Whats My Purpose
1. Opening
a. A 2003 USA TODAY poll discovered if most people could ask God one question it would be… “What’s my purpose in life?”
2. The Problem-Why don’t I feel fulfilled?
a. Sin- “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Rom 3:23)
b. Separation- “But your inities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” (Is. 59:2)
c. Blindfolded- “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2Cor.4:4)
3. The Solution- can I feel fulfilled?
a. Turn your life over to Christ- Luke 9:23 (NCV) Jesus said to all of them, “If people want to follow me, they must give up the things they want. They must be willing to give up their lives daily to follow me.”
b. Grow in Christ- Hebrews 5:12 (NCV) By now you should be teachers, but you need someone to teach you again the first lessons of God’s message. You still need the teaching that is like milk. You are not ready for solid food.
c. Become Equipped- Ephesians 4:11-12 (NCV) And Christ gave gifts to people—he made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to have the work of caring for and teaching God’s people. 12 Christ gave those gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving, to make the body of Christ stronger.
d. Find your Purpose- Psalm 143:10 (NCV)Teach me to do what you want, because you are my God. Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
4. The Purpose- How do I find Purpose?
a. Above all, seek the Lord- Matthew 6:33 (NCV) Seek first God’s kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well.
b. Serve- Romans 12:4-6 (NCV)4 Each one of us has a body with many parts, and these parts all have different uses. 5 In the same way, we are many, but in Christ we are all one body. Each one is a part of that body, and each part belongs to all the other parts. 6 We all have different gifts, each of which came because of the grace God gave us. The person who has the gift of prophecy should use that gift in agreement with the faith.
i. When you’re drawn to serve, it’s hard to be “self-seeking” while serving
ii. Everyone has a place. The church is a body and the body needs all it’s parts to operate effectively.
iii. We were made for a mission far greater than our personal fulfillment of happiness.
iv. Focus on God’s purposes for our lives, not or plans…God’s plans are eternal.
v. True Servants…[1]
1. Forget about themselves
2. Remember who’s the boss
3. Don’t worry about what others think
4. Find their worth in Christ alone
5. Value opportunity
5. The Call- Am I Called?
a. Steps to a call
i. Burden
ii. Vision
iii. Action
b. Questions to help focus a Burden[2]
i. Does a person or a project constantly come to your mind as a concern?
ii. Do you seem unable to escape the needs of this concern?
iii. Are you constantly trying to challenge others to be concerned for this person or project?
iv. Do you migrate to books, sermons, or people that focus on your concern?
v. Do you repeatedly give time and resources to meet this particular need?
vi. Does your concern move you to the point of tears?
vii. Do you have gifts and abilities to meet the needs associated with this concern?
viii. Does your concern increase or decrease with time?
c. Vision- (Purpose/Goal)
i. Lack of Vision- Proverbs 29:18 (NCV) Where there is no word from God, people are uncontrolled, but those who obey what they have been taught are happy.
ii. Vision-
| 32:32 vision, chazon (cha-zohn); Strong’s #2377: A prophetic vision, dream, oracle, revelation; especially the kind of revelation that comes through sight, namely a vision from God. This noun occurs 35 times and is from the root chazah, “to see, behold, and perceive.” Chazon is especially used for the revelation which the prophets received. See Is. 1:1; Ezek. 12:27, 28; Dan. 8:1, 2; Obad. 1; Hab. 2:2, 3. The prophets understood God’s counsels so clearly because He revealed matters to them by visible means. Prov. 29:18 shows that when a society lacks any revelation from God (divine insight), such a society heads in the direction of anarchy. |
[3]
iii. The Parable of the Fishless Fishermen Fellowship[4]
They were surrounded by streams and lakes, full of hungry fish. They met regularly to discuss the call to fish, the abundance of fish, and the thrill of catching fish. They got excited about fishing! Someone suggested that they needed a philosophy of fishing, so they carefully defined and redefined fishing, and the purpose of fishing. They developed fishing strategies and tactics. Then they realized that they had been going at it backwards. They had approached fishing from the point of view of the fisherman, and not from the point of view of the fish. How do the fish view the world? How does the fisherman appear to the fish? What do fish eat, and when? These are all good things to know. So they began research studies, and attend conferences on fishing. Some traveled to faraway places to study different kinds of fish with different habits. Some got doctorates in fishology. But no one had yet gone fishing.
So a committee was formed to send out fishermen. As prospective fishing places outnumbered fishermen, the committee needed to determine priorities. A priority list of fishing places was posted on bulletin boards in all of the fellowship halls. But still on one was fishing. A survey was launched to find out why. Most did not answer the survey, but from those who did, it was discovered that some felt called to study fish, a few felt called to furnish fishing equipment, and several to go around and encouraging the fishermen. What with meetings, conferences, and seminars, they just simply didn’t have time to fish.
Now, Jake was a newcomer to the Fisherman’s Fellowship. After one stirring meeting of the fellowship, he went fishing and caught a large fish. At the next meeting, he told his story and was honored for his catch. He was told he had a “special gift of fishing”. He was then scheduled to speak at all the Fellowship chapters and tell how he did it. With all the speaking invitations and his election to the board of directors of the Fisherman’s Fellowship, Jake no longer had time to go fishing. But soon he began to feel restless and empty. He longed to feel the tug on the line once again. So he cut the speaking, he resigned from the board, and he said to a friend, “Let’s go fishing.” They did, just the two of them, and they caught fish. The members of the Fisherman’s Fellowship were many, the fish were plentiful, but the fishers were few!
Anonymous
iv. We must stay focused on our Purpose and then ACT on it.
d. Action- What is our purpose? (Matt. 28:18-20)
i. Vision / Goal-The Great Commision “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations”
ii. How do we act on our Purpose?
1. The Command-“make disciples” not “Go”
2. Bridge – “Go”
a. Go is the bridge from the command to the empowerment.
b. Go is meant to stir them to act on their empowerment
c. Empowerment-“Therefore””All Authority”
Matthew 28:18-20 (NCV)
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All power in heaven and on earth is given to me. 19 So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach them to obey everything that I have taught you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of this age.” [5]
i. All authority belongs to Jesus, He passes it on to us.
ii. Swearing in Ceremony-Transfer of authority (KCSO), backing of the people of the state of California, The People of California VS. ________.
d. Non-Exclusive-“All Nations”
i. Parable of King’s Supper Luke 14:16-24 (NCV)
16 Jesus said to him, “A man gave a big banquet and invited many people. 17 When it was time to eat, the man sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come. Everything is ready.’
18 “But all the guests made excuses. The first one said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go look at it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen; I must go and try them. Please excuse me.’ 20 A third person said, ‘I just got married; I can’t come.’ 21 So the servant returned and told his master what had happened. Then the master became angry and said, ‘Go at once into the streets and alleys of the town, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22 Later the servant said to him, ‘Master, I did what you commanded, but we still have room.’ 23 The master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes, and urge the people there to come so my house will be full. 24 I tell you, none of those whom I invited first will eat with me.’ ” [6]
ii. Not to announce God’s judgment as Jonah did in Nineveh but to “Disciple them”.
iii. Up to this point the disciples had been forbidden to extend the gospel message to the gentiles.
6. Review- What’s my purpose?
a. Does a person or a project constantly come to your mind as a concern?
b. Do you seem unable to escape the needs of this concern?
c. Are you constantly trying to challenge others to be concerned for this person or project?
d. Do you migrate to books, sermons, or people that focus on your concern?
e. Do you repeatedly give time and resources to meet this particular need?
f. Does your concern move you to the point of tears?
g. Do you have gifts and abilities to meet the needs associated with this concern?
7. Action- What will I do?
a. Has God been speaking to you in the past?
b. Do you feel God speaking to you today?
8. Prayer Time
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[1] Warren, Rick Ministry Toolbox, October 23, 2002 Issue
[2] Maxwell, John C., The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader’s Day, (Thomas Nelson Publishers) 2001
[3] Spirit Filled Life Study Bible. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1991, S. 2 Ch 32:31
[4] The Evidence Bible, (Bridge-Logos) 2001, Pg.223 (based on Mark 1:17)
[5] The Everyday Bible : New Century Version. Nashville, TN. : Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2005
[6] The Everyday Bible : New Century Version. Nashville, TN. : Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2005