They Stole His Coat, Not His Favour: 10 Facts About Your Assignment
Dr RJ Sing, 39 min, Part 2 of Expanding Your Borders and Influence
Originally preached as “Expanding Your Borders and Influence for God”
Sermon outline
You were handpicked by God and blessed for a purpose: your whole life is an assignment to solve a problem for someone, and your provision, your promotion and your protection are tied to staying in it.
Main text
- 1 Chronicles 4:10
Opening
He returns to 1 Chronicles 4:10 and says he has been praying the prayer of Jabez over his own life every morning and over the church all week, sending it out by text message. He recalls how the book The Prayer of Jabez once made it popular and says the church has since forgotten it. Then he tells his own story of coming 'from a different background' and discovering that to be connected with Jesus is to be connected to a blessing.
To be connected with Jesus is to be connected to a blessing
There is an empowerment that comes with serving Jesus Christ. He remembers a time when everything he touched would break, and how after he accepted Jesus everything he touched multiplied and he began to carry a supernatural influence into shops, restaurants and churches. Living that way is close to how God created man to function: fruitful and multiplying, while careful to walk in His commandments. The blessing does not only catch up with you; it overtakes you.
Illustration: He was brought up to stand his ground and fight every fight himself. As he grew in the faith he saw that when he fought, God did not, and when he stepped back, God came to the front. So he slowly relinquished the right to fight.
“To be connected with Jesus is to be connected to a blessing.”
- 1 Chronicles 4:10
- Romans 10:15
- Genesis 1:26-28
- Deuteronomy 28:2
Handpicked by God: it is just the beginning
God compensates for our small prayers by doing more than we can ask, think or imagine. You were not just brought into the kingdom but carefully chosen, and it is a privilege simply to know God. Grace superseded the darkness and the curses to rescue us, and the blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow. Lands, houses and inheritances are coming, but with them comes a responsibility to put the kingdom first.
Illustration: A grown, married man recently wept in front of him and Pastor Zubeda, saying, 'I don't know God.' He also recalls blind eyes opened, people carried in on mats who stood up, crutches thrown away, and women given no hope by a gynaecologist who went on to have children.
“It's not a small thing to be handpicked by God.”
- 2 Chronicles 20:15
- Ephesians 3:20
- Proverbs 10:22
- Matthew 6:33
Keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain
The last part of the prayer matters. When you go off the track it does not only affect you; it causes pain to your spouse, parents, children, extended family, neighbours and the church. It is painful to watch good people with a great future fall by the wayside.
“When we do evil things, we don't only affect ourselves. We affect everybody connected to us.”
- 1 Chronicles 4:10
Your whole life is an assignment
You are not living just to live. If anyone is in Christ he is a new creature, a royal priesthood and a holy nation, a pilgrim passing through with a purpose. Everything God created is a solution to a problem, and your assignment on earth is to solve a problem for somebody, for which you will be rewarded.
Illustration: Your eyes see, your ears hear, dentists solve teeth problems and lawyers solve legal problems.
“When your assignment is unrecognized, you are uncelebrated.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:17
- 1 Peter 2:9
- Hebrews 12:2
- 1 Corinthians 7:20
1. Your assignment is always to a person or to a people
When God speaks to us about our assignment we make excuses, but He told Jeremiah not to say he was too young. Wherever you are, in corporate life, a profession or government, God will give you the grace, knowledge and skill to be a light in that dark spot.
“I will give you the grace to speak.”
- Jeremiah 1:7
2. Your assignment determines the sufferings and attacks you must encounter
Do not be naive. When you ask God to bless you and He does, the attacks grow with it.
“The bigger the assignment, the bigger the attacks.”
- 2 Timothy 1:12
3. What grieves you is a clue to what you are assigned to heal and restore
Some people have compassion for the poor, some for the homeless, some love children's ministry and some love being around business people. Compassion is a signal to the place where you belong.
“What makes you cry is a clue to the problem God has qualified you to heal.”
4. What you love the most reveals the greatest gifts you contain
Everyone has been gifted by God. You will only have wisdom for something you love, so what you love to talk about, think about and learn about points to your place.
Illustration: Moses sat judging the people from morning till evening. It was tiresome, but he loved it, because that is what God called him for.
“You'll only have wisdom for something you love.”
- Exodus 18:13-14
5. Your assignment is always geographical
Where you are matters as much as what you are. Geography controls the flow of favour, because who sees you determines who will promote you. Go where you are celebrated, and do not be afraid when God leads you to new people and places, as He led Abraham out of his father's house.
Illustration: You might be a beautiful fish, but God help you if you are not in the water.
“Where you are matters as much as what you are.”
- Genesis 12:1
6. You will only succeed when your assignment becomes an obsession
Paul's uncommon achievement came from one thing: forgetting what is behind and pressing towards the goal.
“You will only succeed when your assignment becomes an obsession.”
- Philippians 3:13-14
7. Your assignment will require seasons of preparation
Doctors, attorneys and pilots are trained, and so are God's people. Expect seasons of insignificance, isolation, waiting, warfare, persecution, injustice, silence and lack of promotion. If you learn to look up to God in isolation, you will still look to Him on a public platform, like David and not like Saul. Jesus invested thirty years of preparation for three and a half years of ministry.
Illustration: Joseph in the pit had only one place to look, and that was up. Today we get to the window and if we are not served in 59 seconds we want it free, but the economy of God does not work like that.
“Sometimes God will have to isolate you to insulate you.”
- 2 Timothy 2:15
- Genesis 37:24
- Hebrews 5:8
8. Your assignment may be misunderstood by your own family and those closest to you
Even Jesus' brothers did not believe in Him. Press on when your own siblings and family misunderstand you. Your family is your school: surviving them is proof that you will survive your enemy and your future.
“Your family wants you humbled. Your enemy wants you destroyed.”
- John 7:5
- Romans 8:31
9. Your assignment will always have an enemy
Coming to Christ is not the end of your problems but a beginning, and it is worth it because you learn the wisdom and power of God. What God has given you no one can subtract. He cautions against coming up against someone who carries God's favour: what you criticise you repel, so celebrate the success of others if you want to see your own. He admits he gets cross when people break his principles, but says he is never bitter and is quick to forgive.
Illustration: They stole Joseph's coat but could not steal his favour. Had it not been for Goliath, where would David be? What you throw out is like a boomerang.
“Your friends provide comfort. Your enemies provide promotion.”
- Genesis 37:23
- Galatians 6:7
- 1 Samuel 17:45-50
10. Your assignment is the only place your financial provision is guaranteed
People choose a restaurant and their clothes with care, yet choose a church out of pity for the pastor. Your life is an assignment and God directs where you sit and where you sow, on good ground and not arid ground. He teaches that your pastor is your ceiling, that a man or woman of God should be judged by whether the hand of the Lord is visibly with them, and that prosperity is tied to believing God's prophets. In the right place God will send people and provision again and again.
Illustration: God told Elijah to go to the brook, where the ravens fed him. When the brook dried up his assignment had changed, and the new one was Zarephath, where a starving woman received a miracle.
“Lack is a clue that God is changing your assignment.”
- Luke 4:18
- 1 Kings 17:2-9
- 2 Chronicles 20:20
You can never expire until your assignment is completed
His concluding thought: the devil has no right to take you out until God has finished with you. Whatever bad things are happening around you, your life is safe because your assignment is not over, and God will send the right people at the right time with the provision for it.
“Your life will never expire until your assignment is completed.”
Putting it into practice
- Pray the prayer of Jabez over your life and your church, including 'keep me from evil'.
- Give up the right to fight your own battles and let God defend you.
- Find your assignment in what grieves you and what you love, and let it become an obsession.
- Celebrate the success and promotion of others, and be quick to forgive.
- Let God direct where you plant yourself and where you sow.
Closing
He calls up the praise and worship team and blesses the congregation: 'The Lord give you miracles upon miracles.' He then declares over them the church's confession for tithes and offerings, from better jobs and debt cancellation to restoration and a hundredfold return, and ends with the priestly blessing.
Declarations he led
- It's just the beginning.
- It's the beginning of great things in my life.
- I press.
In his words
- “To be connected with Jesus is to be connected to a blessing.”
- “I have learned slowly to relinquish the right to fight.”
- “Sometimes God will have to isolate you to insulate you.”
- “They stole his coat. They couldn't steal his favor.”
- “Your life will never expire until your assignment is completed.”
Every scripture in this message
- 1 Chronicles 4:10
- Romans 10:15
- Genesis 1:26-28
- Deuteronomy 28:2
- 2 Chronicles 20:15
- Ephesians 3:20
- Proverbs 10:22
- Matthew 6:33
- 2 Corinthians 5:17
- 1 Peter 2:9
- Hebrews 12:2
- 1 Corinthians 7:20
- Jeremiah 1:7
- 2 Timothy 1:12
- Exodus 18:13-14
- Genesis 12:1
- Philippians 3:13-14
- 2 Timothy 2:15
- Genesis 37:24
- Hebrews 5:8
- John 7:5
- Romans 8:31
- Genesis 37:23
- Galatians 6:7
- 1 Samuel 17:45-50
- Luke 4:18
- 1 Kings 17:2-9
- 2 Chronicles 20:20
- Numbers 6:24-26
- Mark 10:30
- Proverbs 13:22
- Mark 11:23
