Evaluate

WHAT IS THE GOAL?

This really is the same question that people ask all of the time.

“What is the purpose of life?”

As believers, we have discovered truth, but often times we forget what the goal of our lives is.

We exist to glorify God.

It is not about us, it is about him.

God gives us the greatest gift. Himself.

Through our sinful actions, we were separated from God.

God redeemed us through Christ.

He did his for his Glory. Because of his love for us.

We get salvation and to experience God in all his glory and goodness.

Our salvation is a demonstration of his goodness and mercy resulting in his goodness.

For the unsaved person the answer to the question “what is the purpose of life?” is:

Be reconciled to God.

Salvation by Christ alone.

Results in regeneration. The new creation. When this occurs we will fulfill the second part.

Glorify and obey him with your life.

Be holy as he is holy.

Worship him.

Pursue him.

Participate in the Church.

Declare his goodness and what he has done.

Make disciples of all nations.

The specifics beyond that are individual.

As believers then the main part we have to do is glorify God and obey him with our lives.

This can be difficult to focus on and remember at times.

As a church this is our goal as well: To Glorify God and Make Disciples.

More specifically we glorify God by making disciples.

The challenge to

WHAT DOES IT TAKE?

The Movement of God

Obedience

WHAT MUST WE DO?

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Humble Ourselves

Pray

Seek God

“seek my face”

Repent

Follow God

WHAT COULD PREVENT US?

Quenching the Spirit

When through our actions, we oppose the work of the Holy Spirit.

Disobedience

The passage in 2 Chronicles was said to Solomon after he built the temple. The Lord promised to be with Solomon if he followed as David did. But he also promised to pluck them from the land if they disobeyed.

2 Chronicles 7:21–22 ESV

And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’ ”

When we disobey, we turn from participating in what God is doing and instead oppose him.

This will lead to difficulty for the church.

Distractions

Division

Division among the body of Christ is sickness.

We must seek to be a healthy church in all aspects.

Selfishness

Focus on self and preference rather than God.

Inability to change in pursuit of what God is doing.

WHAT SHOULD OUR FOCUS BE?

Colossians 3:1–17 ESV

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Understanding and applying the focus of our life.

God not us.

Humble ourselves before him.

Seeking and longing for the true source of all that is good.

God not this world.

Pray and seek his face.

Living for and by the one who has made us cross from death to life.

Live by the Spirit not the flesh.

Repent of our wicked ways.

Building one another up in pursuit of this goal.

Unity not division.

Following him as he calls us to.

Looking for ways to engage with the Great Commission.

Action not Complacency.

Following him as he calls us to.

EVALUATE

Where are you at in this process?

Are you fulfilling your purpose?