The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about an urgent problem with one of the main computers. He dialled the employees home telephone number and was greeted with a child’s whispered, "Hello?" Feeling put out at the inconvenience of having to talk to a youngster, the boss asked, "Is your Daddy home?" "Yes," whispered the small voice. "May I talk with him?" the man asked. To the surprise of the boss, the small voice whispered, "No." Wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?" "Yes," came the answer. "May I talk with her?" Again, the small voice whispered, "No." Knowing that it was not likely that a young child would be left home alone, the boss decided he would just leave a message with the person who should be there watching over the child. "Is there any one there besides you?" the boss asked the child. "Yes," whispered the child, "a policeman." Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee’s home, the boss asked, "May I speak with the policeman?" "No, he is busy," whispered the child. "Busy doing what?" asked the boss. "Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman," came the whispered answer. Growing concerned and even worried as he heard what sounded like a helicopter through the ear piece on the phone, the boss asked, "What is that noise?" "A hello-copper," answered the whispering voice. "What is going on there?" asked the boss, now alarmed. In an awed whispering voice, the child answered, "The search team just landed the hello-copper!" Alarmed, concerned and more than just a little frustrated, the boss asked, "Why are they there?" Still whispering, the young voice replied (along with a muffled giggle), "They are looking for me!"
Col. 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. [16] For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. [17] He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. [19] For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, [20] and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
· What is the purpose of my life?
· I want to share with you 5 purposes of life that can dramatically change what and how you do everything.
· Knowing your purpose in life will help you live better?
o It gives meaning to your existence.
o It simplifies your life.
o It gives you focus.
o It gives you motivation.
o It prepares you for eternity.
I. Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life!
Several years ago, I read the story of Larry Walters, a 33-year-old man who decided he was tired of doing the same thing every day. He went down to the local army surplus store one morning and bought forty-five used weather balloons. That afternoon he strapped himself into a lawn chair, to which several of his friends tied the now helium-filled balloons. He took along a six-pack of beer, a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and a BB gun, figuring he could shoot the balloons one at a time when he was ready to land. Walters, who assumed the balloons would lift him about 100 feet in the air, was caught off guard when the chair soared more than 11,000 feet into the sky--smack into the middle of the air traffic pattern at Los Angeles International Airport. Too frightened to shoot any of the balloons, he stayed airborne for more than two hours, forcing the airport to shut down its runways for much of the afternoon, causing long delays in flights from across the country. Soon after he was safely grounded and cited by the police, reporters asked him three questions:
"Were you scared?" … "Yes."
"Would you do it again?" … "No."
"Why did you do it?" "Because," he said, "you can't just sit there."
Psalm 33:11 But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
a. Without purpose there is no meaning
A person my age once was quoted saying “I feel like a failure because I am struggling to become something, and I don’t even know what it is. All I know how to do is to just get by. Someday, if I discover my purpose, I’ll feel I’m really beginning to live.”
b. Many of us can relate to what that man is saying
c. Why? What is the purpose of all this?
There is no answer to that question Unless. Unless. Hear me now! You know God!!! Without God, life has no purpose, meaning, significance, or hope.
d. Without God you end up going through life without any purpose.
To find meaning in your life you have to fulfill God’s purpose for your life.
II. Knowing your purpose simplifies your life.
a. How many of you have too much on their plate?
i. How many of you are tired?
ii. How many of you are just working too hard?
b. I have not gotten to know most of you very well yet, but I imagine we have a busy hard working church
i. I suspect your schedules are tough.
c. All that work, all those struggles create …
i. Stress – how will I be able to get all of it done
ii. Fatigue – I just cant make it to Bible Study tonight
iii. Conflict – Look at so and so over there, they have such an easy life and that makes me mad.
d. The cure is to live life following God’s purpose for your life!
e. When you do that … you can automatically filter the things you do.
f. You can ask yourself how does an activity bring me closer to accomplishing God’s purpose?
g. If it doesn’t help you achieve God’s purpose then you shouldn't do it.
h.You can't do everything people want you to do. It is impossible.
Do your remember Martha? Lets review
Luke 10:38-42 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. [39] She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. [40] But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" [41] "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
….. Martha running all around make sure everything was perfect for Jesus. Trying to do everything exactly right. And there is Mary. Mary that slacker! She was just sitting there not doing a single thing. What did Jesus say? Mary is doing what she is suppose to do. Mary was living a purpose driven life.
III. Knowing your purpose brings focus to your life.
Col. 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
a. Often in our lives we loose focus.
b. We begin to major in the minors and minor in the majors.
c. We begin to look at the details and miss the big picture completely.
d. We forget what is important
e. And our lives become Trivia Pursuit questions.
f. And we miss the whole point
Think about light. What happens when you focus light? If you take a magnifying glass at the right angle you can focus the light enough to catch paper on fire. When you focus light even more soon you have a laser and laser can cut through steel That is what purpose driven living will do for you. It will help you focus.
g. It will help keep your priorities straight
h.And you will keep the main things the main things.
IV. Knowing your purpose motivates your life.
Have you been to McDonalds lately? Have you seen some of the people working there? If you had to rate their motivation level on a scale 1 to 10 with 1 being not motivated 10 being super motivated. How would you rate them? Probably not to high. Why are they there? To earn a paycheck, that is their only motivation. I know of a company that saw the lack of motivation in their employees and decided to try and correct it. They gave their employees an extra $50 a week just to make it to work on time everyday.
Phil 3:13-14 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
i. Lack of motivation happens because of a lack of Passion
b. Purpose produces Passion (say that 5 times fast)
c. You start living a purpose driven life and you have passion.
i. That passion will cause you to have motivation
ii. That motivation will give you energy
iii. That energy will be used to fulfill purposes
iv. Which will give you passion
v. Which will cause you to have motivation
vi. Which will give you energy to fulfill purposes
vii. And on and on we go, Serving God with Passion
Paul lived an amazing life. He went from persecutor to proclaimer. He found the purpose for his life. So he served God with Purpose. That passion drove him to accomplish great things for God! His best known words were … Not that I have already obtain this, or have I been made perfect, but I press on…!
He was purpose driven!
V. Knowing your purpose prepares you for eternity.
2 Tim. 1:12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
a. We spend a majority of our life working. Working hard. Working, working, working.
b. We think that the harder we work the more people will remember what we did.
c. We try and find ways that will create a legacy. We want to contribute something to society that will last forever and people will use throughout that generations.
Remember Larry Walters and his lawn chair? A few years ago he committed suicide because he missed God’s purpose for his life.
I once worked in a print shop. We had an old “letter press” printing press. You took the individual letters you needed on the page and placed each letter by hand in the chase. Once you got the letters in place you would lock up the chase, print a test sheet and look for any errors. Once you corrected the errors, you would lock the chase into the letter press then one by one your would print one page at a time. The letterpress was a great invention allowing people to print newspapers and written communications. It was a legacy for the inventor ….. UNTIL ….. now I sit at my computer, I format a page, I have over 600 type fonts I can use instantly. At the press of a button I can print 1 or 100,000 copies. I can publish it on the internet and millions of people can read it at their convenience. Nobody remembers the letterpress.
d. We try to do something that will last
i. We know we cannot take the money with us once we die.
ii. We know that we can not take any of our possessions.
e. The only things that will last are the things accomplished under God’s purpose for our lives.
f. Eternity means forever.
g. Living a purpose driven life helps us prepare for eternity.
h.When you stand before God on the day of judgment you will have to answer two questions.
i. What did you do with Jesus, God’s Son?
ii. What did you do with the talents and gifts I gave you?
i. Being purpose driven, living a purpose driven life implies that you know Jesus that you have a relationship with Him
j. And that you are using your gifts to fulfill the purposes of your life
· Most of us, if we're honest, have said in one form or another … What is this life for?
· The answer lies at the starting point. … God!
· That is the problem, we start at the wrong place!
· We have to start with God.
· God gives us meaning.
· When we look to God we find meaning.
· We find purpose.
· When we follow God we have direction.
· We live a purpose driven life.
Have you found purpose?
What on earth are you here for?
No comments:
Post a Comment