s20060521m_WHAT IS THE POINT OF LIFE

WHAT IS THE POINT OF LIFE?

12 I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, 13 applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. 14 I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Ecclesiastes. 1:12-14

1.      WHEN I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE POINT OF LIFE...LIFE SEEMS

USELESS                               At the end of your days what will you have to show for it?

TIRESOME                            When do you get to rest in this life?

UN-FULFILLING                 Have you ever been completely content?

INSIGNIFICANT                  How important are you to the scheme of things?

UNCONTROLLABLE          How much control do you have over your circumstances?

2.      WHAT IS THE POINT OF LIFE?

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.  Ephesians 1:3-6

9 God has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Ephesians 1:9-10

THE POINT OF LIFE IS [TO PREPARE ME] FOR ETERNITY!

3.      HOW DO I PREPARE?

¨      GET [TO KNOW GOD] THROUGH THE CROSS—John 17:2-3

2 Since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

¨      BECOME LIKE [JESUS] BY GOD’S POWER—Romans 8:28-29

28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.

¨      PRACTICE [THE GOOD WORKS] PREPARED BY GOD—Ephesians 2:8-10

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

¨      SHARE [LIFE’ PURPOSE] WITH OTHERS—1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.