Make the Most of Life

***Pastor Doug Birthday Yesterday

Sticky bun

***Leslie Service 7/21 - after church 2 pm carol coordination

***larissa - Teresea

Kori

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Jack and Chris. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. “If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, ‘Let My brother have the first pancake; I can wait.’”

Jack turned to his younger brother and said, “Chris, you be Jesus!”

——-

I remember sitting at the piano with the Pastors wife one day after church. She showed me how to pluck out the notes to “How Great Thou Art” on the piano. Somehow my grandma heard that I was interested in learning how to play so she gave me the gift of piano lessons. I LOVED going to my lessons because my teacher not only taught me from the lesson book, but she taught me how to be a piano “Hack”. She showed me how to enjoy the piano.

Later on, my folks bought me a keyboard! I loved that thing so much, I just played it and played it for hours on end.

Now, I am not naturally talented, but I can sort of make it happen if I work hard enough.

That gift came with a condition. Really, it came with an opportunity. If I took that gift and worked with it, then I could make the most out of what I had been given.

I am grateful for the gift I recieved and I think I showed my gratefulness by making the most of it in my life.

We have all been given a gift. In fact, it’s the greatest gift we could ever be given. BIGGER than piano lessons! Actually, there’s nothing greater that has ever been given. Without this gift you have absolutely nothing.

We’ve all been given the gift of LIFE. Here’s the question for today: Are we making the MOST of the gift we’ve been given?

Another way to ask this question is: Am I walking in my God given Purpose?

Maybe we should first talk about our purpose.

Here’s the Truth:

You have a Purpose

You’re not an accident. If life is a gift given by God, and God is perfect, then you weren’t a mistake! You were created on purpose FOR a purpose.

I’m going to tell you right here and now what the purpose is:

Mark 12:30–31 NLT

30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

And this:

Mark 16:15 NLT

15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.

In other words, we are all called to Love God, Love People, and Let people know about His love for them.

HOW you do those things is kind of up to you! You see, I believe God give desires to each person.

Some people grow up wanting to be a dentist…to me, that seems like a disgusting job… I want no part of putting my hand in someone else’s mouth. God didn’t put that desire in me, but He does for others.

The key is loving God, loving people, and telling people about Jesus no matter what you do!

We are called to serve God and people.

This is our purpose.

You CAN change the World

If our purpose is wrapped up in LOVE then when we look at the situation the world is in we want to make a difference. Love motivates us to improve the world!

Changing the world is a massive burden. Really, it’s an impossible burden for any individual. Especially for flawed people. All of us have issues. No one is or will become perfect, and even if you could become a super human fixing the all problems of the world would still be impossible.

But our short comings don’t get us off the hook. As Christians we are told that we have some responsibility to humanity. We aren’t supposed to stick our heads in the sand and pretend that the problems of the world are someone else’s problems. We are supposed to be active in our efforts to better humanity.

The question we should pray everyday is:

God, how can I be helpful?

Life is short and we should all want to end our life knowing that in some way, no matter how small, that we’ve helped. That we give more than we take, that we used what we’ve been given to build something meaningful in the lives of other people.

1 Peter 4:7–11 CEV

7 Everything will soon come to an end. So be serious and be sensible enough to pray. 8 Most important of all, you must sincerely love each other, because love wipes away many sins. 9 Welcome people into your home and don’t grumble about it. 10 Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well. 11 If you have the gift of speaking, preach God’s message. If you have the gift of helping others, do it with the strength that God supplies. Everything should be done in a way that will bring honor to God because of Jesus Christ, who is glorious and powerful forever. Amen.

Peter was reminding people that Jesus was coming soon. You should LOVE people, especially other believers.

You see, it’s really all about love. That’s our motivation. And the small acts of love can really make a BIG difference in people’s lives. Verse 8 says that love wipes away sin. What does that mean? OUR Love doesn’t forgive sin, only Jesus can do that, but it doesn’t go around proclaiming it! We FORGIVE.

We need to be creative in using our God given gifts. We all have gifts to help change the world. What can you do to improve the lives of others? It doesn’t have to look like what other people do!

One time, when I was a teenager, I was eating at a restaurant with my younger sisters. When it came time to pay, we found out that someone had already paid our bill. We will never know who did that, but I’ll never forget such a simple act of kindness. That person affected our world. They didn’t change the WHOLE world, but they made our world better.

It was a simple act of Love.

Changing the world with love is a powerful concept that has the potential to make a significant impact on society. Love is the foundation of all things good, and if we can all learn to love one another, we can create a world that is full of kindness, compassion, and understanding.

John 15:13 NLT

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Love moves us to ACT

It starts with small acts of love, such as smiling at a stranger, offering a helping hand to someone in need, or giving to those with less. These small gestures can have a ripple effect, inspiring others to do the same and creating a chain reaction of positivity and love.

Love is demonstrated in service. If that’s true, where are we serving?

By spreading love and kindness, we can create a world that is more peaceful, harmonious, and more aligned with God’s original vision.

We all have a part to play. EVERYONE can do something to change the world. It starts and ends with love.

But sometimes love doesn’t feel like enough. We can feel powerless.

Powerlessness is doubting in our ability to bring change. After all, how can we help?

Massive injustices and social problems exist and it’s true that one person can’t fix them all on their own. No one person can. But that fact does not mean that we can’t do SOMETHING.

Just because you FEEL powerless doesn’t mean you ARE powerless.

You Aren’t Powerless

We doubt that we can do anything because we perceive our limitations to be too great. Bringing change has nothing to do with your ability, identity, or value. It has nothing to do with how smart you are, if your good enough, famous enough, or powerful enough.

It’s more about rejecting the lies of doubt that keep you from doing SOMETHING. We must focus on what CAN be done, and not focusing on what we CAN’T do!

Don’t doubt your ability to bring change to the world.

Hal Donaldson, the founder and CEO of Convoy of Hope said,

“When our belief in a mission is stronger than our doubt in ourselves, we will find ways to contribute to the cause.”

-Hal Donaldson

You and I have the power of Love pushing us to do what we CAN for as many as we can, believing that God will do what HE can.

See, you may not be able to change the world, but you can change ONE person’s world if you are willing to lead with love.

In fact love is where we find our power.

1 John 4:4 NLT

4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

There are evil people in this world, but they can’t stop the children of God. We have the victory over the darkness.

The trick of the enemy is to get us to do nothing. To think the problems are too big. Or to think that someone else will rise up.

But remember these words:

1 John 4:7–9 CEV

7 My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children, and we know him. 8 God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him. 9 God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life.

The proof that we are followers of Jesus is found in our actions of love. The result of our relationship is change in the world around us!

When we believe that Jesus is the Lord, and we understand that He has chosen us as His own. We know that He’s healed our sinful hearts then we can’t help but to want to tell other and to do the work of the Gospel.

Jesus told us that we are not merely recipients of the good news, but we are bearers of that good news! Our lives have purpose because we are carrying the truth of God to a world who is lost in sin!

John 14:12 CEV

12 I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father.

Does this verse mean that we need to get some little loaves and fishes and feed more than 5,000 people? Are we supposed to get out there and walk on walk better than Jesus?

No, miracles are important, but over the centuries believers have done even greater things by preaching the good news to many thousands of people.

I think what Jesus was saying was that we have more OPPORTUNITY now than every before and we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to reach the world.

You CAN make a difference! Your life counts to Jesus!

How can you make the most of your life?

It starts with loving God, loving People, and doing SOMETHING to show that love.