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January
11-12, 2003 EXTREME LIVING: The
Purpose Driven Life!
Selected WHAT ON EARTH AM I HERE FOR? $ IN 2003 1,314,000 BABIES WILL BE BORN IN THE US! $ THE US POPULATION IS ESTIMATED TO BE 290 MILLION! $ THE WORLD POPULATION IS ESTIMATED TO BE 6.3 BILLION! *** Psalm 139:13-16 “Oh yes, you shaped me
first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High
God—you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in
adoration—what a creation! You know me
inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was
made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open
book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life
were spread out before you. The days of
my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.” [The Message] 1. THE QUESTION OF EXISTENCE: WHY AM I ALIVE? *** Jeremiah 20:18 “Why was I born? Was it
only to have trouble and sorrow, to end my life in disgrace?” [Today’s
English Version] Mankind Looks For
Purpose With:
·
THE MYSTICAL APPROACH!
·
THE SELF-HELP APPROACH!
·
THE PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH! $ LIFE WITHOUT
PURPOSE IS POINTLESS! *** Proverbs 16:4 “The Lord has made
everything for his own purpose….” [God’s Word to the Nations] *** Eph. 1:4 “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.”
[Message] $ GOD: I WAS CREATED TO BE LOVED BY GOD! 2. THE QUESTION OF SIGNIFICANCE: DOES MY
LIFE MATTER? *** Isaiah 49:4 “I replied, "But my work
all seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose at
all." [New Living Translation] Mankind Lives Life In
One Of Three Levels:
·
THE SURVIVAL LEVEL!
·
THE SUCCESS LEVEL!
·
THE SIGNIFICIANCE LEVEL! We Find Significance
By:
1.
KNOWING THE MEANING OF LIFE!
2.
UNDERSTANDING HOW MUCH WE MATTER
TO GOD!
3.
LIVING OUT GOD’S PURPOSES!
*** Isaiah 44:2 “I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were
born.” [Contemporary English Version] *** Psalm 139:16 “You saw me before I was born
and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was
recorded in your book!” [Living Bible] *** Psalm 33:11 “His plans endure forever; his
purposes last eternally.” [TEV] $ LIFE IS PREPARATION FOR ETERNITY! *** 2 Corinthians 5:1 “For we know that when
this tent we live in—our body here on earth—is torn down, God will have a house
in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last
forever.” [TEV] *** Proverbs 9:6 “Leave your impoverished
confusion and live! Walk up the street to a life with meaning." [Msg] 3. THE QUESTION OF INTENTION: WHAT IS MY
PURPOSE? *** Psalm 89:47 “Did you create men and women
for nothing but this?” [Msg] $ THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW THE PURPOSE OF SOMETHING
IS:
·
TO TALK WITH THE INVENTOR!
·
READ THE OWNERS MANUAL! *** Proverbs 9:10 “Knowing God results in
every other kind of understanding.”
[Living Bible] *** Col. 1:16 “For everything, absolutely
everything, above and below, visible and invisible — everything got started in
him and finds its purpose in him.”
[Msg] *** Eph. 1:11 “It's in Christ that we find out
who we are and what we are living for….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.” [Msg] $ REMEMBER THIS PHRASE: IT'S ALL ABOUT GOD! *** Acts 10:35 “It makes no difference who you
are or where you're from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the
door is open.” [Msg] |