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Pastor's Message
"What is your Purpose?"
In this Holy Season when we commemorate
the life, crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, it is a time for careful reflection and consideration of what
it means to us individually and personally. It is also a time for us
to reflect on both "what we do?" and "why we do it?"
As members of the United House of Prayer for All People (UHOPFAP) Church
on the Rock of the Apostolic Faith, it is extremely important that we
take time to assess our Christian Purpose, and our Christian mission
to insure that we are living and behaving in ways that are pleasing
to the Almighty God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
There are many religious organizations
that people choose to join and people join various organizations for
a variety of reasons. But before joining any organization, people should
take the time to read, study and understand the purpose for which that
organization exists. Webster's Dictionary defines purpose as "an
end result to be attained either by an individual or an organization."
Having a well-defined statement of purpose makes it possible for us
to behave purposefully. Within an organizational context, there must
be a process of instruction, learning, and experience that enables us
to have the purpose of this organization integrated into our everyday
lives. I would challenge every member of our congregation to carefully
and personally answer these two questions: "Why am I a member of
the UHOPFAP?" and "Am I behaving in ways that are consistent
with the purpose of the UHOPFAP?"
The purpose of the UHOPFAP is "to
maintain and perpetuate the doctrine of Christianity." When we
think about this doctrine it is extremely important that we understand
that all scriptural instruction is designed to teach us how to behave
Christ-like. The word "christian" was a derogatory term used
at Antioch to describe the behavior of the followers of Jesus Christ.
For our learning we have the Holy Bible which sets forth the doctrine
of Christianity and the Apostolic Faith. The Apostolic Faith was that
faith which was displayed by the disciples and the prophets in believing
that God would send a deliverer; a savior to redeem man from his sinful
ways.
It is further the purpose of the UHOPFAP
to erect and maintain houses of prayer and worship. When we think about
the ability to erect, we think about the whole process of financing,
architectural planning, blueprint designs, and eventually the construction
of houses of prayer and worship. Our purpose statement makes it very
clear that these buildings are erected for the purpose of prayer and
worship where all people may gather to pray and worship the Almighty
God in spirit and in truth irrespective of denomination or faith. It
does not matter whether you are a Buddhist, Catholic, Muslim, Baptist,
Methodist, Lutheran, or any other denomination. If you want to worship
God in spirit and in truth, then the House of Prayer is open and available
to you.
What is life without purpose? Life without
purpose is like a ship sailing on a sea without neither sail nor rudder.
It just drifts. We are thankful that God sent in the name of his son
Jesus our founding father, Sweet Daddy Grace, who formulated and crafted
this statement of purpose for the UHOPFAP that we would be very carefully
guided in all that we do as a part and as a member of the UHOPFAP. We
are thankful to God that the Purpose was maintained by Precious Daddy
McCollough who continued to challenge us to grow, learn and experience
the fullness of Christ that we may behave in ways that are consistent
with this purpose. And we are ever thankful to God through our Lord
Jesus Christ for our leader of today, Precious Daddy Madison who consistently
challenges and reminds us of our purpose and how we must show a difference
between holy and unholy in the way we walk, talk, live, and treat our
fellow man.
May this season of Easter, a time
of renewal, be a time that we will bring our lives into purposeful focus.
Where we are behaving inconsistently with our purpose, let us pray and
fast that God will give us his Holy Ghost, and that with power we may
fulfill the purpose of this Great Holy Kingdom.
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