Rev. David Holwick G Purpose-Driven Life #7
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 15, 2004
2 Peter 1:10-15
REMEMBER WHAT YOU LEARNED
I. Preparation time.
A. You better be getting ready.
Sigmund Freud's favorite story was about a sailor shipwrecked
on one of the South Sea Islands.
He was seized by the natives, hoisted to their shoulders,
carried to the village, and set on a rude throne.
Little by little, he learned that it was their custom once each
year to make some man a king, king for a year.
He liked it until he began to wonder what happened to all the
former kings.
Soon he discovered that every year when his kingship was ended,
the king was banished to an island where he starved to death.
The sailor did not like that, but he was smart and he was king,
king for a year.
So he put his carpenters to work making boats, his farmers to
work transplanting fruit trees to the island, farmers
growing crops, masons building houses.
So when his kingship was over, he was banished, not to a barren
island, but to an island of abundance.
It is a good parable of life: We're all kings here, kings for a
little while.
We are able to choose what we shall do with the stuff of life.
#25719
B. Our forty days are up.
1) Seems like it has gone too quickly.
2) Some of you still have 27 chapters to go, but that is OK.
3) It doesn't make whether you finish the book - it makes a
great deal if miss the concept.
4) God created you for a purpose.
a) You have a single lifetime to figure out what that is.
C. This sermon is a summary of the last five weeks.
1) Like beating a dead horse?
2) No, summaries make sense.
a) Peter says reminders are always helpful and necessary.
b) Much of preaching is reminding people of what they
already know.
1> You may have forgotten it.
2> You may have deliberately put it aside.
3> You may not have fully appreciated it.
D. Overriding theme - It's all about God, not me.
1) God still does miracles.
2) Some of you have seen more evidence of his power in your
lives these past weeks.
II. The five purposes of the Christian life.
A. We are created to worship.
1) Our lives are preparation for eternity.
a) Worship will be the ultimate activity of eternity.
b) Not one really looooooooooooong church service -
worship is when we focus on God and experience him.
2) Love God passionately, with all your heart, mind, strength
and soul.
a) Heart and soul - express love and gratitude to God.
b) Mind - study to understand God's ways and will.
c) Strength - use your abilities to serve him.
3) Everybody worships something - do you truly worship God?
a) Judge your answer by looking at your real priorities
in life.
b) Pursuing money, sex or chemical highs are poor
substitutes or a genuine relationship with God.
B. We are formed for fellowship.
1) The levels of fellowship:
a) Membership - belonging.
b) Friendship - sharing.
c) Partnership - contributing.
d) Family - loving.
2) Wherever you are at, move up a notch.
C. We are molded to become Christlike.
1) Hungering more for God.
2) Reflecting his values in your life.
3) Being more aware of sin, and turning from it.
4) Spending regular time with God in prayer and study.
5) Thinking more often about heaven and God's promises.
D. We are shaped for ministry.
1) SHAPE is your personal attributes and attitude.
a) Spiritual Gifts - abilities God gives you.
b) Heart - your attitude and drive.
c) Abilities - natural abilities you are born with.
d) Personality - everyone is a little different.
e) Experiences - these mold us as much as our genes.
2) Everyone has something to contribute to God's family.
a) God gives us gifts that are beyond our natural ability.
b) He also gives us opportunities to serve - if we want
to take them.
3) Many in our church have done just that.
a) Four new Bible studies have started up this month!
1> This is not something I have planned or organized.
2> It just happened as God worked in people's lives.
b) This week I ran into a member at Wendy's and she said
she had started a Bible study with two friends.
She never thought she could do something like that,
but now that she's in it, she is very excited.
E. We are made for a mission.
1) Our mission is to share God's Good News with others.
2) Evangelism is a chain of events - you need to understand
the Good News, be changed by it, and then share it with
others.
a) A special project is happening right now - the BYF
ski retreat.
b) You may think they are goofing off in a cabin in the
woods and skiing all day.
1> To be sure, they are having a lot of fun.
2> (ropes course, wall climbing, tubing)
c) They are also studying the Bible three times a day.
1> One youth mentioned that he went on a youth retreat
with another denomination.
He took along his Bible, and one of them asked him,
"What do you have that for? You won't need it."
2> At our retreats, you need your Bible.
3> Numerous adults are helping lead the studies, too.
A> Many of them are BYF graduates from the past.
III. Make your calling and election sure.
A. Calling and election point to God's work in us.
1) He initiates and finalizes our salvation.
2) It's all of God.
B. Making it sure points to our contribution.
1) Our spiritual effort is not pointless.
2) As a matter of fact, it is critical.
C. If you do these things, you will never fall.
1) Some interpret "fall" as losing your salvation.
2) It is better to view it as stumbling.
IV. Jesus has a rich welcome for us.
A. It is always reassuring to know you are accepted.
1) Even better - loved.
Evelyn Englis was told by her boss, "You've got to see this."
He drove her out to a highway billboard in Bridgeport, CT.
On the huge sign was a picture of her husband Michael and
the words, "Evelyn Englis, I Love You Mostest".
Pretty impressive, when you consider her husband is an
army captain thousands of miles away in Iraq. [2]
2) Jesus' promises are a Valentine from heaven.
a) He wants us to be with him forever.
B. Have you accepted him?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
This sermon is a summary of the first six in the series. Many of them
were patterned after material produced by Rev. Rick Warren.
#25719 "Kings For A Little While," by James S. Hewett, Rev. Brett
Blair's Illustrations by Email, www.sermonillustrations.com;
October 7, 2003.
[2] Derived from news accounts from February 12, 2004.
These and 25,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://holwick.com/illust.html
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