# Created for a Purpose - Samuel Mills

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfqLVMAJPuE

[00:00] Hi and welcome to The Bridge.
[00:02] Thank you for tuning in.
[00:04] We are a local church based in Toronto, Canada, with a passion for helping you engage an authentic, life-giving community.
[00:11] We would love to connect further.
[00:13] Please take a moment and check out our website, where you can find more information about our ministry.
[00:17] Well, we hope you're blessed by today's message.
[00:19] Good morning, everyone.
[00:24] So glad to be with you today as we look into God's Word.
[00:27] How many have been enjoying the series, The Inflatable Life?
[00:29] And I'm sure the sermons have impacted you and hopefully caused some change in certain areas.
[00:36] We began the series; Pastor Brian started by talking about how we are to be filled in God's Spirit and His grace.
[00:42] It is there that we may live abundant, full lives.
[00:45] We also saw about how bitterness and unforgiveness sometimes can deplete that filling and cause us to lose sometimes that ability to, you know, ascend into levels of grace that God wants us to.
[00:58] Pastor Brian also shared about.
[01:01] How we are equipped to overcome.
[01:03] Remember when he talked about the two realms and certain challenges we face in both realms and how God has equipped us to overcome them?
[01:08] And also last week Pastor Karen talked about how we are built to belong and the importance of finding community and belonging together and how living authentically and transparently helps us to do so well.
[01:23] Today we're going to look at how we are created for a purpose.
[01:24] And so if you would join with me as we pray that God would prepare our hearts, let's pray.
[01:32] Father, we just thank you for all what you are doing in our lives even today as we remember those who sacrifice their lives that we may have the freedom to gather like we are today.
[01:41] We also remember Lord Jesus your sacrifice to giving us that ultimate freedom and helping us to live abundant, full and free lives.
[01:51] Speak to us today, in Jesus name we pray, amen.
[01:55] Billy Graham actually tells of a time in his early ministry where he was preaching and in South.
[02:03] Carolina and before the service he wanted to drop off a letter in the in the post office and so he didn't know where it was and he saw a young boy on the street and he said do you know where the post office is?
[02:14] The young boy gave him the directions and afterward Billy Graham asked him and said you know I'm gonna be preaching at the local church tonight why don't you come by?
[02:23] I'm gonna show you how you can get to heaven and the young boy reply and said no thanks you don't even know how to get to the post office.
[02:29] You know most people struggle with three basic issues of life.
[02:35] First is their identity: Who am I?
[02:38] Second is their importance: Do I matter?
[02:42] And the third is impact: What is my purpose in life?
[02:48] Unfortunately we become a very self-absorbed self focused society that is restless and diverted from knowing God's purpose.
[02:55] St. Augustine said this; he said you have made us for yourself Oh Lord and our hearts are restless until.
[03:03] It rests in you, and so until we find our lives in Christ, we will live restless lies, figuring out what's my identity, what's my purpose, what's the importance.
[03:16] Until we find it in Jesus, it's sad to see so many people living and going through life having no idea why they're here and what God has purposed for their lives.
[03:28] Now, most people live in one of these three ways.
[03:31] Some people live in survival mode; they live to survive.
[03:37] These are people who just exist, no purpose, no focus, just existence.
[03:39] They continue basically because their heart is beating and they're breathing; they're just trying to make it.
[03:46] Now, no one wants to live an average life; they want to accomplish something.
[03:52] And the next level is success, and there are those who live successful lives.
[03:55] These are people who collect and gain more and more, and these are happy.
[03:59] They're people who are happy, feel good, things are going well, they've.
[04:04] Accumulated a certain level of wealth and fame and possessions and they feel successful.
[04:09] But the third level is significance and this is the level that we all should be living in.
[04:15] It's not mere existence or survival or even success; it's significance.
[04:21] Significance makes you to understand why your life matters, that it counts for something.
[04:30] And when you discover significance, you would have discovered God's purpose and plan for your life.
[04:39] You see, this is where you and I make an impact through our lives to our world.
[04:44] And that's the level God wants us to live, where we make significant impact, where our friends and family and those around us remember our influence in their lives.
[04:57] Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 says, "For we are God's masterpiece, he has."
[05:05] Created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things he's planned for us long ago.
[05:10] Here the writer says God has made us this masterpiece.
[05:17] The masterpiece is the best work of art, a painter's masterpiece; it's their best work.
[05:23] And in all of creation, humans are actually God's best work, and we are God's masterpiece.
[05:29] Have you ever thought of that?
[05:32] His best work.
[05:32] When you look at yourself, you have been created God's masterpiece to do the good things he's planned for us in our lives.
[05:40] And so you and I have been created for a purpose, and we have been created with a purpose, and we have been created for God's purpose.
[05:53] Colossians 1 verse 16 says all things have been created by him and all things find their purpose in who?
[06:00] What does it say?
[06:02] They find their purpose in him.
[06:06] It's not in us or not what the world says.
[06:09] It says all things are be created by God and all things find their purpose in him.
[06:15] It's in God we find the real purpose of our lives.
[06:21] And so God's purpose for our lives is far greater than our own personal fulfillment, our own peace of mind, or even our own happiness.
[06:29] It's last longer than our family, our ministries, our dreams or ambitions, our hopes.
[06:35] And to know why we were placed on this planet, we must begin with God.
[06:40] You and I have been born by his purpose and for his purpose.
[06:48] Now the search for the purpose of life has troubled thousands of people for thousands of years.
[06:54] We've been troubled: what is the purpose, what's the meaning of life?
[06:58] Now the reason why it's trouble people or puzzle people, it's because we typically begin at the wrong.
[07:06] Starting point which is often ourselves and so then we end up asking self-centered questions like what do I want to do with my life?
[07:14] What are my goals and what are my ambitions and what are my dreams for my future?
[07:21] You see, focusing on ourselves will never reveal our purpose in life and so we start with the wrong starting point, the wrong reference point.
[07:31] Psalm 57 verse 2 says, "I cry out to God most high, to God who will fulfill whose purpose?"
[07:38] His purpose for me.
[07:41] So it's not really about your purpose or my purpose; it's about God's purpose.
[07:48] Our purposes are found embedded into God's purpose for creation.
[07:54] It's found in his purpose and so when we have the right reference point in the right starting point then we can understand purpose.
[08:01] If we start with ourselves we live our lives wondering, "Am I really doing what I should be doing?"
[08:09] Our spiritual gifts and our talents and our abilities are not our purposes.
[08:16] They actually enable you to fulfill a purpose that God has desired to accomplish.
[08:23] You see, being a pastor is not my purpose.
[08:25] Being a husband is not my purpose.
[08:28] Being a father is not my purpose.
[08:31] They're secondary purposes.
[08:34] They actually allow me to fulfill my primary purpose which is to fulfill God's purpose.
[08:40] And when you discover the purpose that you and I were created for, we live significant lives.
[08:48] Now, how do we find that?
[08:51] Now, there's two options in which we can figure it out.
[08:55] The first is speculation.
[08:57] This is what most people do.
[08:57] They conjecture, they guess, they theorize, and they live their life speculating.
[09:02] Well, this is what I should be doing.
[09:04] And after some time, no, this is not what I should be doing.
[09:05] I should be doing this.
[09:07] And we start to speculate about purpose.
[09:10] In this classic book, The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a poem that included the line, "Not all who wander are lost."
[09:18] And this applies to you and I.
[09:21] Even though you may feel like you're wandering, you're not lost.
[09:26] It doesn't mean you're lost, because you and I can regain the sense of purpose and discover what God has for you now.
[09:33] Fortunately, there is another alternative option than speculation to find the meaning and purpose of life; that's actually revelation, where we turn to what God has revealed about life in his word.
[09:44] Now, let me ask you, what's the easiest way to find out the purpose of an invention?
[09:49] What's the easiest way?
[09:53] Ask the inventor, ask the Creator.
[09:58] And so the same is for you and I; the way we discover life's purpose is to ask our Creator.
[10:04] Who's God, and we all have this one primary purpose.
[10:08] For example, if I showed...
[10:10] You a gold-plated hen or maybe a pen with a light.
[10:13] You know some pens they have a light at the end.
[10:15] Once you finish writing you can use it as a laser pointer or as a flashlight.
[10:18] Or you may have a $0.50 big pen that you just use.
[10:24] But ultimately all of these pens regardless of how they look and all the secondary purpose have one main purpose.
[10:30] And what was what is that one purpose?
[10:33] To write.
[10:33] To write, a pen is created to write.
[10:37] And the same with you and I, we all have one primary purpose in life.
[10:39] Now we may all have differing gifts and abilities.
[10:43] And some of us may be like that gold-plated pen or have that flashlight at the end.
[10:48] And it doesn't matter ultimately when you need to write something.
[10:52] It doesn't matter how it looks.
[10:54] You want it to write.
[10:58] And so God has not left us in the dark to wonder.
[11:02] And again now he's clearly revealed in his word and explained why we're alive and how life works and what are to be avoided.
[11:11] And what to expect in the future, it's in the story, the grand narrative in which we find out his purpose for us.
[11:19] See, God is not just the starting point, but he's also the source of our life and the goal of our lives.
[11:25] And so to discover your purpose, or it is in Christ.
[11:29] In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 11 and 12, we read Ephesians 1:11 and 12.
[11:38] It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.
[11:43] Long before we first heard of Christ and God our hopes up, he had his eye on us and had designs on us for glorious living and part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
[11:58] You see, from the scripture we gained three insights.
[12:03] The first is we discover our identity and purpose through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
[12:09] Our identity is not in who.
[12:12] We are or what we do, it's found in Jesus in a relationship with Jesus.
[12:20] And then we realize that God was thinking about us long before we ever thought about him or even wanted him.
[12:25] We may choose our careers, we may choose our spouses, we may choose our hobbies and many other parts of our lives, but you don't get to choose your purpose because we've all been created for an intended purpose.
[12:39] And here we also see from the scripture your purpose of your life, it's much larger into a much larger plan, the cosmic purpose that God has designed eternity for.
[12:54] He's has a much larger plan.
[12:57] Each one of our lives are intricately involved in carrying that story and that narrative to the culmination of God's ultimate purpose.
[13:05] So what on earth am I here for?
[13:08] Because our life is more than our work and more than food and more.
[13:12] Than sleep, actually, we spend about a third of our life sleeping, a third of our life working, and probably more time eating than we should.
[13:23] And we don't have much time in between to actually accomplish a lot of our purposes that God has for us.
[13:28] And some, we're all in the middle of that, we ask ourselves, what is my driving motivation?
[13:35] What drives me?
[13:36] What's driving my life?
[13:39] Now, there are different reasons what drives people.
[13:41] First, some people are driven by wrong things like guilt, anger, resentment, and fear.
[13:47] And we allow our past to control our future.
[13:51] Let me say this: we are all products of our past, but we don't need to be prisoners of our past.
[14:07] So as we look inside and see, are we motivated out of guilt, the things?
[14:13] That we could have done or should have done that we want to do it because we're motivated by guilt or anger because certain opportunities weren't there or resentment or we're scared and we're we're doing things because we're scared whether God's gonna get us or we do certain things for these wrong motivations.
[14:27] Both the hummingbird and the vulture they both fly over deserts.
[14:35] The vultures actually see rotting meat because that's what they're looking for.
[14:39] They thrive on that diet but hummingbirds actually avoid the smelling of the flesh of the dead animals and instead they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants.
[14:52] Now the vultures live on what was; they live on the past and they fill themselves with the dead and the gone.
[15:03] But hummingbirds actually live on what is; they seek for a new life.
[15:06] They fill themselves with the freshness of life.
[15:08] Now each bird is looking for what they want.
[15:10] So the question is are we a vulture that lives?
[15:15] On the past, the dead, the things of yesteryear where we're living, and it just causes more pain and heartache and it controls our future.
[15:21] Are we like the hummingbird that looks for the freshness of life and the new things God has for us and we pursue those things?
[15:30] Another motivation for people is materialism, fame, approval.
[15:33] We often think that life is all about what we can acquire.
[15:39] I know if you've seen a bumper sticker, it reads, "In the end, the guys with the most toys wins."
[15:44] And so we think that the more we acquire, the bigger the house I have, the more cars I have, the more money I have in my bank account, that's significance.
[15:55] That is what my purpose is all about.
[15:59] We think by getting more and more and pleasing everyone around us, we somehow find fulfillment and feel accomplished in purpose.
[16:05] You know, that's actually an exhausting way to live.
[16:11] The third is the purpose of God.
[16:16] Now, in order to understand the purpose of God, we actually need to look at Scripture, God's revealed will for our lives.
[16:23] And the story of Scripture is actually a narrative; it's a story set in five parts, very similar to the Shakespearean five-part play, but actually adapted from Horace, who is a Roman poet who lived between sixty-five BC and eight BC.
[16:37] And so Scripture is actually this five-part play with a bonus part, a bonus part.
[16:46] And so the first part is creation, the prologue; it gives the setting, it gives us the understanding of the purpose of the whole narrative and the story.
[16:56] The second part is the fall or the conflict, where something happens, the conflict.
[17:03] The third part is Israel, where the rising of action, the rising action in the story.
[17:09] The fourth part is Jesus, the climax.
[17:16] The fifth part is the church, the resolution.
[17:20] And then the bonus act is new creation.
[17:27] The culmination of everything now, the answers are found in understanding God's reason for creating the world and putting us on earth.
[17:35] And once we know what God's purpose for creation is, then we know what is God's purpose for us.
[17:43] From creation to creation, God has created us to be image bearers, reflecting God's glory and love and to be his representatives in preparing the world for new creation.
[17:55] So let's look at act 1 in Genesis chapter 1, verse 26 and 27.
[17:58] Here is the prologue, the beginning, setting the scene, giving the purpose.
[18:03] And God spoke and said, "Let us make human beings in our image, making them reflecting our nature."
[18:08] God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God's nature.
[18:15] He created them male and female.
[18:17] God blessed them and said, "Prosper, reproduce, fill the earth."
[18:25] And take charge.
[18:30] Remember, how do we find a purpose of an creation?
[18:32] You go and ask the creator.
[18:36] And so here God compares us to image bearing human beings like an angled mirror where this angle mirror reflects God's wise and loving rule towards creation and where we reflect back to God praise and grateful worship like what we were doing this morning.
[18:55] Reflect back to God praise and worship.
[18:58] And so this is what God created us for.
[19:02] And then act 2 comes along where the conflict and this vocation was actually pushed off course when the first humans decided to disobey God.
[19:08] And so sin is not simply doing bad things; it's also a failure vocation where we have not worshiped rightly nor have we reflected God's love and glory in this world properly.
[19:23] And so there's that conflict.
[19:27] And then the third act comes along.
[19:29] We're suddenly in chapter 12 of Genesis.
[19:31] God calls Abraham and God calls this family, and it was a way of God keeping the mission on track.
[19:37] And he was intended by this one family that he would reveal God to all the nations.
[19:42] And God would bless all the nations through the family of Abraham.
[19:46] And God intended to use the nation of Israel to be a light to the world to reveal God to the nations.
[19:55] But then Israel faltered through covenant unfaithfulness.
[19:58] And suddenly the mission of God appeared to be thwarted.
[20:01] Suddenly it appeared to go off track.
[20:03] It was in jeopardy when the key offices start to fall short.
[20:10] For example, the priesthood that God instituted was tainted by vigilante justice.
[20:13] Even you read at the end of the book of Judges the Kings were corrupted by idolatry which resulted in a divided Kingdom.
[20:21] The prophets actually forgot the call to the nations to repent, as if you would remember the.
[20:28] story of Jonah where God called him to
[20:29] go to Nineveh and caused them to repent
[20:32] and to turn to God and Jonah said nope
[20:33] I'm not going to those people and so the
[20:36] prophets forgot God's purpose and
[20:38] mission and so then finally in act 4 the
[20:43] climax Jesus arrives on the scene the
[20:45] true priests the true king the true
[20:47] prophet where Jesus the seed of Abraham
[20:50] the son of David comes to be faithful on
[20:52] Israel's behalf and he came to fulfill
[20:55] God's promise to Abraham to use his
[20:58] family to bless all the families of the
[21:00] earth and to complete the promise to
[21:02] David that his throne would reign
[21:04] forever and so Jesus died and to defeat
[21:09] death and to let humanity know that the
[21:12] plan and the mission is now on track and
[21:14] is going to be accomplished or it didn't
[21:16] culminate in Jesus it actually continues
[21:19] because of Jesus into the fifth act the
[21:22] resolution the church the new humanity
[21:25] God is made of you read in scripture of
[21:28] Jews and Gentiles meaning it's made of
[21:30] all people nations languages and tribes
[21:33] of all the Earth's it's not just one
[21:37] family now it's all the families God
[21:39] wants to be part of this you new
[21:41] humanity the original call and humanity
[21:43] rule and worship is actually restored
[21:46] and those in Christ are compared as will
[21:48] see little shortly this royal priest to
[21:50] this holy nation these peculiar people
[21:53] to glorify and show the world the
[21:55] praises of God and then it'll culminate
[22:00] in two acts 6 the Sabonis act the new
[22:02] creation the new creation is not a
[22:04] return back to the original creation but
[22:07] the completion of it the completion of
[22:10] God's design for Humanity
[22:12] for the world and so our hope is not
[22:13] evacuation that God will get us out of
[22:15] here someday it's not an explanation
[22:17] where God will explain all things to us
[22:20] one day nor is it our hope is a
[22:22] compensation that God will make it to
[22:24] make it up to us at the end though there
[22:27] will be justice and recompense but the
[22:30] Christian hope is better than all of
[22:31] them it's the hope of Resurrection and
[22:34] new creation the God in whom we believe
[22:39] is the creator of the world will one day
[22:42] put the world right where God is going
[22:46] to make everything right and where God
[22:48] and man you read that a revelation will
[22:50] dwell together in peace and harmony
[22:53] forever and ever his ultimate desire now
[22:57] each one of us are created with unique
[23:00] personalities and talents and abilities
[23:02] and spiritual gifts to help prepare for
[23:05] new creation to be that angle mirror and
[23:07] we are to partner with God to fulfill
[23:10] his plan and purpose in creation here at
[23:13] the bridge our vision statement says
[23:16] transform people impacting their world
[23:19] in Christ and so when we are transformed
[23:23] in our relationship to Jesus we are able
[23:26] to impact be that angle mirror where
[23:28] ever we go in our world shining God's
[23:31] light of truth and love to the nation's
[23:33] and where we can be give back praise to
[23:36] God and we do this through our mission
[23:38] and our mission statement is to
[23:39] connecting people to God his church into
[23:43] the world in a life building and life
[23:46] enhancing way and so are we transform
[23:52] people and I trust even through this
[23:53] series God is transforming removing
[23:56] things and and helping us to find his
[23:59] purpose and pleasure and serving and
[24:01] loving and impacting those around us
[24:03] Rick Warren who's a pastor and author of
[24:05] a very famous book you probably read The
[24:07] Purpose Driven Life in it he talks about
[24:10] God's five intentions and how we use our
[24:13] talents to do good into the world and
[24:16] how in order to be this reflective glass
[24:18] god has these five intentions I'm going
[24:21] to quickly go through to ultimately
[24:23] fulfill his purpose and let's look at
[24:25] them
[24:25] first is we are planned for God's
[24:27] pleasure and so the first purpose is to
[24:31] offer real worship second we are formed
[24:36] for God's family is to enjoy real
[24:40] fellowship third we were created to
[24:43] become like Christ and this is to learn
[24:47] real discipleship fourth we were shaped
[24:52] for serving is to practice real ministry
[24:57] and finally the fifth is for mission is
[25:01] to live out real evangelism and so these
[25:05] five intentions these five components
[25:07] allow us to be this transformed people
[25:10] this reflective mirror to be this image
[25:13] bearer to be this representative
[25:14] wherever we go to reflect God's love and
[25:18] glory and so this is why we live as
[25:20] loving and forgiving people and so when
[25:23] we sin or make a mistake we go to God
[25:25] and we ask God for forgiveness so we
[25:27] don't live with these blemishes that
[25:28] affect the mirror there's no spots on
[25:31] this mirror that effect the light from
[25:33] shining and so we ask God for
[25:35] forgiveness so we can live fully human
[25:38] fully reflective where there's nothing
[25:40] obscuring the reflection of God and that
[25:44] is why we gather on Sundays and as we
[25:46] did this morning and we exalted the Lord
[25:48] and worshiped him because we are
[25:50] reflecting not only to the world but
[25:51] back to God the praises of all creation
[25:56] of our lives and His goodness and so we
[25:58] we gather together for them and that's
[26:02] why we grouped together in life groups
[26:04] and we function as fully human being
[26:06] supporting one another in community and
[26:08] helping each other through that and that
[26:11] is why we give of our time and our
[26:12] talents and our treasures and our money
[26:14] to extend God's kingdom and mission we
[26:19] give our finances to help the poor to
[26:21] help the needy and that is why we get
[26:24] involved in a ministry in the church and
[26:26] possibly even out where we are the body
[26:28] of Christ impacting those around us the
[26:32] world the people and this is why we go
[26:35] into our workplaces and we go into our
[26:37] community
[26:38] as a signpost pointing people to God and
[26:42] shining the light of Jesus to a dark
[26:45] world so when people look at you they
[26:47] will see that you are a signpost
[26:49] pointing people reflecting people to
[26:51] Jesus that is why for example we may
[26:55] serve an out of the cold or we may
[26:56] sponsor a child in another country so
[26:59] that we can extend and reflect God's
[27:01] love and this is why we take the
[27:03] scripture and we read God's Word so we
[27:05] can fully understand the narrative the
[27:07] story the plan the purpose God has for
[27:10] us this is why for example you may
[27:13] recycle and take care of the environment
[27:15] because you are understand that you we
[27:18] are stewards of God's creation we do all
[27:22] these things and more because we want to
[27:26] live as fully human beings reflecting
[27:29] the goodness the grace and the love of
[27:32] God to creation and so we see this
[27:35] progression of God's purpose God's
[27:37] ultimate purpose the new creation where
[27:40] God lives with his creation in harmony
[27:42] and peace as he desired so and it will
[27:45] be accomplished the culmination the
[27:46] ultimate purpose of God and then God has
[27:49] this universal purpose for Humanity to
[27:52] be as I mentioned image bearing
[27:53] reflecting angled mirrors the love and
[27:56] the praise of God but then God also has
[27:59] a unique purpose for each one of us
[28:01] where we use our spiritual gifts and our
[28:05] abilities the passion we have the
[28:08] experiences of our past to fulfill God's
[28:11] purpose
[28:12] you see God created you and I and shaped
[28:15] our lives unique and wonderful ways so
[28:18] that we can pray as Jesus prayed your
[28:20] kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven
[28:24] and we have the joy of enabling and
[28:26] fulfilling that and so we use our
[28:29] abilities for God's glory and when we
[28:30] come to know God more fully as we obey
[28:33] Him and we accomplish his purposes and
[28:36] works in our lives
[28:36] Psalm 139 verses 13 and 14 it says this
[28:40] beautiful Psalm it says you made all the
[28:43] delicate inner parts of my body and knit
[28:46] me together in my mother's womb thank
[28:49] you for making me so Wonder
[28:51] we complex your workmanship is marvelous
[28:55] how well I know it can you imagine that
[28:58] you and I are marvelously created
[29:02] uniquely created formed by God for his
[29:06] purpose Rick Warren also in the book
[29:09] talks about something called shape an
[29:11] acronym help to understand the five
[29:14] elements working together that formed
[29:16] and shapes us and defines who we are and
[29:20] part of the shape the first a stands for
[29:24] spiritual gifts now God has given all of
[29:27] us who are followers of Jesus elite one
[29:30] spiritual gift if not more
[29:31] no one has every spiritual gift and no
[29:34] one spiritual gift is given to everyone
[29:36] either and then H is for heart speaks
[29:42] about our passion in our desires and
[29:44] what really motivates us is we all have
[29:47] differing spiritual gifts we all have
[29:49] different passions different desires
[29:50] different things that motivate all of us
[29:52] a is four abilities the talents and the
[29:57] skills God has given to every human
[29:59] being for his glory now whether people
[30:01] love God or not God's good common Grace
[30:04] has bestowed upon every human being
[30:06] certain talents and abilities this is
[30:10] everyone has a talent or ability and
[30:12] then ps4 personality refers to the
[30:15] individual differences in characteristic
[30:17] patterns of thinking behavior and
[30:19] feeling for example some are extrovert
[30:21] some are introverts no one is better
[30:23] than the other each one created for a
[30:26] purpose and finally the experiences the
[30:30] events and situations in our lives the
[30:32] good and the bad that have molded us and
[30:36] has shaped us to who we are today
[30:39] you know here at the bridge we have
[30:41] something called discover your purpose
[30:43] and it's it's a time where we can enable
[30:47] to assess our abilities and our
[30:50] spiritual gifts and if you haven't
[30:52] attended we're actually having one today
[30:54] after second service so if you're
[30:56] interested register if not it doesn't
[30:58] work today look out for the next time we
[31:00] have a discover your purpose opportunity
[31:03] where you can discover
[31:04] your god-given spiritual gifts and your
[31:06] talents so that you can fully reflect
[31:08] and understand how you can accomplish
[31:11] God's purpose
[31:13] you see these five elements the shape
[31:16] helps us define who we are and how
[31:19] you're shaped will help you in
[31:21] fulfilling God's purpose so let me say
[31:24] this your purpose in life is to fulfill
[31:26] God's purpose through your god-given
[31:30] talents that god-given gifts and
[31:33] abilities your purpose in life is to
[31:36] fulfill God's purpose through your
[31:38] god-given gifts and abilities it's not
[31:41] about my purpose it's about God's
[31:43] purpose but through our god-given
[31:45] abilities and talents and giftings we
[31:48] can accomplish that God enables us
[31:50] through His grace His Holy Spirit and we
[31:54] can try it in our own effort we can try
[31:56] it on our own strength but thank God
[31:59] that we can live inflatable lives filled
[32:01] and inspired by His grace
[32:04] and enabled through the gifts that God
[32:06] has given I'd like to show a little
[32:08] demonstration here about two types of
[32:11] people one who live self inspired lives
[32:16] self enabled lives living and
[32:19] functioning in their own strength and
[32:21] their own ability so you have this
[32:22] balloon it this can represent someone
[32:24] who's living the selfish self inspired
[32:27] life so if I keep hitting this balloon
[32:30] up with my hand this balloon is flying
[32:34] up only because my hand is hitting this
[32:38] it takes human effort for this balloon
[32:42] to go up and down and there's four
[32:44] things we see from this this little
[32:45] demonstration the first is it takes
[32:48] human effort to keep us up and some of
[32:51] us are living only because of our human
[32:53] effort and our own strength but what
[32:56] ends up happening is it's temporary it
[32:58] doesn't stay up there it doesn't last
[33:01] what happens it comes back down to where
[33:04] it began it goes up and it comes back
[33:07] down to where it all started and the
[33:10] fourth thing is that it does it gives a
[33:12] false impression to us and to those
[33:13] around us that everything is all right
[33:15] so while we're flying high we're
[33:16] thinking we're great ever
[33:18] one things Wow look at that person
[33:19] they're doing really great but then
[33:20] after some time he crashes he comes back
[33:24] down we can't sustain that type of life
[33:28] and so we may be living like this or we
[33:35] may be like this balloon and this
[33:38] balloon is a balloon that is Grace
[33:40] inspired and gift enabled life a life
[33:45] that is inspired by God's grace by God's
[33:47] Spirit and this balloon doesn't take
[33:51] human effort and it's not temporary nor
[33:55] does it come back down to where it
[33:56] started and it doesn't give a false
[33:59] impression to people because it is what
[34:01] it is so I'm gonna take this balloon you
[34:04] may figure it's filled with something
[34:06] that may go up and by the way I asked
[34:08] mark if it's okay I can throw these
[34:09] balloons up into the ceiling and he said
[34:11] it's alright so I'm just gonna see what
[34:13] happens to this grace inspired gift an
[34:16] able balloon and it goes up and he goes
[34:22] up and it ain't coming down how many
[34:28] want to live a grace inspired gift
[34:31] enable life where we're not living by
[34:35] our own strength and it's not temporary
[34:39] where we live fulfilling God's purpose
[34:43] first Peter chapter 4 verse 10 and 11
[34:45] says each of you should use whatever
[34:48] gift you've received to serve others as
[34:50] faithful stewards of God's grace in
[34:51] various forms if anyone speaks they
[34:54] should speak as one who speaks the very
[34:56] words of God and if anyone serves they
[34:57] should do so with the strength God
[34:59] provides so that in all things God beat
[35:04] may be praised through Jesus Christ to
[35:06] him be glory and power forever and ever
[35:09] amen you see here we've all received
[35:11] gifts we have to be faithful in its use
[35:15] use your spiritual gifts talents and
[35:17] abilities what does it say there in
[35:19] Scripture that God may be glorified it's
[35:22] not about our self fulfillment it's
[35:24] about God being glorified for God's
[35:28] glory forever and ever shows his eternal
[35:30] purpose
[35:31] and so God has enabled us that and so
[35:34] you know there are some examples of
[35:35] Christians who do a good job of living
[35:37] on purpose with their lives into
[35:41] integrating their faith and their
[35:42] profession and I trust all of us are
[35:45] doing so and there are some people more
[35:46] in the public realm whether we see them
[35:48] as to what we agree or not but there are
[35:51] people who who do so and for example
[35:53] there's a man named Dave Ramsey who's a
[35:55] financial planner and he uses his
[35:57] financial planning based organization
[36:00] and helps and teaches people about
[36:03] financial planning and shares and
[36:05] infuses his faith inside of that the
[36:08] Christian rapper Lecrae and he's very
[36:11] influential in hip-hop culture his his
[36:13] own label and so he infuses his faith
[36:15] and reflecting God through his
[36:17] profession Steph Curry who's a god-given
[36:20] talented shooter and he can shoot from
[36:22] anywhere on the court but yet with this
[36:25] platform and his ability that God has
[36:27] given he's enabled to reflect Jesus in
[36:30] ways that some of us may not be able to
[36:33] have that platform and so in his area
[36:35] God allows him to reflect man named
[36:38] Michael Hyatt a former executive turned
[36:39] entrepreneur who does blogs and speaking
[36:41] events and online courses and so he
[36:43] brings faith into his life of his
[36:45] profession and able to share and reflect
[36:48] Jesus in whatever he does some of you
[36:51] may like HGTV and like to do watch
[36:54] fixer-upper and chip and Joanna Gaines
[36:55] and there are people who infuse faith
[36:57] into their lives and reflect the love of
[36:59] Jesus with all of their clients or
[37:01] American singer-songwriter and actress
[37:04] Carrie Underwood who reflects Jesus in
[37:06] her profession or football quarterback
[37:09] like Russell Wilson and gifted and
[37:12] talented and his abilities of playing
[37:14] football but yet in his platform and his
[37:16] ability to share and reflect Jesus so
[37:18] you don't have to be a preacher to stand
[37:20] behind a pulpit and preach God's love
[37:21] and message wherever you and I are
[37:23] placed you can reflect Jesus the purpose
[37:28] of God to be that angled mirror where
[37:32] Jesus are reflected in our professions
[37:34] and our careers in our gifts and talents
[37:36] so take time to reflect on what you love
[37:39] to do what your passions are and how you
[37:42] can align that with God's purpose in a
[37:44] way that can glorify
[37:45] and that gives you the pleasure and one
[37:49] more demonstration to show how a lot of
[37:52] people actually live lies without
[37:54] direction or destination we live lies
[37:58] without direction or destination and so
[38:00] I'm gonna ask mark to come up to help me
[38:02] with this demonstration so I have this
[38:05] balloon here and if you just give me a
[38:06] moment I'm gonna blow it up these are
[38:14] people who have determination who want
[38:16] to live a life of purpose but yet they
[38:19] don't have direction or a destination
[38:23] they don't know where they're going and
[38:25] they don't know how to get there but
[38:27] they are determined to do something in
[38:28] their lives and so if I take this
[38:30] balloon and I want this balloon to get
[38:32] to mark and I let go of it
[38:37] good cut it didn't get to mark it didn't
[38:41] get to mark because it had no direction
[38:43] it had no destination
[38:46] although determined no destination or
[38:50] direction and there are a lot of people
[38:52] living like that just living going here
[38:54] and there and ending up somewhere else
[38:56] but God has not called us to live a life
[38:58] without direction and destination even
[39:00] though we have determination there's a
[39:02] distance that we travel known as God's
[39:03] purpose and plan and will for our lives
[39:06] and so then there is others
[39:09] mark if you can take this we'll go up on
[39:12] here so everyone can see and so mark is
[39:15] the destination and I'm gonna blow this
[39:19] this balloon here
[39:31] second service I'm losing my breath here
[39:40] oops actually should be the other way
[39:47] and so now there are some people who
[39:52] live with direction and we find
[39:57] direction in God's Word his plan and
[39:58] purpose but we also know our destination
[40:01] the culmination the end of the story
[40:02] we're not traveling helter-skelter going
[40:05] here and there we no way where we're
[40:07] heading and so if I let go of this
[40:09] balloon now got it nice and tight there
[40:11] and there you go
[40:16] thank you mark it reached its
[40:19] destination because it had direction
[40:22] even it had determination it traveled
[40:24] the distance of life the plan the
[40:26] purpose that God has for us God's Word
[40:29] gives us direction reveals his purpose
[40:31] and as we're empowered through his
[40:34] Spirit and grace that at the culmination
[40:37] of the story we know our part we've
[40:42] played and we can look back at our lives
[40:44] and know that we have lived
[40:46] significantly I'd like to close with
[40:49] this quote and annalen allergy here we
[40:52] read from NT right where he says we read
[40:54] scripture in order to be refreshed in
[40:57] our memory an understanding of the story
[41:00] within which we ourselves are actors to
[41:04] regroup to be reminded where it has come
[41:06] from and where it is going to and hence
[41:10] what our part within it ought to be and
[41:13] so we read scripture to know the grand
[41:15] narrative and to know that we are part
[41:16] of that plan and purpose in that story
[41:19] and to know where it has come from and
[41:21] where it is going now imagine you went
[41:22] to see a Broadway play at the Prince of
[41:24] Wales Theatre here in Toronto and
[41:27] suddenly you're sitting there and at the
[41:29] intermission the director comes up to
[41:31] you and taps you and says this is your
[41:33] scene and you say what my scene I didn't
[41:37] know I'm part of this play I don't know
[41:38] well what's happening in a storyline
[41:40] what's gonna happen in the future I need
[41:42] to know my lines and you start to panic
[41:44] and wonder how what's going on how many
[41:49] know that this is your scene in life
[41:53] this is your part this is your purpose
[41:56] it's no longer talking about
[41:57] apostle paul an apostle peter and
[42:00] agustin and Calvin and Luther and
[42:01] bonheoffer and all the other greats of
[42:03] the Christian faith that have lived and
[42:05] moved the story line they've done their
[42:08] part they played their part in the story
[42:10] line of Scripture now it's you and I the
[42:12] church right now at this moment where we
[42:15] need to know the story the grand
[42:17] narrative and actually participate let's
[42:21] not be spectators looking at the story
[42:24] unfolding but God has created us as we
[42:26] just read as partners of
[42:28] the grand play the story of Scripture
[42:31] and this is why we read scripture to
[42:34] find out our purpose and part of this
[42:36] it's like for example going to a Star
[42:38] Wars movie and never watching all the
[42:40] previous one going to the last Jedi and
[42:42] wondering what's going on in the whole
[42:44] storyline what's going on and some of us
[42:47] are like that we don't know because we
[42:48] haven't even read the story of Scripture
[42:50] and where it we're lost what's actually
[42:51] happening what's gonna happen in the
[42:52] future and what's my part in this whole
[42:55] thing first Peter 2 verse 9 it says but
[43:00] you are a Chosen People a royal
[43:03] priesthood a holy nation God's special
[43:07] possession that you may declare the
[43:10] praises of him who called you out of
[43:13] darkness into his wonderful light here
[43:17] God says you are a Chosen People a royal
[43:20] priesthood you're there to reflect God's
[43:23] glory to creation and back to God that
[43:30] we declare the praises of God and then
[43:33] in verse 12 it says live such good lives
[43:35] among those who do not believe that's
[43:38] why we reflect that they may see your
[43:42] good deeds and glorify God on the day he
[43:45] visits us and in the culmination at the
[43:47] end of the story Jesus is coming back
[43:50] and where all of creation will see and
[43:52] know when they see our lives and when
[43:54] the things we do like Jesus said in
[43:56] Matthew 5:16 let your light shine before
[43:59] others that they may see your good deeds
[44:02] and glorify your father in heaven
[44:08] are we this angle mirror reflecting
[44:11] knowing our part in the play knowing our
[44:16] part in the play let's all stand as we
[44:21] worship the Lord and I'd like to just
[44:22] have a moment of Prayer
[44:26] and that we could pray together and
[44:28] understand the purpose and plan of God
[44:32] is God has called us to know our gifts
[44:35] and nor abilities and to fulfill let's
[44:38] not be spectators watching the grand
[44:40] narrative as it goes by the God is
[44:43] tapping in saying today it's your scene
[44:46] it's your part what are we doing with
[44:48] our lives today impacting our world in
[44:50] Christ so let's pray this prayer
[44:53] together would you join me let's repeat
[44:54] this prayer it's right on the screen
[44:56] behind and let's say together believing
[44:58] the words of this prayer Lord our God
[45:02] help us to walk with you on the pathway
[45:06] to be like you and to live out your
[45:09] mission in today's world bind us to all
[45:12] men and women of our time so that
[45:15] together we may bring the good news to
[45:18] the ends of the earth open our hearts
[45:21] and our Christian communities to the
[45:24] needy the afflicted the oppressed may we
[45:28] radiate the Living Christ and transform
[45:31] our lives in the hope of the
[45:33] Resurrection through Jesus Christ our
[45:35] Lord amen
[45:37] it's worship God
[45:39] you