"You Have Purpose" Series

God’s Promises for the Holiday Season

You Have a Purpose…

I want to begin today’s message with a passage from Psalm 8, to give us some perspective:

Psalm 8:3-9 (NLT)

When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? 5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—7 the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, 8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. 9 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

We’ve been studying God’s Promises, and today we conclude with the promise, “You have a Purpose.” In the Psalm we just read we see two things: The depth of God’s love for us, and that because God loves us so much he has given us a purpose while we are here on earth.

As the Holiday Season winds down, with it can come the post-holiday blues. We can start to feel down, and without purpose. Our attention is no longer on the Joy or Stress of the season, and now back on the rut that we find ourselves in.

But that is not God’s intention. Today he wants to remind us, We have Purpose!

-Prayer

You have a purpose…

1. And are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Antithesis: “I have nothing to contribute. I am obsolete.”

Psalm 139:13-16 (NIV)

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

I like to see this verse as if it were an artist describing a masterpiece and how it came to be from within his creative soul. That’s how God views us. He loves you and has loved you before you were even in existence. That’s why he has given you grace through salvation.

A. Salvation is not the end!

Salvation is not simply afterlife insurance, nor is it the Christian “fire escape”. If the only reason to getting saved was to get into heaven, then you would be dead right now, because the job would have been completed right?

“Salvation includes you, but it’s not all about you. It is what God wants to do through you.”

– Wayne Cordiero

God has not only loved us enough to save us, but he’s given us the tools be used for His glory! How has he done that?

B. Spiritual Gifts

We all have been given spiritual gifts!

Romans 12:6-8 (NLT)

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

This passage lists some of the “motivational gifts” that will fuel our actions and tendencies.

Prophecy: The ability to discern quickly between right and wrong. This gift compels the believer to see things without shades of gray. It is not fortune telling because it’s source, is God and has no other gain, but God’s glory!

Serving: Feels compelled to meet physical needs through serving

Teaching: Enjoys sharing truths with others, and loves to discover what helps others learn effectively

Exhortation: Encouragement that stirs others faith stronger. Can help resolve conflict, and is able to garner support to mobilize people in a common goal

Giving: feels motivated to meet a need or advance a ministry by helping to relieve financial burden. It is a delight!

Leading: has the ability to administrate and organize others towards a common goal

Mercy: Quicky discern the emotional hurts of others, and feel motivated to alleviate the inner struggles of others.

C. Talents

We all have unique abilities to “excel” in certain ways. Everyone has talent! There are TV shows designed to give a stage to “talent”. Some might necessarily be talent, but truth be told, we all have a talent in something.