I Will Live In-Between #5 Chosen for a Purpose
(Luke 5:1-11)
~ Intro: Growing up I used to wonder how people got chosen for different things.
Things like sports and other kinds of teams. The choosing I wondered about the most was regarding dating. Why did girls choose guys that they did? And why was it never me? Obviously there had to be a reason, but I never found out what it was. Well today we are going to consider a story about being chosen and we will discover the reason or purpose behind it…
1. God chooses to meet and be a with us in our daily lives.(vrs 1-3)
• He meet Peter, James and John in their place of business while they were working
- They were working in their boats fixing smelly nets
- It was nothing special, just the down and dirty, real and raw them
• God wants to be with us, the real us, in our real lives.
- This is true regardless of what we think of daily life
- He doesn’t want to be left in the sanitized surroundings of church
- Why would he want to do this?
• God does this because He wants us to be a part of what He is doing.
- He wants to do it where we live, with our help
Now we come to a crucial point…the crux of the story and lesson…our 2nd point…
2. We must choose to let God be a part of our lives.(vrs 4-7)
• Simon chose to let Jesus borrow a boat and then it progressed…
• It always starts with the small things and then progresses.
- God doesn’t want to overwhelm us.
- Like praying for your lunch at work
- Honoring God in how we play sports
• As we choose to say yes, God requests grow regarding our participation and obedience.
- Simon could keep working while Jesus taught, but they had to risk all their prep work while……taking fishing advice from a carpenter
- Each step of the way, we make the choice to continue.
• Hearing a co-workers need—promising to pray for it—praying with them about it—going out of your way to help/interrupting schedule to help them
You may be wondering, how far should we take this? And why is God choosing us? Well the answer to that happens to be our 3rd point…
3. The purpose God chooses us is so we can reach others.(vrs 8-11)
• Simon was to stay in the ‘fishing’ business but change…
- Who he was working for
- What he was going to catch
• God is asking us to do the same thing, change the who and what of life.
- He wants to utilize our uniqueness to reach others.
- Moses shepherd…lead 2 million people through the desert.
- David shepherd…lead & protect Israel.
- Paul passionate, zealot against Christianity…zealot missionary
- Read the Gospels, each writer was used to bring their uniqueness…Luke the doctor focuses more on miracles.
- Being a stay-at-home mom for God
- Being a retiree for God
- Being a truck driver for God
- Being a mechanic, banker, secretary, teacher for God
- God wants to use you, where you are, to reach out to those you come into contact with.
- You may be the only one who can make a difference in those lives. (me trying to do outreach to young, single mothers?)
As we come to a conclusion this morning we to deal with the crux of the story…
~ Conclusion:
• Are we going to be a part of what God is planning, the choice is ours.
- If you choose yes life will never be more exciting or fulfilling.
- You may have said yes in the past, but God wants you to continue in your commitment and progress to the next step…
• Or you may be here today and this is the first time you have heard that God has chosen to be with you and help you find true fulfillment
- Today if you want to choose to invite Him to be a part of your life it is a very simple thing to do
