How The Holy Spirit Gifts Us Series

o In his autobiography Billy Martin, a former New York Yankees baseball team coach, tells the story when he and his friend Mickey Mantle were going hunting

o They stopped at a farm where Mickey Mantle happened to know the farmer, asking permission to hunt on his land

o The farmer no problem, you can hunt on my land

o But first I have a request

o I have a mule in my barn who is rather old and ornery so he needs to be put down

o Would you mind putting him down for me?

o Mickey agreed but while going to the truck to get Billy he decided to play a trick on him

o Billy asked Mickey ‘well what did the farmer say. Can we hunt on his land?

o Mickey shook his head and said ‘the farmer said we cannot hunt on his land. I cannot believe it. I am so ticked off I have half a mind to go out and shoot something.’

o So Mickey jumped out of the truck and raced into the barn and shot the old mule that the farmer asked to have put down

o While he was standing there in the barn surveying what he had done he heard two shots in rapid succession

o He goes racing out to find Billy Martin standing there with smoke still coming out of his barrel

o Billy winks at Mickey and says ‘That will teach him; I got a couple of his cows too.’

o They say that is a true story; sometimes I wonder

o But this is a true story

o It is true that life does not turn out the way many of us expect

o Many people are disillusioned with life

o The reason is some never know what their purpose or life mission is

o Even in the business world most companies have a mission

o For Pepsi Cola at least originally it was ‘beat coke’, simple and clear

o What is your mission for your life, your family?

o Did you know we have a church vision and mission?

o It is on the back of the bulletin. Have your prayed about it?

o When I attend a local church I look at their vision and conclude that if that is the vision for the church it should also be the vision for my family

o So we open our home for those purposes

o Let me ask you this. ‘If the vision of the church is to reach to unbelievers then why wouldn’t our families have the same purpose?’

o When we live that way were living at the level of significance.

o Something is driving your life

o Some are driven by guilt; others resentment and anger; others fear; others materialism; still others the need for approval.

o Ask yourself this question

o What would my friends and family say is the driving force of my life?

o My life is not complicated

o I know what I am here for; to care for you, pray for you, and help you become all that God intends for your life

o Knowing my purpose simplifies my life; I am not striving for anything else

o If it doesn’t fit my purpose then I don’t do it

o Just this week I reviewed some of the material in “The Purpose Driven Life.”

o Pastor Rick Warren says people live their lives on one of three levels (see Purpose Driven Life)

1. The survival level

o That is where most people are

o They put in time at work and live for weekends

o They just go through the motions

o They live without Christ at the centre of their lives, that spirit filled life that we have been talking about

o Often their number one goal is live for leisure time

o Watch a lot of TV and movies

o Go to Winnipeg on their week off

o King Solomon finished his life like that

o He was a depressing guy to be around (listen to this (Ecc. 2:11)

o It is all useless; don’t even try, hopeless

o Gee if I had to be around that guy I would shrivel up and die

o I will tell you why he was like that

o God was not central in his life

o He had 700 wives, all the riches he could want, and still lived like a fatalist

o Solomon, who was depressed, wrote ‘There is nothing new under the sun.” Sounds like resignation.

o His goals were not centred on eternal things

o Living for retirement is not an eternal goal

o You may find out your still unfulfilled

o Isaiah wrote ‘I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing (Is. 49:4 NIV)