Purpose feat. Pastor Vazquez

He was thinking of my purpose before he even created the earth. Before the world began, he already had a plan for my life. It's impossible to be insignificant if God has pre-thought of a purpose for you before the world even began. Before he thought about mountains and trees and rivers and valleys and continents and whales and fish and everything else, he had already thought about purpose for me because the Bible said that it was before the world began.

Ladies and gents, welcome to Voices of Life, the podcast with topics related to the apostolic faith in the 21st century. Let's talk about what interests you here on Voices of Life.

Praise the Lord everybody and welcome back to Voices of Life. This time we are so excited. We just had a great conference. We had our apostolic conference, the yearly conference actually here in Mannheim. We had a great speaker here and right now he is also, together with my dad, actually, which is a surprise for all of us, we are here having an episode together. So it's Pastor Vazquez and my dad, Bishop Wei, they are also here. And so we are happy that you are here and we are really looking forward to this episode. But before we

go right into the topic, what we want to talk about, just could you guys briefly introduce yourself? I will start with my dad as a surprise, that he just introduces himself real quick in case somebody doesn't know him yet.

Well, I'm his dad, that's what he said. It's a surprise for me to be here, but I'm not really the 1 that likes to talk on tape, on videos, so bear with me.

Amen! He is the founding pastor, together with a missionary here in Mannheim, Germany, about over 40, almost 45 years ago, so it's a long, long time. And like I said, we are also happy to have Pastor Vazquez with us, and he stayed another day and preached at our service today. It is a Sunday, and on Sunday we are doing the recording today. And so please, Brother Vazquez, introduce yourself really quick.

My name is Jonathan Vazquez, and I'm extremely excited to be on the Voices of Life podcast. I pastor Bethlehem Church in Potts Camp, Mississippi. But most importantly, I'm married to Sarah. I've been married 29 years and I have an 18 year old, nearly 18 year old daughter, Ellie, and a 14 year old Kate, and I've spent my life trying to work for God And I'm extremely excited to be here with you guys, especially the 1 that's nervous.

Wow. Who is the 1

that is nervous? It's me, Justin, but I'm always nervous.

So it's going to be fine. Praise the Lord. So today we want to talk about a very important topic and thought, which is purpose. And Brother Vasquez, please go on and tell us about purpose.

Thank you, Pastor. Back a few months ago, I was writing a curriculum for discipleship for our new members, and 1 of the things that we realized was that the people that stayed in the church were the ones who connected to a purpose. They felt like they had something to contribute. And so when We're going to talk a little bit about purpose and ministry in the church. When we talk about ministry, we're not only talking about preachers, we're talking about anybody in the church that does anything. I want to start out, if I can, by reading a

scripture from 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. This is speaking about Jesus. It says, "...who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." This verse, when I really started to look at it and study it, What stood out to me was that we all know we need grace. I think we all know that the only way we're ever going to be saved is by grace. That God looked down at us, saw us

in the condition we were in, for some reason, by his mercy, felt sorry enough for us to redeem us. And so we all know that we're saved by His grace, but that's not what Paul told Timothy. Paul told Timothy that it was according to his purpose and grace. And so he didn't only save me because he felt sorry for me. He saved me because he had a purpose and a plan for my life. And I think that's awesome, because before I even knew that he had a plan for me, before I even knew that my life

meant anything to anyone but my own parents. God had foreseen a purpose for my life, and I think that's awesome.

Yeah, it is. Amen. Yeah, we are not just here to exist on this earth and that's it, you know. Some people, it is sad, some people really believe it's, well, you're here on this earth, you just exist, and then eventually you will die and that's it, but that's not the case. We have a job to do, we have a purpose. Amen.

Exactly. And when people come to church and they're just coming to be part of a crowd, that's 1 thing. But when they get up and they're getting ready for church and they know that when they get there they have a purpose,

that

they're not just there to receive, but they have something to give as well, Man, it energizes people.

I think about purpose, I think of Jesus calling His disciples. They had no idea that they ever get a call of God, that God would know them and even have a plan for their life. And so it is with us, before He called us, praise God, He observed us, watched us, and said, OK, I can use this, I have to change this, and He can do this. We had no idea, but God is a great God. And He's the only 1 that can shape us and mold us, especially for the purpose we are supposed to take,

you know, His will in our lives. That's what we got to know, his will.

There's something very powerful at the end of this verse in 2 Timothy 1 and 9, because after he said that he saved us according to his own purpose and grace, then he said, which was given us in Christ Jesus, and then he added these 4 words at the end, before the world began. He was thinking of my purpose before he even created the earth. Before the world began, he already had a plan for my life. It's impossible to be insignificant if God has pre-thought of a purpose for you before the world even began. Before he thought

about mountains and trees and rivers and valleys and continents and whales and fish and everything else, he had already thought about purpose for me because the Bible said that it was before the world began. That is an incredible, to me, it was an incredible revelation.

Amen. That is so right. Sometimes we ourselves have no clue what our purpose is. Sometimes even teachers or parents have no clue what the purpose of their child will be. And sometimes they are so discouraging and negative about them, and say, well, you will mount up to nothing, you won't be used, da-da-da-da. But God had already a purpose for all of us here. Even if society is not believing in us.

And it's also what I think the world is searching for today. They are searching for purpose, like what are we doing? I think all the science and everything to try to find out, okay, where did we come from? Where did it all start? To find out, okay, where is this headed? Where are we going to, what are we going to do? Is it just living 60, 70 years, maybe 80 today, but, and then leaving the earth and just that's it? Or is there something more behind it? And I think that's a question many ask today. That's

why I think it's so important what you said, that we have a purpose and we can show the people that there is a greater purpose to their lives. Well if I'm random

and I have no purpose, then what I do doesn't matter. So there, whatever consequences for my actions, whatever things that I do with my life, the talents, the abilities, whatever they may be, if it's insignificant, then why bother? And so, part of the reason that I think it's important that we understand that we all have a purpose is because if we don't come to that realization, there's going to be a whole lot of things that are left undone that God really wants us to do. And all this potential is locked up inside of the church. There's

a verse in Genesis where the Bible said that the seed was in the ground, but it did not grow. And the reason it didn't grow is because God didn't send rain. But There's a very important verse that says why God didn't send rain. He said, for there was no man to till the ground. God said, if I let everything grow and there's no 1 to take care of it, then all the potential I put in the earth is going to be wasted. I can't unlock its potential until I get somebody willing to work. And so when

he created Adam to tend to the garden, all of a sudden the potential in the earth comes out. And it's the same way in a church, it's the same way in somebody's life. That when somebody sets their mind to do something for God, to work for God, it releases potential that was already in us. We were made from earth. That's why He came down and formed man out of the dust of the earth, and that potential is in us, but it's in us only if we're willing to participate in working the ground.

Yeah, that's really amazing. I never read or thought about those last words, you know, before there was no man to plow the ground, or what it says. So that's really amazing. It always amazes me when we realize that we've read something many times, but skipped over something. And I was thinking a beautiful thing about that thought is also, there are a lot of people maybe that are self-conscious or have doubts, you know, what can I give? What do I really have? But what it really shows is the seed, the potential, you don't have to give it

out of your own strength. It's not from you. It's given by God. It was planted by God there. And you just have to do your part, you know, and work on the ground, but the real work is going to happen by the power of God. So that's really beautiful.

Absolutely. And there's also a progression that's expected. You know, I have 2 daughters. I think I've talked about them every sermon I've preached. Yes. If I forgot 1, it was probably a mistake. But my daughters, when my wife was expecting my children, I laid my hands on her, and I prayed for those children. I prayed. My wife would laugh at me because I would pray for everything I could think of to pray.

And it

was, they were long prayers. She probably just wanted to go to sleep. But I prayed that God would help them love God, love the truth, love worship, love people, love the church, be involved. And everything I could think of that I wanted was my dreams were locked up in those children. Long after I'm gone, they will still be in the church. They'll be my legacy. But when my babies were born, they were born as babies. Somebody went to a village, some rich man with a great education went to a small rural village, and he looked around

and he thought, because he was from New York, that he knew everything. And so he goes to this little old man in the middle of the village, And he says, were any great men born here? And the old man responded, no, only babies. And so everybody starts somewhere. And when my babies were born, they didn't know how to crawl. It's amazing. I know. It's surprising, isn't it? It is interesting

because you said that usually when you see in the animal kingdom you see little babies of you know animal babies they can do a lot more as soon as they are born than a human baby. It is so amazing. But still, the humans are the top of the chain.

Because of all the potential. The difference is that when animals are born, they're not necessarily born with divine purpose, other than a few animals, a donkey that carried Jesus in, a great fish that swallowed Balaam's mule, but by and large, the Bible said that He saved us according to His purpose. So if He saves you, you have a purpose, and God has preordained it, but you don't just step out all of a sudden and know everything about it. But it's a progressive process of yielding, seeking God, yielding to His presence, yielding to His Word, being instructed

by spiritual leadership, and letting that purpose grow. I was thinking, and I feel like I'm dominating the conversation and I don't wanna do that.

That's okay, you are our guest in this episode. A special guest, yeah.

But Jeremiah 1 and 5 is 1 of my favorite passages of scripture. Here's what God said. He told Jeremiah, Jeremiah, just after, Jeremiah is saying, I can't do it, I'm just a kid, I'm not able, God said, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Before you were formed in the... I knew you, but he didn't stop there. He said, and before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. That means I set you apart and I consecrated you for a purpose. And then he said, and I ordained thee a prophet unto

the nations. I assigned you." So here's a powerful thought. There's a great book. It's written by Christopher J. Wright. It's called The Mission of God's People. And he presents in that book that God did not create a church and then think of a mission for the church. God had a mission, so he created the church. And so God needed a prophet, so he made Jeremiah. He didn't make Jeremiah and then scratch his head and think, well, now what am I going to do? He had purpose, so he made Jeremiah for the purpose. Every 1 of us

here. God didn't let us be born and then think, well, now I gotta do something with them. What am I gonna do with Justin, the nervous 1? Thank you.

What am

I gonna do with Justin? No, he had a purpose, And so he specifically designed each 1 of us for his preordained purpose. And the fact that God... And the Bible said he did it before the world began. He's been constructing all this. That's 1 reason why I believe that we are headed for the greatest harvest and revival that the world has ever seen. There's never been a generation with as large of a church, there's more people all over the world that are Holy Ghost-filled, baptized in Jesus' name than there's ever been. Not only that, but we're

at a critical point in history. And when you have, we have the most educated generation of the church that there's ever been, We have the most talented generation that there's ever been. And when you put all of that together with purpose, it lets me know that these next few years, however long, maybe days, years, months, whatever, until the Lord comes back,

are

going to be the greatest harvest that the world has ever seen. And I'm excited about it.

Amen. We are also excited. Amen. Yeah. Yeah. Man. Justin, you want to add anything?

Yeah. It's just amazing just to see that the Lord, He didn't have to go this way to give us purpose. He could have done it however you want it. Just say, okay, this is my people and they worship me and that's it. But like you said, before He made the world, He gave us purpose. And I always think it's so amazing that He is still willing to be so, how you say, so patient with us. Because there are a lot of us who have purpose, but they don't use it yet because they're afraid or whatever. They

still live in sin or not really ready for it yet, but the Lord is still patient to us. And He shapes us, like you say, He shapes us, that we can get into that purpose and be used for that purpose. And that's just so amazing to see that. And also that grace is so unspeakable.

I think it's also amazing when you think about the purpose itself, the purpose that God has for this world, for the church, for us. It is the highest purpose actually there is. And He's using us, people that are not perfect. You see, if you have something in mind, you want to do a business or whatever, you try to get the best people. But God says, no, no, I will form human beings. They are not perfect. They will fail me, because God knew already what's gonna happen. So he knew Adam and Eve, they would sin. So he

knew those people, the human beings won't be perfect to do that. But I will show what I can do with people that make themselves available. He's not using the perfect ones.

1 of the studies I like to do in the Bible is I like to look at the people that God's used and see how they are just like everyone else. When you look in the New Testament, the Bible said that Elijah was a man of like passions as we are. In other words, he had the same weaknesses, the same personalities, the same character that we do, except when he prayed, it didn't rain for 3 years. And then when he prayed again, it did. And he's just like us. And you look through the Bible, Peter denied the

Lord, and then preached at Pentecost. Paul persecuted the church, never could forgive himself. I think it's like 6 times throughout the epistles, he said, I was a persecutor of the church. He said, I was the chief of sinners. You look throughout the Bible, whether it's Samson. I mean, has there ever been a whinier person than Jonah? And then he says a 10-word prayer and a whole city repents. God doesn't need perfection. He needs availability.

Yes, that's why we're here. That's why we're

here. Amen.

Amen, I think about Peter, I see him, you know, as we talk, I see him on the sea, in the ship, with his nets cast out, and having no idea. And he thought his purpose was just fishing. Fishing, feed my family, and that was it. Try to do the best you can. But Jesus came along and changed the whole thing. The Lord is with us, you know.

Amen. And then after Peter denied the Lord, and he felt so terrible, When the cock crew, when the rooster crowed, he knew that I've done exactly what I promised I wouldn't do. And then he says a phrase, he looks at the other disciples, and he says, I go fishing. I'm going back. I've messed up too much. I've failed. I've denied the Lord. I'm going back to where he called me from. And that's when Jesus, if you read the dialogue, that's when Jesus said, do you love me? Jesus wouldn't let him go back. And the reason he

couldn't let him go back is because there was a Pentecost locked up inside of him. A failure, a man that said I'm just gonna go back to what I used to do. But God knew that there was purpose in him, and he wouldn't—I think that's why he put the ear back on Malchus, because if you attack a Roman soldier, you're condemned to death.

And

so Jesus put the ear back to take the evidence away, because there was a Pentecostal inside of him.

Yeah. No, he can't be happy that he didn't cut his head off.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That would be a story.

Maybe he just missed. Yeah. Yeah.

Amazing. So I think that even the listeners have to realize that they have a purpose. And they need to get a hold of their purpose, seeing the will of God for their lives, and then just jump on the car, you know,

the gospel car. Everybody has a purpose. Everyone in the church. It is faulty thinking to think that only the pastor and the ministers over the church are the only ones that have a role to play. Everybody has a part to play. The best churches in the world are the ones that the people know, I'm part of this. I have something to do. I have something to give.

And it seems like people want to belong to something. Not just to an organization, they want to belong to a purpose. And that's why you have so different movements that are created and people die for movements, for ideas behind it. And these are temporal things usually what they do or it's just for the betterment of society here on this earth. But what we got, the mission that we have, it is an eternal 1. It is far more important than the other missions and purposes that are around us. And I think you're right, people really want to

be attached to a mission, want to do something meaningful with their life and be there also for other people.

I've got a boy in our church, actually he's not a boy, he's 29 years old, but he's got the mind of a seven-year-old, and his name is Luke, and Luke loves to help me. Every Sunday morning, Luke will probably never teach a Bible study, he'll never sing a song in church, never preach a sermon, he'll never work in a Sunday school class, but every Sunday morning at about 9 o'clock, Luke comes in my office because he wants to take my trash out for me. He says, Pastor, I don't want you to have to worry about it.

Well, to some people, that's insignificant, but it's not insignificant because if I have a guest that comes in my office and we need to talk and they see trash everywhere, they're gonna think, well that's a trashy church. And so even though it may not be what some people consider a lofty purpose,

it's an important purpose. And I think that's a thing that God sees. You know, remember when he was sitting with his disciples at the temple, watching people putting money in the box, and then there was just an old widow, and she just gave very, very little compared to others, but God saw it. And he knew that what she gave was more than what all of the others gave. So I think that's what Luke is saying. He gave whatever he was able to give.

And so I guess the next logical question is, what does God expect from me? What is God asking me to do? And the answer is, he's asking you to do what he's made you capable of doing. So the 1 that he gave 5 talents, he expected a return on what he gave. So the 1 he gave 3, he didn't expect the same as he did out of the 1 that... And the 1 that only got 1, he didn't expect him to do what the 1 that had 5. He said that he gave the talents, the scripture

says, according to their several abilities, whatever your ability is. Stephen, I've heard you over the years now lead worship and play music. I have no talent. I can't do anything. I can't sing. My daughter put a video online of me singing in the choir when I was youth pastor before she was ever born. I wasn't singing, I was lip syncing. Because my pastor wanted me in the choir, told me he wanted me in the choir, and I said, I can't sing, he said, but I need you to be with the young people.

And

so I did lip syncing for 4 years. Wow. Because I can't sing. But I could worship, so I'd stood up there and moved my lips and worshipped.

He

didn't give me that ability. He doesn't expect me to lead worship at a conference, But he expects you to, Justin, because he gave you the talent. He expects you to because he gave you... That's all he wants. And whatever our abilities is, whatever our abilities are, that's what he expects us to give. That's what he put in us before the world began.

It seems you said every member has a purpose or should do something, is there a time when you should start? Like, they come into church, they're saved, should we try to get them into ministry right away or teach them further? What would be the order of things there?

What we do at our church, which we obviously, if we had all the answers, the whole state of Mississippi would be saved. We only have some of the answers. But what we do is we have divided all of our ministries into different levels. And so we have level 1 ministries that anyone that comes to church, they don't even necessarily have to have the Holy Ghost or be baptized to be involved. There's different tasks, cooking for funerals, helping around the building, just different tasks. And it's level 1 ministries, and level 1 ministries have a level 1 honor

covenant where they commit themselves to try to do certain things. And then once they begin to grow and they want to go into a level 2 ministry, well the level 2 ministries have different discipleship requirements, different levels of faithfulness and commitment that are required, all the way up to level 4, which are platform ministries, people that we put in front of people that the whole world looks and says, okay, so this is what a Pentecostal is supposed to be that has a level 4 commitment. And so that's the way we do it. And it gives people

a chance to contribute at the level of their growth. And so that's our approach to it.

I think you can compare it to driving school. You cannot get the keys on your own car if you're not ready with the other stuff. There are tests you have to make where you have to prove that you are qualified for whatever comes your way. You fail the test, you just repeat, repeat.

I had a class a couple years, maybe 3 years ago, for all of our new members. We call it First Steps. And I teach the first 1 and the fourth 1, and then my assistant teaches the 2 middle classes. But I was teaching that every member is a minister. Every member has a job to do. And I said, everyone in this church is a greeter. Everybody in this church can shake somebody's hand and welcome them to the church. We had a lady, it was her first Sunday. She had just gotten the Holy Ghost that morning and

got baptized and went to First Steps. Well, Sunday night, my office is in the main hallway of the church. I can hear everything. I hope the church isn't listening because I don't want them to know I can hear all their secrets. But I heard her in the hallway welcoming people to the church. It was her first day. We're so glad you're at Bethlehem Church,

and

we're so glad you're... Thank you for coming to our church. And so I looked out, and she was welcoming the bishop's wife. They'd been pastoring the church forever, but I'm like, praise the Lord.

She went

to the bishop's wife and said, we're so glad you're at Bethlehem, welcome to our church. That's funny to us. But I tell you what it is, it's awesome. I have a thing in my file at home, and it's a piece of paper that my daughter Kate, when she was like 7 years old, she pretended like she owned a restaurant, and she called it Kate's Cafe, and she made a menu, and almost all the words were spelled wrong. She spelled orange juice 1 way and I had to look at it to figure, and meatloaf. I didn't take

her and say, Kate, you're going to sit here and you're going to rewrite this menu until you get every word right. You know what I did? I thought it was so awesome, I put it on my refrigerator. Because it just... Well, you know what God does when He looks at us and we're a brand new person and we welcome the bishop's wife? He puts it on his refrigerator so to speak. Because to Him, that's awesome, because it's a sign of growth. When Kate was born, she couldn't make a menu, but at 7 she could, and now

she probably could spell right.

Hopefully. Hopefully, Yeah. And I think also people in our churches need to get rid of this carnal thinking that this 1 has a bigger purpose, the other 1, his purpose or her purpose is less. So if we do the purpose that God placed in us and we fulfill His will, then we do the right thing. You know, if there's a person that is only able really to clean and do nothing else really, because that person has problems speaking and so on, Well, that person fulfilled her purpose or his purpose and served in the house of God,

for example. And we should not look down on people that have different jobs or do different things in the house of God and view it as less important. So the greeters are so important, the preacher is important, the singer is important, the 1 that takes out the trash is so important. And that's what I find amazing. God sees all of that And he is not differentiating and says, well, I like her more and this less. So he's not a respecter of person because his, you know, his, his, his love is not based on our performance.

Amen. Amen. I, you know, I, I would like to think that I have a good brain. And somebody earlier today, 1 of the young people were commenting on how big my hands are. Well, I have a small toe, my smallest toe that I'm not really that proud of. I don't think it's that important. But a few weeks ago, I was walking through a hotel room and I accidentally kicked the table. Ouch. And my smallest toe became the most important part of my body.

And he almost made you backslide, right? Well,

my first reaction was to pray. But I found out how important that toe is. Every step I took, I realized how important it is for balance, how important it is. And so everybody's important. We may not see their value, we may not think they're a big deal, but I promise you if they're not around, they're a big deal.

Yeah, that is so true.

There's 1 little thing. We have somebody in our church and we wanted that person to be baptized. And the person understood the necessity of it, but not the urgency of it. And I didn't know what to do and how to address it. I just prayed over it. And then somebody else just came by and somehow urged him to do that. And he just decided, yes, I'll be baptized. And then my dad, he talked to me, said, yes, God has different tools in his body. And that other person was just a tool and it worked perfectly with

that person that needed to be baptized. Yes.

Amen. That's awesome.

Amen. All right. Is there anything you guys want to add? Everybody is so quiet.

No, not that. Maybe ask.

Not really.

I mean, time is long. I mean, it's been a long time since he said about that you should really just do what you can do. You know, Don't wonder, Oh, this, that, what should I do? Well, whatever he equipped you with, the abilities he gave you, use those for him. And when he said that, I was also reminded of the verse that says, like, if someone has been given much, of that person will also much be demanded. So it's really not like trying to do little or a lot or whatever. Just do what you can do

and then you will be good. Do how much you can do for the Lord, as much as you can.

And I think sometimes we start a little like with kids. In the beginning they cannot do all of it, whatever it is, but they try and try, and as they mature, they can do more. And sometimes that's the same with us. You know we start slow, we start with little things and then as we mature in Christ we will do other things that are maybe considered by others great things.

I know we're getting ready to go, but I want to say how much I have enjoyed being here. It's my third visit to Mannheim and third time to come to conference over the years, and this is such an awesome church. If I lived anywhere within driving distance of this church, there is no place else I would go. You have great leadership, great worship, great talent, and great people. And I want to say how much that I am thrilled and blessed about what God's doing here and thank you for letting me be part of this podcast.

Amen. Thank you so much for those nice words and we really feel honored and privileged to have you here on our podcast. You are a big star actually in the States, you know. He didn't say so much about it, but he is famous. He is? Really? He's famous. So we are so honored to have you here with us. And well, is there anything you want to say? Nope. All right. Then I think we're about to end this. And again, thank you for coming over. Thank you for being here with us and doing this podcast. And we

would like to say God bless you to all. And if you want to subscribe, please subscribe. If you want to share this episode share this episode we are trying to help people and even though our English is not perfect but we try our best and hopefully we can help all of you if you want to comment our episode just comment it if you have some ideas that you would like to talk about some topics just leave a comment there and we'll see what we can do. God bless you all and see you next time.

See you soon.

Bye bye.

Auf Wiedersehen.

Auf Wiedersehen. Bye.