Infinite Fellowship Ministries

The Precept & Principles Of Fatherhood (Part 3) – Identity & Purpose As A Factor Of Fatherhood: Sermon By Apostle Gobanga

For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]. 

Ephesians 2:10 (AMP)

To not understand God is to not understand anything in its ultimate self.

To know God is to know everything and all things. To be able to relate to anything or anyone, you must be able to relate with God.

God spoke the universe into being as a product of the purpose God had for humanity. The earth and all its things were created for man, to serve him.

God put the initial seed of existence of the human race in Adam.

A man provides a seed to the woman, the woman multiplies the seed and matures it e.g. a seed incubated for 9 months in a woman’s womb becomes an infant.

God plants men in obscurity but He elevates men from obscurity to notoriety, not as the world but one where a person attains to the prophetic purpose of God as His son.

God desires that you may realize the abilities and resources He has vested in you for you to attain your purpose.

Identity: state of one’s individuality and personality.

Identity is a sense of being consistent regardless of changes of seasons, circumstances and time. God desires that our identity is consistent because He is consistent.

Identity is a masterpiece of God’s greatest work of creation. It implies that you are a masterpiece of God’s greatest work of creation – man.

Man is a culmination of God’s creation and creativity. Man is incomparable to anything created.

God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. 

Genesis 1:26-27 (AMP)

God made man in His image and likeness to exercise dominion over creation.

God created you to display His glory. Man is a higher form of existence as man is a spirit just as God is a spirit.

That which is natural is limited to the contours of earth.

God created an identity in you from within Himself. He infused His nature in you. Your identity is an expression of God’s identity.

There are 3 components of a person’s identity. This is their mind, emotions and will.

Your identity is a sum total of the convergence of your mind, emotions and will. Your identity is your persona.

God gave you a mind so that as you exercise it. You can fellowship with the mind of God and draw truth from God on who He is.

God gave you an emotional capacity to love Him and the truth you have received from Him.

God gave you a will so that you can appropriate and obey the will of God.

Your identity is supposed to be a reservoir of your capacity, potential, creativity, talents and natural abilities.

Your vision as a person is drawn out from the abundance or fullness of your identity. Without fullness of identity, you have no capacity to receive anything from God, especially vision.

When God speaks to you, He addresses the persona. He speaks to the capacity of your mind (to know Him) of your emotions (to love Him) and your will (to obey Him).

If you do not understand your identity or who you are, you cannot be able to exercise mandate or control over what God has given to you.

When you know who you are, you will be able to define your boundaries. You will know your jurisdiction.

God can give you details of your life and your future. Our God is very specific.

If you cannot be faithful with what you have as a person, you have an identity problem.

God reveals His plan and purpose for your life to your identity. He speaks firstly to your mind, then your emotions and later your will.

A father figure calls out the ordinations of God in your life.

God has given you capacity to soar above your circumstances.

Identity births vision. That vision then defines your purpose.

Purpose precedes vision but you cannot know your purpose unless you know your vision. And you cannot know your vision unless you know your identity.

Co-work with God to culture and nurture your identity to stir up the vision within you to fulfill His purpose.

If you do not know yourself, people will define you.

Your identity will show you the opportunities that are available.

The fullness of your purpose is determined by the pursuit of the vision God has given you that can only be drawn out from your identity.

The identity God has given you is equivalent to the vision God has given you to fulfill purpose.

Accept who God has defined you to be. The moment you reject what God has spoken about who you are, God will let you struggle.

Don’t go where you can’t function.

When God gives you an identity, He ensures that you have the resources required. He also gives you the wisdom to provide solutions to your generation.

Money is not the only resource. There are other resources that are not tangible like money like your talent, abilities and spiritual giftings. Every identity is vested with talents, abilities and spiritual giftings.

A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men. 

Proverbs 18:16 (AMP)

You cannot use what God has given you without your identity. The solutions for your life are vested in your identity. Not anywhere else.

No one can mislead you unless you allow it.

When you know your identity well, you will be able to understand the configurations of life. Your identity defines your natural and spiritual jurisdiction. Your identity helps you describe the details of your life in light of your purpose.

Believing in who God says you are gives God much joy.

Doubt detaches you from God – the source of life and fatherhood. When you don’t know who you are, you will become gullible.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 

Genesis 2:24 (AMP)

For a man to become a father, he must connect to God the Father.

You need to maintain your focus on the purpose of why He created you rather than the roles you have as a father.

Roles are defined by culture, seasons and times. Purpose is not.

When God created Adam, He placed him in Eden – the native element of man. It is in Eden where man was commanded to cultivate.

The assignment God gave man was work, not a job.

The first thing that God gave to man was not money or clothes. Adam was firstly given a garden.

What is Eden’s prophetic purpose? Eden in Hebrew means a spot, the presence of God. It also means delight, or a moment. Eden is a prophetic atmosphere, a dimension, a realm, a prophetic sphere of influence.

Within Eden, there was a spot where Adam was supposed to be present to access the presence of God. Eden is the place where man was able to access the presence of God – unlimited accessibility to heaven.

Adam was ordained to have Eden (the presence of God) as his native element.

1. The first thing you need as a man is His presence.

Not money, or a car, etc.

Adam met Eve in the presence of God. God will never create a woman for you outside of His presence.

You can only be formed as a wife in the presence of God.

You can only function as a father or mother in the presence of God.

Every transaction that God does is in His presence, not outside of His presence. Without the presence of God, everything within you remains dormant.

What determines whether you are in the presence of God or outside of it is your heart (which is like an altar where you transact with God).

As a human being, you can only function when you are in His presence.

One can only access the presence of God through worship. One who is not a worshipper cannot function.

The devil will misalign you when you are outside of the presence of God.

2. The second thing that God gave you is work.

Work is manifesting what God vested inside of you.

To work means to become what God ordained you to be and what He accomplished in eternity. A job is something that you do.

When people work, they do not struggle.

Working is the only way one will provide solutions. People who work are ministers. A person with a job is a performer.

A real man is one who knows himself, understands his identity and works toward becoming who God says he is.

Fulfillment comes from manifesting what is inside of you not in what you have.

When you focus on a job, you are hindered. When you you focus on work, you break hindrances.

3. The vision that God has given you is the divine capacity to behold purpose into the future beyond the present.

People who are visionary look into the future as though it is already accomplished. They see the end from the beginning.

Do not define your life according to your limitations. As a man, live by what you behold supernaturally, not what you see in the natural.

God wants you to perceive that which He has vested in you.

There is a level of divine transaction that you cannot have with God unless you are separated unto God from familiar surroundings. To be called out, you need to be separated.

Persecution matures the seed of purpose and destiny within you.

The purpose of God in you gives birth to the vision. Vision produces the plan to attain that purpose.

When a man does not have any vision, he cannot be able to attain to his purpose. The woman in his life will not be able to administer this purpose.

The woman in your life has what you need, not what you want. These needs are: insight, intuition, wisdom and counsel, stamina (perseverance – they can endure when they see a purpose ahead of them), capacity to carry burdens e.g. Ruth to Naomi, Rahab to the spies of Israel.

The assignment of a woman is tied to the purpose of a man. She can only understand the purpose of a man when the man understands himself (identity and purpose)

A man is called to cultivate – bring out the best (maximize the potential) of what you have, your resources and the people around you.

A woman is a raw material. Men should create an environment for the woman to thrive.

Multiplication happens when you maximize the potential of what you have.

4. God created man to be a protector.

This means becoming a covering for your wife, family, company you establish, for everything under your oversight, even the environment around you.

A real man protects his woman both as a girlfriend and as a wife. Protect her virginity (your girlfriend). Guard your wife and your marriage bed.