Can you believe what God has done?
The Purpose
Driven Life
Part III
Sermon by
Manfred Schreyer
Read Part: | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | of this Sermon Series
Eccl 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set
eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from
beginning to end.
In the past we talked about what motivates us in our life and how we
should not look at ourselves to find a purpose in our life but to our
creator. Simply because if an inventor hands someone a device, the inventor
is more likely to know its purpose than the one who checks it out.
We talked about life as living on an airplane, we talked about the
parachute, that is handed to us by God and we talked about the will of God
for us as His creation
read about previous
sermons
Let us look at ourselves: What motivates us in this life? What are we
driven by? Some time ago I told you that there are only two things that
motivate us in this life: One is love and the other one is fear.
People who are driven by fear are those who always play it safe. They
never risk anything, they stay status quo, they have created a self -
imposed prison and this very prison will keep them from becoming what God
intends them to be.
(1 John 4:18 NIV)
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear
has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
I want you to know that when you fear, all you do is protect what you
have. You have nothing to give. And when you live in fear you live to
protect, because as you are unable to give, you believe that others want to
take away from you.
People who live in fear are very lonely people. I know couples who live in
fear, and all of their actions are made out of fear. They have live d very a
lonely life. They are angry with each other, because every instability, any
event and other opinion rocks the stability. Fear drives out love.
There are NO other components that motivate us in life. Unfortunately for
most of us we are more motivated by fear then by love. Many people are
driven by guilt. We all have done something wrong in our past. When we
finally recognize our wrong that we have done, we feel guilt and guilt
creates fear.
When people feel guilty, they are being held hostage by their memories.
They allow their past to hold them hostage. When Cain sinned, his past made
him a restless wanderer in life, because God punished him:
(Gen 4:11-12 NIV) Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground,
which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. {12}
When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You
will be a restless wanderer on the earth."
But you know it does not have to be that way. God does not judge your
past. HE does not search your past. He does not even point the things out
about you that you would rather hide.
God is a wonderful transformer: Think about Moses. . . Moses was a
murderer
(Exo 2:11-12 NIV) One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where
his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian
beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. {12} Glancing this way and that and
seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
Nevertheless, God transformed him into a great leader.
Think about Gideon who was a coward and then became a very courageous
hero.
Finally there are those who are motivated in life by materialism. Those
people live in the misconception that more will give them more stability and
more happiness. The fact however is that the more they will have, the more
they will have to take care of. . . . it will give them more instability
because nothing but nothing in this life remains the same.
Others acquire things to raise their self worth. The most common myth is
that wealth will give us more security. Well, it does not! Wealth is lost
through many uncontrollable factors in life. True security can only be found
in something that no one can take away from you.
Jesus says this: You cannot serve tow masters . . .
The fact is this. You can make fear, guilt or wealth your God in you life.
And if we are really honest we can find ourselves in at least in one of the
aforementioned component. None of them can give you hope. In order to live
life we must have hope . . . Well, you may ask, cant I have money,
believe in God and have hope?
Maybe you can, but most people cannot. If you take on the issue of wealth,
money will corrupt you and you will surrender to a sweet deal that is in the
air and surrender it for the passion for God.
No hope, no purpose . . . and without a purpose you have no compass how to
make decisions, allocate your time, use your resources.
If you have no hope, you will make choices based upon emotions, based on
circumstances, based upon pressure from those who hold you hostage. . .
People who have no hope wander just like Cain, they become stressed, they
truly do too many new things, they became exhausted of/in life.
People who have no hope are not focused on one thing. People who have no
hope have no passion for things in life . . . their passion is shopping,
their passion is possession, their passion is self admiration, their passion
is.
And as there will be a judgments, you and I will be asked two questions:
(1) What did you do with my son Jesus Christ? Did you accept Christ as my
son and your personal savior . . . and then He is going to ask you this: (2)
Did you trust Him what He told you?
Jesus said that No one comes to the father but through Him.
How ill you answer the second question God will ask you: What did you do
with all the talents, the gifts, the opportunities, the energy, the
relationships and resources I gave you?
Did you use them for you to build your self admiration did you use them to
build your own security, did you spend them on your self?
The first question will determine if you will go to eternity, the second
will determine what you will do in eternity.
I invite you to think about it this way: What will your friends and family
say is your driving force in your life and what do you want it to be.
Read Part: | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | of this Sermon Series
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