift—even a grace gift to make money, not just a grace gift to pastor, a grace gift to evangelize, a grace gift to teach, a grace gift to lead in worship, to play instruments, amen? A grace gift to encourage people—that's an amazing gift, by the way.
Like the son of B—any gift you have has this label: "Made in heaven," amen? Hallelujah. It has all the fingerprints and the abilities and the energizing of heaven itself, amen?
Amen. Can I be good? Amen.
That's why in the book of Revelation, when Jesus comes to assess the church, He says, "I know your works, I know your works, I know your works, I know your works. " He looks at the final result. Are you using grace?
Are you using grace? No, your works. For example, He says, "I know your works, your labor, and your patience—work, labor, patience.
" But in Thessalonians, Paul says, "I thank God for you, for your work of faith, labor of love, patience of hope. " So, what was missing in the church that Jesus corrected in Revelation? They have work, they have labor, they have hope, but they don't have a labor of love, work of faith, and patience of hope.
They don't have love, joy, peace; they don't have faith, hope, love. Can you see that? Amen.
But how can you tell it's not present? Because of the works, amen? A happy employee usually produces solid results, amen?
A grumpy employee produces grumpy results. Do you know something? You might think, "What I'm doing now—I'm just punching some data in, I'm just doing this, I'm just marketing—I feel like there's no divine purpose.
God, I'm ready for Your full-time call. " Well, He calls people who are busy catching fish, right? He called people who were busy tending sheep, okay?
He calls people who were busy collecting taxes. He calls busy people. I don't find Him calling people who were not doing anything.
Even Elijah, when the call came for him to find a successor, he called Elisha, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, amen? Jesus passed by the fishermen and said, "Follow me," and they left everything. They were busy when He called them.
Yeah, that's right. You see that? "But Pastor, my job has no purpose, you know.
I don't look forward to it because it doesn't give me the thrill. " That's because you don't have a revelation. The revelation is this: listen carefully—Joseph worked to make Pharaoh wealthy.
Is that true? It's true. Who was the direct beneficiary of Joseph's work and wisdom in Egypt?
Pharaoh. Pharaoh became so wealthy. Everyone in the known world then, and the whole world, was under famine, and because of the wisdom of Joseph, Egypt prospered.
Joseph didn't run away from Pharaoh and start a company called Joseph Incorporated, Joseph and Bros, or Father Jacob and Joseph. He didn't start a company. He didn't.
He was faithful from the time he was a slave, and God gave him favor after favor after favor after favor. But his revelation was, "My job—what's your job, Joseph? My job, and I believe this is what God wants me to do, is to serve this Pharaoh.
" "But Joseph, this Pharaoh is not a believer, you know. He worships other gods. " "No, God put him here.
Right now, where my life is, he is my boss, amen? Okay, I won't accept his religion; I know who my God is. But if I talk about religion to him now, without him seeing the result of God in my life, he won't listen to me.
So, my job as an employee here is to make him rich. " And how he made him rich, to the point where the boss said, "You know what? I'm going to promote you," was by the blessing of the Lord.
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