The PURPOSEFUL

MESSAGE PREPARED FOR THE 6TH END OF
YEAR PROGRAM OF THE TEENS
FELLOWSHIP OF RCCG, JUBILEE PARISH BY
PASTOR ABAYOMI FAYOSE

GeneralTheme: The Purposeful Teenager

BackgroundTheme: Old School
Biblereference: Daniel 1:8 But Daniel
purposed in hisheart that he would not defile
himself with the portion of the king's meat, norwith the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Definition of terms
Teenager: a young person between the ages of 13 and 19. But in practise we also have a few people in their early 20’s among us
Purposeful: showing a clear determination; having a definite purpose or aim

Comparison between then and now
There are obvious changes between the way things were done 30 – 40 years ago and now. We can examine them under anumber of categories:
Entertainment/Leisure : In those days TV programming did not start till about 4 or 5 PM. So you could return from school, do your homework and rest a little before the distraction of TV starts. And latest by midnight or 1AM they were off air again. I remember during my Youth Service I bought a radio set which doubled as my alarm clock because OGBC 2 would start transmission at about 5 AM. That was the earliest station
then. We used to have a big box-like TV back then and if reception was poor, we give it a big slap on the side and the picture will clear up instantly. To watch any good movie, you had to go to the cinema. But these days you have a wide range of choices for cable TV. You can watch movies 24/7. Or if it is news
you prefer, or even sports, there is 24/7 access.

Access to Information : When I was writing my project, I had to go to the British Council library. And at a point I had to order an international photocopy. These days you can practically do your whole literature
review at home. Someone once said these days you can get more information from the internet in one day than you could get in 4 years of formal education.

Communication: in those days we used to write letters, put in an envelope, go to the post office, buy a stamp and post the letter. Sometimes it could take weeks for a letter to go from Ibadan to Lagos. So you can imagine if you were expecting a letter from abroad. You can tell from the postage that it got from UK to Nigeria within 3 days, but
to get to its final destination in Nigeria would take another couple of weeks. Today practically the whole world is online, real time.

And so the question is, ‘All this technological advancement, is it a good thing or a bad thing?’

Let us illustrate with another question: Is a knife a good thing or a bad thing? It depends on usage - domestically to cut bread or meat, or in the hand of a criminal to hurt or even kill others. It is the same with technology. It is just a tool, which
can be used either to do the right or wrong things.

Environmental factors affecting our purpose or destiny
Parental influence: Which could be positive or negative…

Technology : Open Heavens Tuesday 17 th
December Action point: The internet has become a major stumbling block to many believers. If you are a victim of this, break off and redefine your relationship with it today.

Lifestyle of leisure and pleasure : Open Heavens Tuesday 24thDecember begins with ‘Besides prosperity and comfort, another
thing that can divert your attention while running the race is resting before you reach your goal. Many adverts encourage us to relax to take it easy to enjoy ourselves. But it
is not yet time for that. There is a time to work and a time to rest. If you rest now, you will have to work later when you are old and frail. A friend says that is his driving force, when he sees old men and women begging
by the roadside. But if we work very hard now, we can rest later in life.
Proverbs 21:17 Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich

1 Timothy 5:6 But she that liveth inpleasure is dead while she liveth

Similarities: The things that have not
changed
Forces between good and evil John 10:10
The devil is still fighting for our attention; fighting to occupy and waste our time, fighting to get us addicted to sinful habits that destroy us and make us to offend God;
fighting to keep us oppressed, repressed and possessed. The only difference is in the type of toys he now uses.
Like we said earlier, technology is advancing at a really fast rate. Talk less of the last 30 – 40 years, even in the last 10 years there has been so much advancement. When the
film 24 came out in the early 2000s, some of the gadgets they used in that movie looked so advanced. Someone will take a picture of a suspect and immediately forward it to Jack
Bauer’s PDA. And we would be so
fascinated. Today anyone of us can do that.
So technology has advanced and will
continue to advance. But technology is just a tool. It depends on how you choose to use it.

So what to do now
Many times it would appear that life
is unfair; like the grass is always greener on the other side. But most times, we do not have a choice as to the circumstances and situations we find ourselves. And many times
the world as well as our human nature encourages us to always look for somewhere else to put the blame: I come from a broken home, I have an abusive background, my parents did not have money and the other resources to put me at an advantage, etc etc. but the truth is that many people who have faced some of these very same challenges have come out tops. People from broken homes are running their own homes successfully; people from poor homes have gone on to become successful business people and multimillionaires, etc.
While children who came from those
advantaged backgrounds sometimes lose everything and end up poor.
The difference boils down to you and I, and the choices we make especially at this early stage of our lives. Our Bible reference gives us a great example Daniel 1:8. Some of the sacrifices we makenow will go a long
way to determining our success in future. The same way, some of the things we indulge in now can also have a great impact on ourfuture.
I had a boss who was quite successful.
Atone meeting he confessed to us that when
he was young he used to wonder when
hesaw old men and women begging on the
streets. He used to wonder where thechildren
and other relatives of such people were and
that even if they had noother relatives, what
did they do with their childhood and the
earlier parts oftheir lives for them to end up
like this begging by the roadside?
Another friend said says the reason he
cannever become a football fan is that he
always considers that he is spending
hismeagre hard-earned resources, energy
and emotion watching someone who is
beingpaid millions of dollars. That he would
rather be using that time to keepimproving
himself so that someday someone else will
also be prepared to paymillions of dollars for
his own products or services.
Tony Atlas is an American
bodybuilder,powerlifter, and professional
wrestler who has held multiple titles
andchampionships in each sport. When
asked in an interview how he always
managesto keep in shape, even when there
were no events or competitions coming up.
Hesaid anytime he feels like relaxing or
taking a break, he always remembers
thatsomeone else somewhere is probably in
the gym at that same hour training.
Weshould also keep that in mind; that the
same time you are wasting
browsing,chatting, gisting away, someone
else somewhere is studying, training,
reading,improving themselves. So how do
you expect to compete in the same labour
marketwith such a person?
So we begin by realising that the
mostsignificant ‘environmental factor’
affecting your purpose is YOU;
yourdiscipline, sense of purpose, time
management, determination not to be
undulydistracted, and so on. And you who
call yourself a Christian, you even
haveadditional advantage because God is
you Father and you can always call on himin
times of weakness or confusion.
If you look at the lives of some of ourheroes
in the Bible, they did not always have the
best conditions around them.Daniel was a
captive; he rose to become a Governor.
Joseph was hated by hisbrothers and sold
into slavery; he rose to become Prime
Minister. Even thoughMoses was raised in
the palace, he committed a crime and
became a fugitive; butGod still used him to
deliver his people. Samuel did not have
much directparental support; in fact he grew
up in the midst of all sorts of bad
behaviourand corruption, with his elder
brothers Hophni and Phinehas providing
very bad examples.But even at that young
age he chose to make the right choices and
he grew up tobecome the most respected
High Priest in Israel. To summarise:
Plan your time: The devil finds work for idle
hands. Look for enough positive activity to
fill up your spare time. Acquire knowledge;
build yourself up spiritually; do a kind deed
for someone that will make that person pray
for you; DO SOMETHING
Make sacrifice: Forego some immediate
pleasure or gratification for a better future
reward
Stop complaining: Make the best of whatever
situation you find yourself. Other people are
in similar, if not worse, situations. But
instead of complaining, there are making the
best of their condition. Remember Joseph:
whether as a slave or as a prisoner, he was
always giving his best
Take responsibility: Stop blaming others
about whatever situation you find yourself.
Others in that same situation have moved
on and are doing great in spite of how unfair
life seems to have been to them.
Learn from your mistakes: If you commit an
error once, it can be described as a mistake.
If you commit it a second time that is
stupidity. A wise man will learn from his
mistakes. A wiser man will learn from the
mistakes of others
Be sober, be vigilant: The devil wants to kill
you, but God has not allowed that. So he
will look for every other opportunity to make
you useless. Watch out. Don’t allow him
Pray for God to teach you the right balance
between faith and works (James 2:14-26)