The Fight Of Your Life Series

The Fight of your Life

Grant van Boeschoten

March 30, 2008

PAST WEEKS TOPICS

-Sanctify Yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.

-Strong & Courageous - The Christian life is not an easy life, but it is the BEST Life.

-The Purpose in Easter, which is that through Jesus life and death you can gain your purpose in life.

TODAY’S TOPIC – The Fight of Your Life

God has a purpose for your life, even before you were conceived, God had a plan for your life. The prophet Jeremiah was young, and he thought that he did not have the authority or the words to be a prophet of God. But God said to Jeremiah,

"“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”" (Jeremiah 1:5, NLT)

Jeremiah was appointed to be God’s prophet, Moses was appointed to be God’s deliver, David was appointed to be King, Mary was appointed to be the Mother of God, Jesus was appointed to be our Saviour, Peter was appointed to be the “Rock” on whom Jesus would build the Church, Paul was appointed to be an apostle.

God’s has also created you with a purpose in life. There is a “Big Picture” theme for your life. Out of that theme will flow more specific tasks and responsibilities. But make no mistake about it, he created you with a plan and a purpose for your life.

This is the Fight of your Life. It began before you were conceived. It began when God dreamed about you before you even were, and God planned wonderful things for your life. And then it came time for him to create you, and he skillfully and wonderfully created you so that you would be perfect for his plan. He crafted your mind and he crafted your temperament and he crafted what would make you tick. And it was all on purpose for the purpose of God.

And then the Fight continues as you are born and enter a sinful world with a ruler whose intent is to steal and to kill and destroy. Make no mistake, Satan is the Prince of this World, and he hates God, and he hates God’s creation. And Satan wants to destroy you, and he wants to cut you down and make your life as utterly miserable as possible. And the best way that Satan has found is to keep you away from God, away from his love, away from his truths, and away from God’s purpose for your life.

From my own life experience, and from studying the lives of others, I have found that the people in life with the most inner peace, inner contentment and stability are those who know what God has created them for, and they rise to that purpose in their life.

The doctor Luke, when writing about the Acts of the Apostles talks about King David, "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, died…” (Acts 13:36, NRSV)

This is a remarkable thing to have said about David’s life, to have served the purpose of God in his own generation. I wonder who here this morning could say that this is one of their goals for life, to serve the purpose of God in your Generation.

God didn’t just plan for David to be King. He planned for David to transform the nation of Israel. David was not created just because Israel needed a King, David was created by God to transform and shape a nation.

Here are some of the highlights from his life

• Transition from government by judges to an established monarchy.

• Transition from a loose confederation of tribes to a united nation.

• Transition from anarchy to a strong central government.

• Transition from bronze-age poverty to iron-age economy and wealth.

• Transition from a subject people to conquerors. David expanded Israel’s territory some ten times!

• Transition from decentralized worship to centralized worship, with one city as both political and religious capital.

The Fight for his life really started on the day that he gained the knowledge that his future was royalty.

David was the youngest of 8 brothers. His family thought of him as the runt. He was given the job of shepherding the sheep. One day in David’s youth, God showed him the purpose that he was created for. The prophet Samuel came to David’s small town called Bethlehem, which is about 6 miles from Jerusalem.

Samuel listened to the instructions of God, and when he met David God said, “Here is the future King. Anoint him!”

“Samuel took his flask of oil and anointed him, with his brothers standing around watching. The Spirit of God entered David like a rush of wind, God vitally empowering him for the rest of his life.” (1 Samuel 16 MSG)