Living with a Purpose

Mark Finley: Our Lord teaches that the true object of life is ministry. Christ himself was a worker and to all his followers he gives the law of service, service to God and to our fellow man.
Guest (Male): This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: Living with Purpose. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up on past messages and stay updated with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. Stay with us for a free Bible study offer later in this program. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: Before you were born, God chose you for salvation. The first aspect of understanding God's plan for your life is understanding who you are in Christ. Ephesians chapter 1. The first aspect of God's plan, which is really the foundation and the basis for understanding purpose in life, is found in Ephesians 1. If you have your Bible, you may have it on your cell phone, look at Ephesians 1:3. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ." Graduates, God has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Congregation, what a joy to know that every spiritual blessing is ours in Christ. What are those spiritual blessings? Verse 4: "Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world." You're chosen by God. Your life is not some genetic accident. It was not some anomaly that genes and chromosomes were brought together in the womb of your mother. Not at all. You were chosen by Christ to be born at this time, at this moment. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, without blame before him in love. He chose you to represent his love and his grace before the world. Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself. Does the Bible teach predestination? It does. The scripture says that, having predestined us. This is not some hard, rigid predestination where human beings don't have any choice and they're either predestined to be saved or predestined to be lost. Not at all. On the drawing board of heaven, before you were born, in the mind of an infinite, all-knowing God, God had a pre-designed plan to lead you to himself and to save you in his kingdom. It was a pre-designed plan where he would send the Holy Spirit to your heart and draw you to him. It was a pre-designed plan where he would arrange providences in your life so that you would know him. It was a pre-designed plan so that he would lead you, angels would lead you to read the word of God and understand the truths of scripture. So it says that he predestined us to the adoption of his sons by Jesus Christ. What a joy to know that I'm chosen by God. What a joy to know that every spiritual blessing is mine in Christ. What a joy to know that I'm predestined to the adoption, according to the good pleasure of his will. Verse 6: "To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he made us accepted in the beloved." You are not rejected; you are accepted in Christ. We continue. "In whom we have redemption through his blood." We are chosen, we are predestined, we are accepted in Christ, we have redemption through his blood, and we have the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. The first eternal truth that I want you to fix in your mind when the journey is long, when the mountain is high, when the road is rough, when the days are dark: you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Hallelujah and amen. He chose us before the foundation of the world. When down is up and up is down, say to yourself, "Christ chose me before the foundation of the world. Christ has a plan for my life. Christ has made me accepted in the beloved. He's given us redemption and forgiveness." The purpose of these spiritual blessings, the purpose of this pre-designed plan, the purpose of him accepting us in the beloved, the purpose of him giving us redemption and forgiveness is so that we can share the glory of his name with others. We can live purposeful lives because we know that God has a purpose for us. His eternal plan is to save us for eternity. There is nothing more important to God than getting each one of us into heaven. All of heaven is focused on one thing: saving you. That's the function of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. They have counsel meetings in eternity with the angels and they say, "How can I save that one? If I lose one of them, there will be an eternal loss forever." Jesus' great goal is to save us. The second thing that we want to notice about this eternal plan of God is his eternal plan is to redeem us. His eternal plan is to save us. His eternal plan is to get us into heaven and all of heaven is working on that. In addition to the plan to save us, he has a special plan for our lives. Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5. This plan that Christ has for each one of us is not just some general plan. It's not some ambiguous plan. It's not some vague plan. Jeremiah 1:5. This eternal truth is not only true for Jeremiah; it's true for you and true for me. Before I formed you... let's get verse 4 as well. "Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying..." it's the word of the Lord. "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you and ordained you a prophet to the nations." Before Jeremiah was ever born, God knew him. Before Jeremiah was ever born, God had a very specific plan for his life. Was Jeremiah unique in that, or does the scripture teach this as a continual truth throughout the word? Turn to Psalm 139. This is a magnificent psalm. The 139th Psalm talks about the care that God has and the planning that God has for each individual. We're going to start there with Psalm 139 and verse 7. "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, you're there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you're there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea, even your hand shall lead me. Your right hand shall hold me." What God is saying to you is this: whether you're in the mountain peak or you're in the valley, whether your heart is filled with joy or it's filled with discouragement, God says, "Look, I got a plan for you and I'm going to guide you." Have courage. Then he says, "If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall fall on me,' even the night shall be a light about me. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide me from you, but the night shines as day." Now verse 14: "I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works; my soul knows well." The key verses that I want you to look at here are verses 15 to 18. "My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret." In other words, just as Jeremiah said, when I was conceived in my mother's womb, I knew you, that you knew me. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lower parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed. God saw you when you were unformed. And this God that saw you when you were unformed had a plan for your life. This is amazing. Get your head out of the dirt if you're discouraged today. You were chosen by Christ, redeemed by Christ, and predestined by Christ for salvation. He has a plan for your life that is larger, bigger, and greater than you can ever imagine. Scripture says here very clearly, "Your eyes saw my substance being unformed." And look, "In your book they were all written." Your life was written in God's book ahead of time. If we cooperate with God and we are faithful to God, we can fulfill the destiny that God has for us and be in the place of heaven's assignment. Christ's Object Lessons, listen to this one: "He gives to every man and every woman their work. Each has his place in the eternal plan of heaven. Each is to work in cooperation with Christ for the salvation of souls. Not more surely is the place prepared for us in the heavenly mansions than is the special place designed on earth where we are to work for God." Does God have a special place for every single one of us to work for him today? God has a general plan for our lives and a specific assignment. But when we wake up in the morning, we don't know the surprises that come that day. God wants to unfold his daily plans for us every day.
Guest (Male): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truth of scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers. If you want to learn more about the Bible, check out our free Bible series at globalbibleschool.org. That's globalbibleschool.org. Discover answers to your deepest questions straight from God's word. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: Psalm 37 verse 23. Because there are young people and adults that say to me, "Look, Pastor Mark, I look back over my life and I made some real poor choices. I think I missed God's pre-designed plan for me, and as the result of that, I'm in despair and discouraged." I say to them, "Look, if you think you missed God's plan for you, God has a plan B that he will reshape your life and fit you into, and that will become God's plan A, and he'll still accomplish his purposes for you." Look at Psalm 37 verse 23. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." That is to say that when we make positive decisions, God is going to guide our steps into his plan and he delights in his way. That's God delights in the steps of a good man. Verse 24: "Though he should fall..." Now, was this person a good man or good woman? Yes. But did they make some serious mistakes? Yes. Did they fall? They certainly did. Verse 24: "He shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his hand." If you look back on your life and say, "Look, I made some mistakes," and there are adults here today that you're looking back in your life and you hear me talking to these young graduates and you're saying to yourself, "Hey, look, I wish I was a young graduate again. I wish I could redo my life again. I wish I could make new choices again because I think I missed God's pre-designed plan." I've got incredibly good news for you. You may have fallen, but you're still chosen by God. You may have made a mistake and made many mistakes, but you still are redeemed by Christ. You may have not lived the life you want to live, but what does Jesus say? "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." But if he fall, if he fall, Jesus says, "I will hold him up." In other words, I'll put him back on the path, I will redesign his life, reshape his life, and plan B will become plan A. There are times that other people make decisions that impact your life that you have no choice over. And somebody says, "Wait a minute, Pastor Mark." And you graduates may know this as life goes on. There are times that life kicks you in the stomach. There are times that life takes your breath away. There are times that things beyond your control take over. Does that mean that you're off the course, that you're not with God's plan? Let me give you an example of that. Many of you know that I worked in the former Soviet Union for many, many years. Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and I worked in Russia for many, many years. One of my dear friends was Pastor Mikhail Kulakov. Pastor Kulakov and his father were both Seventh-day Adventist ministers. Pastor Kulakov became the president of the Euro-Asia Division for a number of years. But when Pastor Kulakov was young, he worked with his dad. His father was a pastor and when Pastor Kulakov was only 21, 22, he worked as an associate pastor with his father. In working as an associate pastor, his father baptized six young people at midnight because it was against the Soviet law to baptize them. One of these young people was a Soviet sympathizer who was told by the Soviet authorities, the KGB, to go and take Bible studies from Pastor Kulakov, to get baptized, then come back to the KGB and say to them that he forced her to be baptized. And so Pastor Kulakov's father was tried and put in prison, sent to Siberia for that. Eventually Pastor Kulakov, about six months later, he also was tried and imprisoned. Now Pastor Kulakov recognized even as a young person he was brilliant. And he knew Greek when he was in his early 20s. He knew Greek well enough to translate the New Testament. The old Russian Bible was in the synodal language. Pastor Kulakov's goal was to attend university, learn Hebrew so he could establish the Russian Bible Society to give the Russian people a new translation of the Bible. That was his goal. The devil interrupted that by causing him to be put in prison. But you know what happened in prison? He met rabbis and he was imprisoned for five years. The rabbis gave him a postgraduate course in Hebrew. He said to me, "Pastor Mark, the Soviet government put me in prison to silence my voice. But God allowed that to draw me closer to him and to give me five years in prison to study Hebrew and I didn't even have to pay for it." Now I'm not suggesting graduates should go to prison to take your postgraduate course. The point is there were those that wanted to destroy God's plan A for Pastor Kulakov. But no power in hell, no wicked powers on earth, can take you out of God's hand. God has a plan for your life and God is going to enable you to accomplish that plan. There may be times we get off track, times we drift from God's original plan for our lives, but God is incredibly creative. If we rededicate our lives to him, he'll redirect our lives, reshape his plans, and accomplish his goals for us. Now there's another eternal truth in understanding God's plan for your life. The purpose of God's plan for your life is not simply to save you, but it's to put you in the saving business. It's to lead you to be an ambassador for Christ, to be a light to the world. Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18 and 20. Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18 to 20. The apostle Paul talks to the church at Corinth. The church at Corinth was really a problem church. If you read First Corinthians, the church at Corinth was filled with division and strife and conflict. The members were arguing with one another. The situation got so bad in the church in Corinth that it was filled with fornication, filled with sexual immorality, filled with incest in the church. This is the church at Corinth. In addition to that, members in the church were taking one another to the courts and suing them in courts of law. In addition to that, they had abused the gift of tongues and they were speaking with sensationalism to impress others in the church. In addition to that, they were abusing the Lord's supper. Some would come into the Corinthian church to celebrate the Lord's supper, and at those years they had meals, and the rich would have their food, while the poor would sit in the corner with no food. So the Corinthian church was a real, real problem for Paul. That's why he wrote First Corinthians. But he saw marvelous conversions by the grace of God taking place there. He saw the marvel of God's grace, the transformative power of God's love. So when he writes Second Corinthians, it has a whole different tone than First Corinthians. Second Corinthians has triumph and victory in Christ. I thank God that Jesus not only delivers us from the guilt of sin, but he delivers us from the grip of sin. I thank God that there's transformative power in the gospel to change the lives of men and women. So now Paul, having seen the church at Corinth changed, wants to send them out as ambassadors for Christ. So we come to Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18. "Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself." Paul is saying to the church at Corinth, "You have been reconciled through Jesus Christ. And if you've been reconciled, he's given you the ministry of reconciliation." That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though Christ were pleading with us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. Notice, we are ambassadors for Christ. If I have been reconciled to God, the highest goal that I can achieve in my life, the greatest ambition that I can have in my life is to be an ambassador for Christ. Christ's Object Lessons page 327: "Christ's followers have been redeemed for service." I continue. Christ's Object Lessons 327: "Our Lord teaches that the true object of life is ministry. Christ himself was a worker and to all his followers he gives the law of service, service to God and to our fellow man." Here Christ has presented to the world a higher conception of life than they have ever known. I was fascinated with that phrase. Christ has presented to the world a higher conception of life than they have ever known. By living to minister for others, we are brought in connection with Christ. The law of service becomes the connecting link which binds us to God and our fellow man. There is no greater joy than serving Jesus. And as you enter into soul winning, your prayer life becomes deeper. As you enter into mission for Christ, your Bible study life becomes richer. As you enter into witnessing for Jesus, Jesus witnesses to you. And the depth of your Christian experience grows in service. The true object of life, that is to say the true purpose of life, is service for others. So God has a plan for your life, not only a general plan, but he has a specific plan of where he will lead each one of us. That daily plan unfolds day by day. But that leads us to one final question and the question is this: if God has a plan for my life, a plan formulated in heaven before I was born, how can I discover that plan? How can I know what that plan is? I want to share with you very simple principles. And if you will follow these, you will know God's plan for your life and you'll know God's plan as it unfolds day by day.
Guest (Male): You've been listening to Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you enjoyed today's message and that it increased your faith in God and his word. If you'd like to learn more, Pastor Mark invites you to visit globalbibleschool.org for an inspiring, interactive Bible study experience. That's globalbibleschool.org. Discover answers to your deepest questions straight from God's word. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: First, trust in the Lord, verse 5 Proverbs 3, with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways do what? Acknowledge. In how many of your ways? Some of your ways? A few of your ways? In what? All your ways acknowledge him and he will do what? Direct your paths. What does it mean that he's going to direct your paths? It means he's going to lead you into the place of his pre-designed plan for your life. It means that he is going to reveal his plans to you every single day. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him. Desire of Ages page 330. Somebody says, "Pastor Mark, sometimes things are so perplexing, sometimes things are so confusing, sometimes I just don't know what God's plan is." Well, here it is, Desire of Ages page 330: "Our heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide for us of which we know nothing. Those who accept the one principle of making the service and honor of God supreme will find perplexities vanish and a plain path before their feet." If we make the one principle of making the service of God supreme, what'll happen? Perplexities will vanish and we'll find a plain path before our feet. So here's some first principles. First principle is this: believe that God has a plan for your life and trust him that he's going to unfold the plan. Secondly, seek God's guidance. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask. It gives to all men liberally.