Sermon Central
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The Number One Priority For Life
Contributed by Ralph Andrus on Jun 3, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: “Why do I exist? - What’s my life all about?” -“What am I here for?” - The wrong answer to these questions will lead to a crisis - Ps 27:8 Helps us answer these questions
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+ John Sculley
Was president of Pepsi Co during the 1970s and early 1980s
He is best known for his marketing skills, particularly in his introduction of ’the Pepsi Challenge’ at Pepsi Co,
He became CEO of Apple from 1983-1993.
What caused Pepsi Cola president John Sculley’s dramatic shift to become president and CEO of Apple computer?
> Sculley, with years of experience in marketing beverages, was one rung from the top of well-established Pepsi. He’d no idea how to revive sagging computer sales at Apple, struggling to survive.
> Sculley describes meeting with Steve Jobs, the brilliant but impulsive Apple founder, who’d flown to New York to recruit him. “Are you going to come?” Jobs persisted.
> “Steve,” Sculley says he replied, “I love what you’re doing. … But it just doesn’t make sense.” Loath to forfeit pensions and deferred compensation, he told Jobs he’d require $1 million annually plus a million each for a signing bonus and severance pay!
Stunned at first, Jobs, recovering, said Apple would pay that kind of money. But again Sculley demurred.
> Exasperated, Jobs asked, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”
“I had no answer,” writes Sculley. “It simply knocked the wind out of me.” By making him think like a visionary, Jobs eroded all his resistance.
+ Do I Want To Change My World?
> “Why do I exist?
> What’s my life all about?”
> “What am I here for?”
- The wrong answer to these questions will lead to a crisis
+ People Have Taken Up the Challenge of Finding Purpose
- Steve Pavlina — Blog
- How to discover your life purpose in about 20 minutes
> 1. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor where you can type (I prefer the latter because it’s faster).
> 2. Write at the top, “What is my true purpose in life?”
> 3. Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.
> 4. Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. This is your purpose.
Readers Response
- My true purpose in life is to enjoy the journey.
- I tried. I really did. But I honestly believe that this life we are living has no meaning or purpose. None. We are random bits of consciousness and nothing we do matters.
- “Live an extraordinary life” Do you or anyone else have any resources on how to find good jobs and careers that enable you to live an extraordinary life?
- I tried this exercise for 5 times. I guess I am the one of those who is really stubborn. I did cry, but it was not the answer that made my cry. – I was listening to music
- I’m in my mid-20’s and right now the only thing that really gets me excited and ready to jump out of bed every morning is passionate romantic love, or the anticipation/challenge of trying to find it.
Others Answer
+ Motivational Speaker, Richard Leider
> The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose
+ Motivational Books
>YOU WERE BORN FOR A REASON - The runaway best-selling book on Buddhism
> LIFE PURPOSE AND LIFE INTENTIONS
Ideas on How to Find Your Life Purpose and Life Intentions
> THE PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE: Finding Your Place In The World
+ PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE Rick Warren “(sold over 20 million copies since October 2002, making it the bestselling hardback nonfiction book in history,)
> We were planned for God’s pleasure - worship.
> We were formed for God’s family - fellowship.
> We were created to become like Christ - discipleship.
> We were shaped for serving God - ministry.
> We were made for a mission - evangelism.
+ Lauren McCain, 20, on her MySpace website.
> "The purpose and love of my life is Jesus Christ. I don’t have to argue religion, philosophy, or historical evidence because I KNOW Him. He is just as real, if not more so, as my ’earthly’ father."
> McCain was one of the 32 Virginia Tech students killed in April.
- So what should the purpose of our lives be based on?
- On the quality of our character and conduct with
- Christ, not on the quantity of our circumstances over which we have no or limited control.
+ Jesus was asked this question
> Mt. 22:36: Mark 12:28-31 Master, which is the
great commandment in the law?
+ Scripture’s Answer
> Is 55:6-7 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
