TRUTH YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE A CHOICE TO BELIEVE
Believe
Truth #1: God Unconditionally Loves You
Truth #2: GOD HAS A PURPOSE AND PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE
“It is God who directs the lives of his creature; everyone’s life is in his power.” Job 12:10 (GNT; TEV)
I. IF I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE OF LIFE…
… LIFE SEEMS USELESS
“… 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.” Ecclesiastes 1:2-4 (GNT)
… LIFE SEEMS UNFULFILLING
“… No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied; no matter how much we hear, we are not content. History merely repeats itself…” Ecclesiastes 1:8-10 (TLB)
… LIFE SEEMS TIRESOME
“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…” Ecclesiastes 1:5-8 (GNT)
… LIFE SEEMS INSIGNIFICANT
“No one remembers what has happened in the past, and no one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then.” Ecclesiastes 1:11 (GNT)
… LIFE SEEMS UNCONTROLLABLE
“You can’t straighten out what is crooked; you can’t count things that aren’t there.” Ecclesiastes 1:15 (GNT)
II. WHERE DO WE FIND PURPOSE
“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, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.” Ephesians 1:11-12 (MSG)
“… I came that you might have life, and life in all its fullness.” John 10:10
III. BENEFITS OF KNOWING YOUR PURPOSE
• KNOWING YOUR PURPOSE GIVES MEANING TO YOUR LIFE.
“I know what I am planning for you…I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.” Jeremiah 29:11
• KNOWING YOUR PURPOSE SIMPLIFIES YOUR LIFE.
“A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life.” Proverbs 13:7 (MSG)
• KNOWING YOUR PURPOSE FOCUSES YOUR LIFE.
“I am focusing all my energies on this one thing; Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” Philippians 3:13
• KNOWING YOUR PURPOSE MOTIVATES YOU.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
• KNOWING YOUR PURPOSE PREPARES YOU FOR ETERNITY.
“… Remember, each one of us will stand personally before the judgment seat of God…. yes, each of us will give a personal account to God.” Romans 14:10-11 (TLB)