Transcript: Finding Purpose in Christianity: My Journey of Faith

Many people go through life empty inside, wandering aimlessly without purpose pondering the very reason for their existence and many today unfortunately give much soulish thought to whether or not their life is really worth living. The name of this message today is called My Reason and Purpose for Being. Today in America the suicide rate has never been as high as it has been at this present time. A recent article giving statistics reported by the Centers for Disease Control stated that suicide rates rose in all but one state between 1999 and 2016 with increases seen across age, gender, race and ethnicity. According to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in more than half of all deaths in 27 states, the people had no known mental health condition when they ended their lives. Suicide rates are on the rise across the nation, but nowhere so much as in rural counties. increasingly suicide is being viewed not only as a mental health problem but also a public one it is hitting many places especially hard in half the states suicide among people age 10 and older increased more than 30% at what point is it a crisis asked Nadine Koslow a past president of the American Psychological Association. She says, suicide is a public health crisis when you look at the numbers and they keep going up. It's everywhere, and we know that the rates are actually higher than what is reported. But homicides still get more attention. Habitual users of opioids were twice as likely to attempt suicides as people who did not use them. Historically, men had higher death rates than women, Kassel noted. That's equalizing not because men are committing suicide, but because women are doing it more. That's very, very troublesome, she says. Those without known mental health conditions, according to the report, were more likely to be male and belong to a racial or ethnic minority. The problems most frequently associated with suicide, according to the study, are strained relationships, life stresses, often involving finances, substance use problems, physical health problems, and recent or impending crisis. she said I think this gets back to what we need to be teaching people how to manage breakups job stresses said Christine Montior medical director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention what are we doing as a nation to help people to manage these things because anybody can experience these stresses anybody she says well the mental health experts tell us that the remedy for this monumental issue regarding suicide what we see here is the same remedy that man has been trying to work out for himself ever since the world's Adam and Eve in the garden men and women since that time have endeavored to work out all of their problems by themselves without God and what we have today is a world without God, the maker of heaven and earth, whose son Jesus Christ came to this earth to bring us back to God by the spilling of his precious blood as a redemption for all the whosoever's would repent of their sins and live in the obedience of his commands. It is here, and here alone, dear listener, that you begin to learn the very purpose and meaning and value of your life in Jesus Christ. Life outside Christ is like walking in the dark without any hope of seeing the light of dawn. Jesus declares in the scripture, Behold, I make all things new. And this is exactly what he promises to do as we live in him and his word and his ways. As a little girl of about the age of eight or nine, I remember my mother sending me to my room to think about something that I either said or did and that was my punishment. Just go upstairs and think about it, she said. As I was laying on my bed having a pity party for being punished the thought arose in my mind. What is my purpose for being? Why was I born? I pondered in my mind about how generation after generation came into the world and went out of the world. And I was reflecting on my grandparents, especially my grandfather who had passed away at this time, as well as my mother's brother. I pondered my reason for being. it wasn't until I grew up in the understanding of the knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ that I knew and truly understood the purpose and the meaning of my life in Jesus the title of this word again I reiterate is what is the meaning and the purpose of my life you see you and I cannot live in two worlds that is have good works and are going to church once a week. It is difficult for many people when they first answer the call to come to Christ and they begin to live in and conform to His ways. As the scriptures state that the old fallen nature prefers the old clothing that feels so comfortable and natural. God has a purpose for each and every person who commits their lives to Him. Jeremiah 29, 11 declares I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you a hope and a future and then you will call upon me and come to me and pray and I will listen to you you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart I will be found by you declares the Lord and will bring you back from captivity in the Old Testament Pharaoh mistakenly thought that he was in control and refused to listen to God. Pharaoh continually opposed God and his people. God told Pharaoh that he had a purpose for his life in Exodus 9.16. He said, I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9.16 God does not force people to come to him or submit to him and his ways. But people will live miserable lives and all said and done in Pharaoh's life. It was because he basically chose to die eternally in his opposition to disobeying God and doing what God had commanded. it's like the tyrant chose mass suicide for himself and his people as they endured the seven plagues and finally Pharaoh and his army perished by drowning in the sea did you hear the scripture where God told him that he had a purpose for his life I've raised you up for this very purpose he said that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in the earth God had arranged for Pharaoh to be in the office as an Egyptian leader for his own purpose God has a purpose for everyone and this purpose includes those who resist him God knows all things he already knows our lives from the end to the beginning ultimately God will have the glory no matter what because he is the giver of life and the giver of every man and woman's purpose whether they live for him or not. Proverbs 16 declares The Lord has made everything to accommodate itself and contribute to its own end and his own purpose Even the wicked are fitted for their role for the day of calamity and evil Verse 5 says, Every proud and arrogant in heart is disgusting, hateful, and exceedingly offensive to the Lord. Be assured, I pledge it, they will not go unpunished. verse 6 by mercy and love truth and fidelity to God and man not by sacrificial offerings iniquity is purged out of the heart and by the reverent worshipful fear of the Lord men depart from and avoid evil when a man's ways please the Lord he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him 1 Peter 2.8 declares a stone that will cause stumbling and a rock that will give men offense. They will stumble because they disobey and disbelieve God's word as those who reject him were destined and appointed to. You see, as I mentioned before, it wasn't until I grew in the understanding of the knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ that I knew and truly understand the purpose and meaning of my life in Jesus. and it was only then I began to see and understand once I began to study the word and the light of the truth began to permeate and illuminate the eyes of my spiritual understanding. Before understanding the meaning and purpose of life it was all very difficult to figure out and figuring it out required finding other questions that needed answers and the puzzle of life became even more complicated. And this is like coming up with an answer in your own mind to determine the meaning and the purpose of life. Still the heart and the soul of man remains empty because it is done with human understanding and reasoning. Isaiah 55, 7 declares, Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God, for he will freely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and neither my ways your ways, declare the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. You see, God's ways are far above our ways. Things we desire and plans we make without God will still in time leave an empty hole in our hearts, because bottom line is that God's purpose for us in life is the only one that will last. Proverbs 19, 21 says, Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. This scripture tells us that the lives of men and women are like a vapor. Only God's purposes can be fulfilled throughout generation after generation. and we can make plans for our lives, set out to accomplish them and many times will accomplish goals that we seek. But if we have not accepted the beautiful gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ's precious death, burial and resurrection, we find ourselves like so many in time drifting in an ocean of problems without a paddle or a sail. I believe perhaps one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible is found in Isaiah 30 verse 18 Yet the Lord still waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love He will conquer you to bless you just as he said For the Lord is faithful to his promises Blessed are all those who wait for him to help them this scripture speaks volumes of the love and the patience of our almighty creator almighty god's patience is hard for us to understand he knows perfectly that we are mostly a hard-headed people and it takes time for the understanding of his love and his mercy to penetrate the hardened soil of our hearts. 2 Peter 3.9 says, The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises, as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, and but everyone to come to repentance. These two preceding scriptures show the absolute love of God to a world of people dying in their own sin. We can have our own purpose or someone else can have a purpose for us. But what does the Bible say the purpose of God is for our lives? The answer is simple and found in both the Old and the New Testaments. In the Old Testament, God commanded the people in Deuteronomy 30 verse 15. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his commandments, decrees, and laws. Then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. Verse 17 But if your heart turns away, and if you're drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. Matthew 22 verse 34 in the New Testament when Jesus was being tested by the Sadducees and the Pharisees verse 35 one of them, an expert in the law tested him with a question Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Verse 37 Jesus replied Love the Lord your God with all of your heart with all of your soul with all of your mind this is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. You see, God has a greater purpose in saving us than just giving us a life of warm fuzzies and life's luxuries with everything that we ever desire and material wealth, riches, fame or to be somebody. 2 Timothy 1.9 declares He saved us and he's called us to a holy life not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. Salvation found only in Jesus Christ is the beginning for new believers. The promise of eternity and living free from the bondage of sin and perversion is an absolute gift from God. And we find that as we've grown in the wonderful, miraculous, supernatural revelation and understanding of God's word called the truth, he opens up our spiritual eyes of understanding and gives us the desire and tenacity to obey his precepts. Dear ones, God does not owe us a thing. He gave us everything in his Son, Jesus Christ. Yours and my conformity to God's own Son ultimately glorifies God the Father. that's right God our Abba Father is glorified when we obey our precious Redeemer Jesus Christ we see this clarified in Romans 8 verse 28 and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose for those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son that he might be firstborn among many brethren. And those he predestined, he also called. Those he called, he also justified. Those he justified, he also glorified. Another scripture paralleling Romans 8.30 is found in Isaiah 43.7 Everyone who is called by my name, whom I have created for my glory, I have formed him, yes I have made him do you hear a key word here in these last scriptures Romans 8.30 those whom God predestined he called and those he called he justified those whom he glorified those whom he justified he glorified God says I formed him yes I made him did you know that in the beginning God created us for his glory that it begins with first our sanctification? 2 Corinthians 3.16 says whenever a person turns, hear this, in repentance to the Lord, a veil is stripped away It taken off Now the Lord is a spirit And what the spirit of the Lord is there liberty And all of us as with an unveiled face because we continue to behold in the word of God, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into his very own image, in ever-increasing splendor, and from one degree of glory to another. and this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Without the veil of darkness being lifted from us through the supernatural opening of our spiritual eyes, we will never experience the awesome glory of our Abba Father and His Son Jesus Christ incessant and never-ending love for us personally. Those who are truly the children of God, without compromising the truth of Scripture, which represents the tried and the true path into eternal salvation. God says he created for his glory. It is in those whom he calls faithful that he illustrates his glory and shows forth the wonders of his name. Also, since he has called these, he justifies them. And he tells the devil to give back. These belong to me just as he did with Apostle Peter when Satan wanted to sift him and yes, even with Job, when God instructed Satan to not take Job's life but allowed Job to be sorely tried and tested. Even then, through all of Job's suffering and belittling from his so-called friends and also his wife who said, curse God and die, Job endured the painful suffering and the end of his ordeal. cries out in Job 42.5 I have heard of you only by the hearing of the ear but now my spiritual eyes see you and therefore I loathe my words and abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. You see it is only when our spiritual eyes are opened up by precious Holy Spirit that we can see the wretchedness of our own sinfulness. It is not that God physically appeared to Job that he said, I see. He was supernaturally allowed to see with the eyes of his spirit the air of his folly and own righteousness as compared with the holiness and the purity of Almighty God. Until that time, God was on Job's level in comparison. When his spiritual eyes were opened up, he hated or abhorred himself because he saw how utterly prideful, how self-righteous he had been, and how utterly vile and loathsome he was in the eyes of God. It wasn't until his spiritual eyes were supernaturally opened up and repent bitterly, especially the sin of self-righteousness. And for this, God allowed Satan to buffet Job severely. And again, through Job's whole ordeal and finally his bitter repentance, God was glorified. God protected Job from Satan in that he could not take Job's life. The Almighty Creator defended and protected him that his glory would be shown in Job's recovery and salvation. And when Job cried out, for I know that my Redeemer lives. God, dear church, received the glory from this man's wayward life of self-righteousness. In Isaiah 43, 7, when God says, everyone who is called by my name, whom I have created for my glory, I have formed him, I have made him. And the word glory in the Greek is kabad, and it literally means rich, honorable, to make weighty or heavy. And this means that the purpose of God in the creation and salvation of mankind through his son Jesus Christ is to produce in every true believer who comes to him a kindred likeness, a holiness, or a radiant purity like that of God himself. And this is brought about by precious Holy Spirit who has given to us to lead us in this way. 1 Peter 4.14 declares, if you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed. For the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. The spirit of glory, the Holy Spirit of glory rests upon you. The Spirit of God is given to us to lead us into God's righteousness so that we enjoy intimate and continuing fellowship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and display the wonders of his glory or his own nature and attributes to our souls. So we talk about the ultimate purpose in our lives on this earth in being a child of God who brings God glory by living in Jesus Christ and emulating his nature and character. But there is more that is necessary as a prerequisite. It is a matter of how we bring glory to God and the very first starting point in our lives before we can ever bring any glory to God. In Matthew 22, verse 34, hearing that Jesus has silenced the Sadducees, The Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with the question, Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? And Jesus answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, with all of your strength, and with all of your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus was saying that this was the greatest commandment. And a commandment means an edict or a law. So we could say that Jesus was in a way here saying and commanding the people to love completely, wholeheartedly without any reservations. It is a love that includes emotion, intellect and our will. Bottom line here, it is a love that contains the elements of an intense feeling of deep affection but also complete devotion and commitment to God. The supreme purpose and reason for mankind's existence then is to love God with all of our being. It is a love that desires wholeheartedly to want to please God in all aspects of our lives. Can we begin to see here the very reason and purpose of our existence or our being? And this is God's purpose in creating us. Proverbs 1.7 declares the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning and the principle and choice part of knowledge its starting point, its essence but fools despise skillful and godly wisdom instruction and discipline so Apostle Paul gives us insight as to this kind of love that leads to our ability to please God and bring Him glory in Ephesians 5, 1-5. Therefore let us be imitators of God and follow His example as well-beloved children imitate their Father and walk in love, esteeming and delighting in one another as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. A slain offering and a sacrifice to God for you so that it became a sweet fragrance. Verses 3-5 give us a contrast between the child of God versus the pretender of the faith, verse 3, but immortality or sexual vice and all impurity of lustful, rich, wasteful living or greediness must not even be named among you as it is fitting and proper among the saints, God's consecrated people. Let there be no filthiness, obscene indecency or foolishness and sinful, silly, corrupt talk, coarse jesting, which is not fitting or becoming, but instead voice your thankfulness to God. Verse 5, For be sure of this, that no person practicing sexual vice or impurity in thought or one who is covetous or lustful desire for the property of others and is greedy for gain, for he in effect is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. so the call that Paul gives in the first steps of walking in love is being an imitator of God and following Christ example if we are truly a child of God the revelation of this new birth into the new race not of this world ought to impact us deeply when we understand that we are born into a loving relationship with the Father who loves us as he loves his own son. And if our spiritual eyes have been opened up by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, then our imitation of Christ as our pattern and way of life ought to result in showing love to him by the way we live, in what we speak, and what we do. The Father gave his dear Son to have us. What more could he give than to express his love to us in this way? Jesus was purchased with a great price. Greater love has no man than this, than any man lay down his life for his friend. Now, in return for his precious and priceless gift to us, our Heavenly Father, Abba, asks us to walk in love to please him. Paul begins with walk in love because love is the fundamental factor in the Christian way of life which in turn brings glory to God because this is saying that we will submit totally to God's commands, and we will not knowingly hurt or offend anyone. Romans 13.8 declares, He who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. The commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet, and whatever else the commands there may be are summed up with this one rule, love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. It is the Holy Spirit who puts his love in our hearts, dear believer. Romans 5.5 says, such hope never disappoints or deludes and shames us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. there is a holy confidence we have when we truly begin to live in Christ and we begin to walk in the Spirit 1 John 4.17 says in this union and communion with him love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us that we may have confidence for the day of judgment because as he is so are we in this world there is no fear in love Dread does not exist, but full-grown, complete, perfect love turns fear out the doors and expels every trace of terror. For fear brings with it the thought of punishment. And so he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love is not yet grown into love's complete perfection. Verse 19. We love him because he first loved us. If anyone says, I love God, and hates and detests, abominates his brother, in Christ, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this command, this charge, this order we have from him that he who loves God shall also love his brother, believer also. This perfecting of God's love in our lives is usually a matter of several stages. When we were lost in the darkness of our own souls, we lived in fear and knew nothing of God's love. And after we began to take our baby steps and grow on the milk of the word, we began to trust what Jesus said in his word. We found a perplexing mixture of both fear and love in our hearts. We began the sorting and trusting process. I'm glad that our God is a patient and loving Father, aren't you? But as we grew in sincere and true fellowship with our Father, gradually the fear vanished and our hearts longed for him and more of his ways. King David expresses, As the heart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for you, O God. My inner self thirsts for God, for the living God. when shall I come and behold the face of God? So in this growing process of love, our prayers even began to change from self-centered to Christ-centered, saying, Thy will be done, O Lord, in my life. But as an immature Christian torn between fear and love, a mature believer rests in God's love. A growing confidence in the presence of God in one's life is the first evidences that our love for God and his son Jesus Christ is maturing. But let's understand, this confidence never stands alone or takes a break. It always leads to other moral results and continuing attributes of Christ Jesus' own nature being developed in our spirit and souls. We've heard many times the end of the book in Ecclesiastes, which sums up the life of the man Solomon who was at one time considered the wisest man ever born in the Old Testament account. Ecclesiastes 13 says All has been heard. The end of the matter is fear God, revere Him, worship Him, knowing that He is, keep His commandments, for the whole duty of man, the original purpose of creation, the object of God's providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, and the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun, and the whole duty for every man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, every secret thing, whether good or bad. Verse 14. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil. so we see the whole duty of man then is to revere God and obey him and by this we show our love to God at the same time we bring him glory by imitating his son Jesus Christ the whole duty of man is to revere God and the evidence of this whole duty is man's complete dependence on a higher incomprehensible being called the great eternal God creator of all things. My reason and your reason for being or existence then is to know Christ and be found in him alone. Philippians 3.9, Paul says that he wants nothing more than to know Christ and be found in him, to have his righteousness and to live by faith in him, even if it meant suffering and dying. Paul's purpose was knowing Christ and having a righteousness obtained through faith in him by living in fellowship with him, even when that brought suffering and even death. So dear ones, summing up our purpose for being in this life is to bring glory to God through our imitation of Jesus. And reiterating again, righteousness is found only in Jesus through faith in him. And this righteousness glorifies God. Glorifying God expresses our love to him and to others. And only by restoring fellowship with God through faith in Jesus Christ can our purpose in life be discovered and nourished. We glorify God by fearing and obeying him, keeping our eyes fixed above on our future home, by faith in Jesus Christ, by imitating him until the end. and when we walk in this way we will enjoy the promises and the blessings which are afforded to only those who truly walk in love and love the Lord Jesus Christ with all of their hearts God tells us that his purpose for our lives cannot be undone in Job 42 Job said I know that you can do all things and no thought or purpose of yours can be restrained or thwarted once the almighty establishes his purpose for our lives and we are sincerely walking in love and glorifying our creator with our imitation of his son's attributes no man can shut what God has opened Thank you.