November 23 2014 Building A Life Of Purpose

/ Great Plains Community Church/

Building A Life Of Purpose

IF I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

  • Life Seems useless.

Ecclesiastes 1:2-4 – Life is useless, all useless.  You spend your life working, but what do you have to show for it?  The world just stays the same.

  • Life Seems tiresome.

Ecclesiastes 1:4-8 – The sun rises and goes down, the wind blows round and round and back again.  Every river flows into the sea, then the water returns to where the river began and starts all over again.  Everything leads to weariness.

  • Life Seems unfulfilling.

Ecclesiastes 1:8-10 – No matter how much we see, we’re never satisfied; no matter how much we hear, we’re not content.  History merely repeats itself.

  • Life Seems insignificant.

Ecclesiastes 1:11 – No one remembers what has happened in the past, and no one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then.

  • Life Seems uncontrollable.

Ecclesiastes 1:15 – You can’t straighten out what is crooked; you can’t count things that aren’t there!

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE?

  • Life is a preparation for eternity.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 – He has planted eternity in the human heart.

WHAT IS GOD’S PURPOSE?

I. First God made you to know Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:4-5 – Before the world was made, God had already decided that through Jesus Christ, He would bring us to Himself as His children that was His pleasure and purpose.

HOW TO KNOW GOD

1. Remember God first reached out to you.

1 John 4:10 – This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

2. Respond to His love.

John 5:24 – I tell you the truth, whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.

II. Secondly, God made you to be like Him.

Romans 8:28-29 – We know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans. For from the beginning God decided that those who come to Him should be like His Son.

HOW TO BE LIKE HIM

1. Make Christ your very life.

John 12:34 – I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat fall to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed, but if it dies it produces seed.

2. Allow every circumstance to mold you.

Romans 8:28 – We know that in all thing God works for the good of those who love Him.

III. Thirdly, God made us to serve Him.

Acts 13:36 – For David served God’s purpose in his generation and then he died.

HOW DO I SERVE?

1. It’s a choice.

Romans 12:1-2 – Offer yourselves to God, dedicated to His service, then you will be able to know the will of God, what is good, pleasing and perfect.

2. Serve God where you’re at.

1 Corinthians 15:58 – Nothing you do in the Lord’s service is ever useless.

IV. God made us to use our treasure in view of eternity.

1 Timothy 6:18-19 – Use your money to do good, always being ready to share whatever God has given you.  By doing this you will be storing up real treasure for yourself in heaven.

Luke 16:9 – Use worldly wealth to make friends who will welcome you into eternal dwellings.