Fearless in the storm
Notes
Transcript
Welcome to the 40 days of Purpose. Today we’re going to begin a 40-day journey together looking at life’s three most important questions. The question of existence – Why am I alive? The question of significance – Does my life matter? And the question of intention – What is my purpose? There are no more important questions in life than these.
what am I here for - Ally and Raymond (1:52)
They’re not new questions. Jeremiah asked the question thousands of years ago. He the LORD,
Jeremiah 20:18 (TEV) 18 Why was I born? Was it only to have trouble and sorrow, to end my life in disgrace?
Live long enough and you sure to have a few bad days, days when you ask,
“Why am I alive? If you don’t look to God for your purpose in life, you only have a couple of options to find your purpose in life.
You can look within yourself to find the purpose of your life. That sounds so “spiritual”. The problem with that is, if looking within could help you discover your purpose in life everybody would know their purpose.
You can look outside yourself to find your purpose in life. There are all kinds of books out there that promise to help you find your purpose in life. They all say pretty much the same thing. Discover your dream, set some goals, manage your time, be disciplined, believe you can achieve, have the greatest intentions, involve other people, and never, never give up. Many of them contain great advice for becoming successful. But you can be a raving success in life and still not know why God put you on earth. There are some wonderfully successful people who haven’t the foggiest idea what their purpose in life is even though they’ve got everything you that a man or woman could want - possessions, prestige, power and pleasure. But a life without purpose isn’t worth living and it shouldn’t surprise us that in our culture, which has removed God from so many places, that the suicide rate is skyrocketing. Why? Because life without purpose is pointless. But the good news is:
You were made for a purpose.
Proverbs 16:4 (GW)“The Lord has made everything for His own purpose.” You were not made for your purpose, not for your own pleasure, not for your own goals, not for your own ambitions, and not for own your dreams. But
God made you for His purpose. God has never made anything without a purpose. He doesn’t just make stuff for no reason. If you are alive, if your heart is beating, and if you are breathing, God has a purpose for your life. He has never made anything without a purpose.
Why did God create you and me for His purpose?
Ephesians 1:4-6 (MSG) 4 Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. 5 Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) 6 He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
Notice it says, “Long before He laid down the earth’s foundations He had us in mind.” Before God thought of the universe He thought of you. That’s how much God loves you. Before He planned the foundations of the world God planned you. He had you in His mind and He made you for one reason – to love you. He wanted to love you. To show His extravagant, incredible love which is His nature. Until you understand that motivation you’ll never understand what on earth you are here for. The second greatest question of life is the question of significance –
Do I matter? Does my life matter.
Isaiah wondered about his purpose:
Isaiah 49:4 (NIV) 4 But I said, "I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.
Without a purpose, life seems trivial, life seems petty, and life seems pointless. You were made for meaning. Without purpose we lose heart and hope.
In World War II in a Nazi concentration camp in Hungary, the prisoners worked in a factory that processed human sewage. One day the Allies bombed the factory leaving the prisoners nothing to do. So the guards made the prisoners move the rubble from the factory to a nearby field. The next day they reversed it and had them take the rubble back to the original site. They did this over and over and over. It was work without meaning. Here’s what happened. The prisoners began to go crazy. They lost hope and many lost their minds. They began to throw themselves in front of the guards in order to be shot, committing suicide because death was more preferable than living a life without meaning.
You have to have meaning and purpose in life if you’re going to survive. You have hope to cope.
Every one of us here lives life at one of three levels. The most basic level is the
Survival Level. This is where most people live. They are just getting by but not really living. They put their time in the and live for the weekend. They say things like, one day, someday, when things change.
The next level is the
success level. This is where many people live. They’ve made it in life, they’re are comfortable. They have possessions, prestige, enjoyment of life. By everyone else in the world you're considered rich. But unfortunately, many successful people still feel unfulfilled. Because it takes more than success to satisfy.
The third level is
significance. Significance is where you find meaning and purpose in life. You know the meaning of life. You know how much you matter to God. You believe what he Lord declared through Isaiah:
Isaiah 44:2 (CEV) 2 I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born.
There are unplanned pregnancies but there are no unpurposed people. There are no illegitimate children. God planned you before He created the world. You’re not an accident.
David wrote in Psalm 139,
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Every single day was known and recorded by God before He created the world. That’s how much you matter to God. God is interested in every detail of your life. He’s seen it all – the good, the bad, and the ugly. And He recorded it in His book even before you were born. He knew all the dumb decisions you would make and those other people would make that would hurt you and how you would hurt others. But He still loves you. And He still has a plan and a purpose and we’re going to see those in the days ahead. You matter to God. You take great comfort in knowing
Psalm 33:11 (TEV) 11 But his plans endure forever; his purposes last eternally.
You have discovered that
Life is preparation for eternity. That is the meaning of life. God put you on earth to prepare you for what you’re going to do the rest of eternity with Him. His plans and purposes for you are eternal.
One day your heart is going to stop beating. That’s going to be the end of you body but that’s not going to be the end of you. God were made you to last forever. By the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, you believe
This life is not all there is.
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
God’s has eternal purposes and plans for you. This is the key to the meaning of life.
You were made by God and you were made for God. Until you understand that, life will not make sense. Because...
Colossians 1:16 (MSG) 16 For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.
It all starts with God. It’s all sustained by God.
Ephesians 1:11-12 (MSG) 11 It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, 12 part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
You find your purpose and meaning in life when you get connected to - God the Father - who created you to love you, your redeemer, Jesus Christ the Son of God, who came to serve and give His life for you, and the Holy Spirit, who makes His home in Your life and now you believe.
God our Father, may these next next 40 days transform our lives, that knowing you better we may discover your purposes for our lives in Jesus’ name. Amen