Friday, February 18, 2011

God’s Purpose for You

Have you ever thought about why you were born?  Have you ever taken the time to ponder what your purpose is?  There was a time in my life when I thought on these things but I didn’t figure it out for a long time afterwards.  I wonder if this occurs in everyone’s life at some point or another. I would like to make this very clear each one of us were born into this world for an important purpose.

Do you ever meditate and think of why you were born? Do you ever feel like there is something missing in your live, some may call it a “hole” or some may call it a “void” but whatever it is, many feel like something is missing in their lives.  But then there are some people that seem to be happy and content in their situation lacking nothing.  They have fulfilled the American dream, so to speak, and they think that’s all there is and that is all they need.  And this is the sad part, they never seem to change their way of thinking and they die that way, never knowing what God’s plan was for their lives.

Question: why does it seem like we have this “hole” or “void” or just something missing in their lives?  Biblically, I don’t think we walk around with a “hole” or a “void” in our lives but I know that when we are born into this world there is definitely something missing.

This is the way I understand it, when we are born we are born with a sin nature and because of it we are separated from the Lord.  For many years some of us may never think much about God, or anything relating to God, especially in a personal way. There are many people that will be brought up in church, but they may never have a personal relationship with the Lord.  Many will be deceived by false teachings. There are many cults that think they know the truth but they reject Jesus being God’s Son and therefore disqualify themselves from a personal relationship with God.

There are many that will never have a personal relationship with the Lord because they sit under pastors preaching watered down sermons and half truths. The true Holy Spirit’s conviction may not be present and without it pastors will accomplish very little.

There are many people that may never go to church but they will have a personal relationship with the Lord.

Some people may be shocked someday when it is time to be judged and some of the people they thought would be in Heaven didn’t make it and some that they thought would not make it are there.  

I heard a good example of this the other day. Think about this – when Steven was being stoned to death for his faith in Jesus there was a man named Saul there who was in agreement with those who were stoning Steven.  Saul was a man who persecuted the believers, finding them and having them thrown in prison where some died for their faith.  When Steven died I don’t think he thought that Saul would ever be in Heaven.  If you know the rest of the story you know that Saul was converted to the faith when he had an encounter with Jesus and his name was changed to Paul.  (You can read about these events in the book of Acts chapters 7 and 9, check it out for yourself)  Steven may be shocked someday when he sees Paul in Heaven.

Think about these verses in Matthew 7: 21 – 23, “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of Heaven but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles.  Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you away from me you evildoers.”  These verses are talking about religious sounding people.  They may honor God with their lips but their hearts are far from him.  It takes more then mere talk to be a Christian.

Question: how could the things these people claim to do be performed by them and Jesus claim not to know them?  There is only one way that I know off.  They knew about the power of Jesus’ name but they never had a personal relationship with Jesus.  In other words they were never born again.

Jesus said to a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee and Jewish teacher, in John chapter 3 verse 3. “I assure you, unless you are born–again you can never see the kingdom of God!”

John 3: 16-17 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believed in Him would not parish but have everlasting life.  God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.”  Praise God!

In John 3: 5 – 7 Jesus said, “The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom without being born of water and the Spirit.  Humans can only produce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from Heaven. So don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again.”

I believe God’s purpose for everyone’s life is that each person will receive God’s gift of salvation.  In all reality I know that it will not happen in everybody’s life. Many will, and have, rejected the only one that can bring them from spiritual death because of their sin, into spiritual life because of God’s grace and forgiveness.

It is impossible for man to forgive sins but nothing is impossible with God.
Like I said earlier in this lesson we were all born with a sin nature. So from birth we are separated from God. But that is not the end of the story.

From the beginning of creation, not evolution, God has wanted to have a relationship with his creation. From the time of Adam and Eve when God would walk with them in the cool of the day, God has always desired a relationship with mankind. The problem for us is that God is righteous and pure and holy and He has never been tainted by sin, or ever will be.  God is so pure and holy He cannot even look at sin, something we humans can’t really relate to.  How can we, with our sin nature that loves sin, relate to this kind of holiness?  The good news is that God has provided a way where there was no way.  Praise God!

God loves us so much the He laid his deity aside and came to earth as a babe in the form of his son, Jesus.  That is why Jesus could say that He and His Father were one. He also said, “if you have seen me you have seen the Father.”

Think about this, in John 1:1–3  John said, “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God the same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.”

It also says in John , “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.”  Who was the Word?  It was Jesus.  He stepped out of timelessness into our time.

God loved us so much He sent Jesus to give His life a ransom for all who would trust in Him.  The Word says that without the shedding of blood there is no remittance of sins. (No forgiveness of sins.) 
What we needed was a perfect sacrifice, no other blood would do.  Jesus came as that perfect sacrifice.  He was the spotless Lamb of God without sin ever. Only His blood could ever cleanse and wash our sins away.

God did everything else except take our free choice away.  He has broken down the wall of separation through the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Praise God, we can now come to the throne of grace boldly acknowledging that we have sinned and we are in need of God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness.            
God will give us the gift of godly sorrow so that we can truly repent. Then we can ask the Lord to be Lord of our lives. God’s plan for each of us is that we will all be born–again. Then we need to be faithful to Him from that day on until the day He takes us to Heaven to live with Him.  What a glorious day that will be. May God bless you and yours, have a great day.   

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