Purpose can be defined as, “The object toward which one strives or for which something exists.” Trouble is, most folk are living out purposeless lives, having no real reason for existing. The dictionary definition of ‘purpose’ should lead us swiftly in the direction of our creator who only knows the very purpose, for our creation. Join Carl, for this second broadcast in the live series, as he identifies clear boundaries which God utilizes to advance us toward the image of His dear Son, in our fruitful Christian experience. Let’s join him now…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Welcome friend to part two of finding God’s purpose for your life. And pastor wasn’t always a saint. He wasn’t always an angel. There was a time when I liked my beer, I liked to socially drink and drink a few. But listen, friend, I was saved by God’s grace on June 9th of 1999 and baptized in water and baptized with the Holy Spirit on the 27th of June 1999 under Pastor John Osteen’s leadership at Lakewood Church in Houston. And friend, oh, I’ve never been the same. God took the desire for alcohol away from me. I never wanted to do it again. I’m so grateful for the blood of Jesus and what he’s done in my life and the changes he’s made in me as a person. I’m a totally different person because the DNA of God has been infused inside of me by his word. Join me now in session for part two of finding God’s purpose for your life. It’s drunkenness that’s the sin. Don’t want to get into that debate. But the point is, I said, change the keg. She said, OK, we’ll change the keg. I already drained half the keg. She was not happy.
So she changed the keg, started pouring it again. I tell you right now, I couldn’t drink this beer. It tastes rancid in my mouth. And that’s when the Holy Spirit spoke to me at the bar. He said, you’re not drinking this beer anymore. You’re not going to have pleasure in it. I was like, whoa, OK. And his true friend, I had no desire for it anymore. I used to have desire for it from the age of 18 to probably 27. I drank every Wednesday, sorry, every Wednesday, every weekend, every weekend, Saturday and maybe Saturday and Sunday, maybe, but Friday night, Saturday night, it was get the beers in. All right. We did it right in Wales. If we were going to sin, we’re going the whole way, man. And that’s how it was. But the truth is, when the spirit of God comes in us, it’s like you can’t go back to that old lifestyle is a tug going on. The word is pulling you this way. You want to go that way. The word is pulling you this way. And many people just get miserable. Being spirit filled, in my opinion, is the answer to all of it. Because once you’re spirit filled and you have the joy of the Lord and you can pray in the spirit, oh man, it just breaks the shackles off.
Amen. How many can relate to that? It’s like a feeling of a new wine inside of you. Amen. Amen. Okay. Some more theology here tonight. Do all things work together for good? Question mark. No, they don’t. All things do not work together for good. Okay. Let’s read the passage. Romans 8:26-28, “Likewise, the spirit helps our infirmities who we know not what we should pray for as we ought.” So this is talking about prayer. That’s what this passage is talking about, prayer. But the spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Friend, when you pray in the spirit with groanings that cannot be uttered with articulate speech, when you go into intercession and pray, okay, you’re praying according to the will of God when you do that.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to whom are called according to his purpose. When we pray in the spirit, we’re praying the perfect will of God and all things will work together for good what we’re praying about. Okay. This is not my own hermeneutic. This is not my own exegesis. Andrew Womack believes the same thing. Kenneth Hagin believes the same thing. A whole bunch of other charismatic guys from the charismatic zoo believe the same interpretation as this. And friend, some people have taken this verse out of context so badly. Well, sister Sue, you know, she died early in the car wreck. God must have needed another angel in heaven. Amen. No, no, no, no, no. Okay. A family dying in a car wreck is not God working all things together for good. That’s called a traffic accident. Okay, friends. So we got to be real careful what we say to people, especially around death and things that have happened tragically.
Okay. Serious word there. The word and is a conjunction in grammar. It joins all these sentences together. It starts out talking about praying and we don’t know how we should pray about the situation, but the spirit does and, and, and. Okay. They’re all connected. We know that from Luke 13 and Genesis 3 that there are still curses in the earth, right? We’re redeemed from the curse of the law, which is poverty, sickness, and spiritual death. But we’re not redeemed from the curses in the earth, right? Do women still have pain when they’re giving birth? I can’t testify, but I know they do, right? That’s one of the curses. Does man have to go to work, Michael, every day from eight to five? That’s a curse, isn’t it? From the sweat of your brow, right? We got to work this thing, man. I mean, God gave Adam a management position and he screwed it up, right? It’s labor from now on, right? So there’s curses in the earth still. God, you can laugh freely. It’s okay. It’s a gift of the spirit. God is not using evil for his purposes. We got to draw the line. Okay. So working through the stuff, despite the decisions we’ve made, the setbacks we’ve had, all the terrible things that have happened to us, can God still work through us? Yeah, sure he can.
We have to give him substance, however. That’s key. We got to give him substance, right? Hebrews 11, one says, faith is the substance. Faith is the substance. “Faith comes by hearing,” Romans 10:17. If you’re in the word of God daily, your faith in this word is going to increase because you’re hearing it regularly, right? Regularly. We can pray in the spirit. We can pray in English. We can pray in Vietnamese, whatever your language of choice is. Prayer, okay? Jude 20 talks about building up our faith by praying in the spirit. We can praise and worship God, especially at home. Sounds weird, pastor. Well, listen. We’re supposed to be worshiping God 24-7. We can’t do that realistically. I understand that, but our attitude should be one of thanksgiving and praise. Some people only worship God for 25 minutes once a week in the church. We are the temple of God, and we’re the ones who are lifting up praise, amen? We’re the ones doing it. When it comes to decision making, follow peace in your heart. Let it be your umpire. Such a good verse. I think it’s Colossians 3:15. If you’re making a decision in life and your gut is going, eh, eh, don’t do that, don’t do it. Your gut is telling you something.
That is the spirit of God living on the inside of you, amen? That knows something that this doesn’t. This thinks it knows everything, right? The gut knows more because the spirit of God dwells in you, right? So we listen to our heart. Circumstances can dictate God’s will. If you’re 5’2 and 125 pounds, American football may not be the path for you, all right? There’s some things in the natural can make us turn in a certain direction, okay? So we pay attention to the gifts and talents that God has given us. What talents do we have? What are you good at? What are you passionate about? We’ll get into that. But when it comes to making decisions, Jesus told Kenneth Hagin one time, I’d rather my people were too slow than too fast when they’re trying to follow my leading. At least when you’re behind me, this is Jesus speaking, at least when you’re behind me, you can still see me out ahead of you. In other words, don’t be that person going ahead of God, making a whole bunch of decisions and then regretting them later. Be on the slower side when it comes to making decisions.
Get a witness in your heart. Get a witness through a prophetic word even. If three people have randomly come up to you by the spirit of God and said, you need to go to college, that’s like I need to pay attention to that because three independent people have told me this. They don’t know each other. They don’t know me. And so God’s given a confirming word of knowledge, amen? Okay. Patience. Everybody’s favorite topic, man. What is patience? How do we define patience? Is it waiting? No, it’s not waiting. Otherwise, we’d call it waiting. Patience is waiting well and not getting in the flesh. That’s what it is, right? There’s many scriptures on patience. Let us run with patience the race that is before us. It’s kind of funny. How can you run with patience? Like, oh, I’m running, but I’m very patient while I’m running. No, you need to win, dude. You need to run faster. Yeah, but you need to have patience when you’re running because it’s a marathon, right? Not a sprint. Many people are good at starting. They’re not very good at finishing. We got some great starters in the church. I’m going to start this, man. God told me. Okay, three weeks later.
Where are you, bro? I mean, God told you, you’re going to start something, man. Oh, well, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t really feel like that was God. That was just me, right? We’ve all done that. Sometimes we have a whim. We do something on a whim. But if that thing keeps persisting and you can’t get rid of it, that’s how you test whether it’s God or not. It won’t go away. He can nag you, friends. He can say, hey, I asked you to do that three months ago, six months ago. Why aren’t you doing it? It’s never going to go away. Remember that Abraham inherited through faith and patience. It wasn’t just faith. It was faith and patience, right? And patience is a fruit of the Spirit. But where does patience come from? Check it out. Romans 15:4, it’s a very powerful verse, “Whatever things were written before were written for our learning that through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might we have hope.” Where does patience come from? The scriptures. It says it right there. Patience is coming from the scriptures, guys. Is it not? I know it’s a fruit that is working in us as well, okay? Also, it’s a work of the Spirit as well. Yes, it is. But we can also glean it from the Word of God as well, amen? Through the patience and comfort of the scriptures, amen? So here’s the deal. We’re all looking around going, look, I’m not sure what God wants me to do.
I don’t know what he wants me to do, how he wants me to do it, et cetera. I don’t have as much talent as somebody else. That’s fair enough. You may not, friend. That’s not an excuse to bury your gifts. That’s not an excuse to bury your talent. If we look at Matthew 25 and Luke 19, we have the famous parable on faithfulness where Jesus told a story. You probably are familiar with the story. I would ask you to read it tonight. But it’s the famous one with the three servants. But notice that he didn’t give all of them the same amount, right? He gave different people different amounts, which means that God has given us different talents in this life. Some people have more talent than others possibly. The scripture infers that. Some people are more talented naturally at certain things than others. We know that as effective life. So what happened? Two of them went off. They made some money. One of them buried the talent. He said, you know what? This master, he may be evil. I’m not sure about this guy. I’m just going to bury it, and at least when he comes back, I’ll be able to give it to him back. Friend, he was maligned by the Lord. He was scalded for hiding his talent. He said, you could have given it to the bank and made me some interest.
You could have at least done that. Friend, how many in this room are burying talents? It’s getting personal now. God has given you a talent. Everybody on earth has one talent, I believe. God has given everybody something. And it’s our job to turn the talent into something that he wants us to do. If it’s starting a business, you’ve been sitting on it for seven years. Oh man, I really want to start that business, but, but, but, but this is stopping me. I want to go into ministry full-time. I want to go on a mission’s trip, okay? Whatever it is. You know what the Lord is telling you. Write a book. Someone could write a book here, okay? Whatever it is. The Lord is going, I’m not going to stop jabbing you until you get with a program, amen? So here’s the takeaway. We’re going to be judged when we get to heaven on the potential God gave us. We’re not going to be judged against somebody else. He’s going to say, I gave you these talents because I knew you could do something with them. And that’s what he’s judging us against.
He’s not judging us against somebody else. That’s what we do. We’re all about looking at other people and this and that and, oh man, those guys are awesome. I’ll never be as, be as good as them. Well, you, maybe you’re not supposed to be as good as them. Maybe they have more talent to begin with. Okay. Right? So we have to find out what the Lord is telling us to do and then do it. Amen. Amen. Okay. Okay. So Jeremiah 29:11 says, “I know the plans I have for you.” That’s you, Michael, Melody, Nicole, Elise, John, everybody in this room, whoever it is. I know the plans I have for you plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future. Amen. So we have to ask ourselves sometimes some questions. What are we passionate about? Everybody has this thing inside of them. They’re really passionate about something like, man, I just love doing that. I seem to be quite good at it. Just hold on to that thought friend, identify with that, the passionate thing in your life. What would you do if money was no object? We’ll pick it up again tomorrow with part three.
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/the-spirit-within-and-the-spirit-upon/
https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/KD-2018-Winter-Discovering-Gods-Purpose-for-Your-Life-6769.pdf
Title: Finding God’s purpose for your life: Part 2 (LIVE)
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Six Frequently Asked Questions:
FAQ 1: Can God still use me despite my past mistakes or lifestyle?
Answer:
Yes—absolutely. God’s grace is transformative. The speaker shared how his own life radically changed after encountering Jesus in 1999. God doesn’t require perfection; He requires surrender. When you give your life fully to Him, He not only forgives but also replaces old desires with new ones through the power of the Holy Spirit.
FAQ 2: Does everything that happens in life work together for good?
Answer:
Not automatically. Romans 8:28 is often misquoted. The context is about praying in the Spirit and aligning with God’s will. All things work together for good specifically for those who love God and are walking in His purpose—especially when they are praying in the Spirit. Tragedy alone is not “God working all things together.” It’s our response in faith and prayer that invites His redemptive power.
FAQ 3: How do I make godly decisions and know I’m following His will?
Answer:
Follow peace in your spirit. Colossians 3:15 says to let peace be your umpire. If something feels off in your gut, don’t move forward. God often confirms His direction through Scripture, prayer, and sometimes even prophetic confirmation from others. Take your time. Don’t rush. Jesus told Kenneth Hagin He’d rather His people move too slow than too fast.
FAQ 4: What role does the Holy Spirit play in finding my purpose?
Answer:
The Holy Spirit is crucial. Being Spirit-filled enables you to pray in alignment with God’s will, break free from old habits, and walk in supernatural joy and strength. The Spirit empowers and convicts—leading you into God’s best, even when your flesh wants something different. Praying in tongues and worshiping regularly also build your faith and sensitivity to God’s direction.
FAQ 5: What if I don’t feel talented or qualified like others?
Answer:
You’re not called to compete—you’re called to be faithful. In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25, Luke 19), each servant received a different amount—but was expected to be faithful with what they were given. God doesn’t compare you to others; He evaluates what you did with what He gave you. Don’t bury your talent out of fear or comparison.
FAQ 6: How do I identify my God-given purpose or calling?
Answer:
Start by asking:
- What am I passionate about?
- What would I do if money was no object?
- What has God been nudging me to do, even if I’ve resisted?
Your purpose often lies at the intersection of your gifts, your passion, and the needs around you. Stay in the Word, be led by the Spirit, and walk in patience—because finding and fulfilling your purpose is a process, not a single moment.
Carl is an authority. He is a biblical scholar, minister, author, husband, father, and life coach. In his mid-twenties he had a powerful encounter with God and saw miraculous healings as a result. Carl is a unique researcher who investigates current affairs, societal trends, prophecy, technology, cults, and end time events, all through a biblical lens.
Carl holds a Doctorate in Theology (Th D). His Alma Mata includes: Salford University, Manchester, UK, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, UK, Rhema Bible Training College (Tulsa), and Southwestern Christian University (Oklahoma City).
Carl Joseph Ministries empowers believers in Christ to fulfill their God given potential. Join Carl every other Monday on the Lions Unchained Podcast, available on Spotify, iTunes and other mainstream platforms.
He currently resides in Colorado, with his lovely wife Amy, and their three children.
