Purpose FULL - Divine Calling, Part 1

The Oxford dictionary defines the word purpose as the reason for which something is done so let me ask you what your purpose is just to live a good life, work hard. Spouse good parent. Have you lost your way to focus your purpose and all the chaos that is happening.

Sometimes, if so stay with me to learn to discover your purpose right. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with shipping. Thanks for joining us as we begin a new series called for. That will directly speak to that natural longing will have no why were here in the meeting to our lives, our teacher for the series is gypsum writing pastorate awakening church in San Jose, California. In these changing times Living on the Edge of bringing biblical perspective on the challenges were facing our mission to encourage Christians to live like Christians remains the same whether it's through trips, teaching, or the occasional guest speaker. We hope you enjoy what plan is to share over the next several programs.

Why will explain how we can stay on purpose with difficulty hardship and conflict also impacts how God defined success and what that has to do with our mission, Your Honor.

Ryan picks up the series by tackling perhaps the most asked all of Christian God's plan for my life. You have your Bibles third acts chapter 13 for Ryan's message divine call purpose full want to say that with me purpose full live like Allah will purpose you know life's big questions you wrestled with them. At one point or maybe wrestling with them. You know the question of existence of why am I here the question you know of of meaning or significance does my life matter, the question of purpose. What am I here for. And through that for many of us this last year probably shook the foundation of many of those questions like why am I here what's going on. I don't even understand what's happening in the world and does anything matter at all and we talked about purpose and it felt like from some like your purpose has been put on positive or for some you felt like your purpose was lost because so much of your life was built around what you did or who you are, rounds, and then all of a sudden those things were stripped away weather is the approval of people or success in your job and now you're looking around and going like why am I here what is really going on and I think a lot you just kind of felt like this is just purpose, less what was the point of it all. And the question is how do we actually live a life and can we live a life goal or spilled with purpose double thou the gospel in the writings of Scripture is God's words just begins from the very pages of the Bible saying that you are filled with purpose and just thing about this is in the first couple pages of the Bible in Genesis where it says that you are created in the image of God. I'm looking at image bearers. I'm looking at ones who have intrinsic value and worth who is not an accident who is not a mistake, one who has been intentionally carefully designed and placed on purpose. I like how Dallas Willard says. He says that you are a unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe I ever thought about yourself like that I think about that. That's who you are. Your an eternal being. You will go on forever and you have an eternal destiny in God's great universe. There's a point to it all in.

A point to your live and so what is this me. First, it means that you were made on purpose so Mrs. because some of you need this today.

This is the reason God has you hear. You were made on purpose you not an accident. You're not a mistake not a waste of time. Whatever those thoughts that have been rattling around in your mind are alive from the pit of hell made on purpose and as a result, you're made for a purpose God has such an incredible plan for you and he's designs you carefully and wonderfully made knit together and there's a purpose and a plan and you don't want to miss and the question that all of us wrestle with Mendez or how in the world you know you I figure out God's purpose for my dinner. Ryan got have a firm is not about what is God's purpose for my life.

Thank you very much. I've been asking that question for decades or better yet, what is God's calling in your life and be sure this isn't just a 20-year-old question.

I think sometimes we think about this, like, yeah, I remember asking that question when I was in my 20s. You know, we wrestle with that.

You know were wrestling with our why am I here and was my job and all the sort of things, but it's definitely question in the 40s. By the way monies you know why there's a little thing you may have heard of it might not of it is really not that big little thing called a mid life crisis where people do the dumbest things because they realize one thing, the weight of what they built their life on no longer supports their life and so they're looking for something else to bring purpose and meaning, and maybe is found in a new car maybe is found in a new life entirely. And then when I talk to those in our church that are in their 60s, 70s, those who live a life well look back with great contentment and satisfaction but I've also had too many conversations that look back with regret and pain and I wish I would've invested my life differently.

The things I poured my life and the purposes I thought matter really did suck.

How do we discount for God's calling on her life.

I want to talk about the divine calling of God. How to discover and give you three specific clear callings of God in your life today to live that out and to do that were going to dive back into acts in acts chapter 13 if you got your Bibles go ahead and open up their little look at a snapshot of where Barnabas and Saul did a clear calling from God. This isn't clear. Calling from God and out of this world unpack three clear callings for God in your life because this way now in the church at Antioch.

There were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of styrene Menander who had been brought up with her. The touch we are and Saul now knows while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart. I don't know what that was. My Holy Spirit was okay, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the word to which I have called them. So after they had fasted and prayed.

They placed their hands on them and send them off as you want that I will not make your life so simple like all of a sudden I will tell me Bruce is my calling for your life. Fantastic. That would be rates like that is so dramatic, I mean what that ever going to happen.

The I would love to have the Holy Spirit, they set apart re-and here we go, how you discover God's calling for was fascinating, though, is the back story to the small, what led up and set up this moment that gave Paul and Barnabas their specific calling you think there is the clear calling of God on your life. His will for your life that when we live in Alpine is specific calling for your life will be revealed in the challenge before many of us is we want got specific calling without living out his revealed calling you Sia.

I want to give you a little bit of the back story of Paul or Saul and a little bit of his background, because what you'll see is how God was working to this moment of setting apart for a new season of ministry and is what God wants to do in your life and how he wants to grow and help you become who he's made you to be to live out the purposes for your life. So today I want to be three clear callings of God for your life to live out the first is simply this, you are called to Jesus, you are called to Jesus. This might be is not. Maybe this is the most important one lean in with me here if you miss every get nothing out of this get this now you remember Saul story he was traveling on the road to Damascus.

He was a persecutor of the faith. He has a life-changing encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and is as a result his entire world slipped the entire direction of his life. That is his job. In fact, changed he encountered the risen Savior and a changed every thing in his life, to your first and foremost calling is not to a job not to your school to your education. It is not even to your marriage, your first calling is to Jesus said you are called to a person first instead of a task you're invited into a relationship, not rules. I like the way Jesus said this invitation to you and to me today.

He says come to me like would you would would you really come to me. The invitations always been open. Wherever you bend imitations always been there were at whatever you've done, come to me come to me all who are weary and burdened, come to me and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you learn from me from gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. See the challenge for us is more talking about Jesus being our first calling is the way we answer that often in real life. Is this Jesus plus something else equals my purpose in life by Ms. Jesus plus your job or Jesus plus man when I marry him or when I meet her. Jesus plus you know when when were finally able to have kids or Jesus plus successor upward mobility or do not have the sort of things and is just Jesus is just him to first my first calling nothing more and nothing less, than simply Jesus.

Like how Rick Warren says he says the first purpose of your life or calling is to let God love you good.

The first purpose and calling of your life.

And he doesn't say it's a to love God was certainly that is true but is to let God love you. You know how you let God love you. You come to, you gotta come to him like you have a perfect heavenly father who's eager to hear your voice Savior who suffered and died for you to bring you into relationship suggests just come to me, would you let God love you just stop putting up a wall stop putting up the things that's but I get it that the you have heard some you have wounds in your bag is your biggest things that you just build up and he's like I'm just so nervous and afraid. Okay got a little I'm just going to come to you and here's my heart and he meet you there. Every single time, first calling her first calling is to be is we are called to Jesus call to a person.

The second calling and clear calling of our lives were called to faithful were called to faithfulness. You know it's interesting when you read through accident so it's kind of hard because I miss it is we don't realize like you can flip a page in light years have gone by ill so Paul's in Damascus right you actually spent three years in Damascus but is one sentence and that any spent three years in Damascus and then he travels back to Jerusalem. And when he goes back to Jerusalem. Everybody still afraid of him. Even after three years like we don't trust this guy. We don't know this guy and I love it. Barnabas is a son of encouragement. He's the only one that goes to Paul puts his arm around him and he actually brings him up the apostles and brings him into community and into fellowship and then the apostle Paul, Saul, then he's he starts preaching in Jerusalem and I mean some people are getting upset in the city and they want to kill him now.

These are people that we would call friends. Then the disciples don't really know what to do and they set him off to his hometown of Tarsus now from chapter 9 to chapter 13, where Paul and Barnabas are called out the amount of time is 13 years, a 13 year span and 10 of those years was spent in Tarsus.

He goes back and think about this the guy who would let one day pin much of the New Testament who would plant hundreds of churches spends a decade spends a decade and wasn't going all the realities we don't really know what he's doing because it's called the silent years we have nothing recorded. Here's what we know he worked the family trade because we know he was Paul. He couldn't help but share about Jesus and he was just faithful with what was in front of him for a decade. See where homes of faith all faithful what's in front of us, listening to the first part of boiling works message defined calling for this series.

Purposeful kinship will join us here in the studio with some additional thoughts of application in just a minute. But what does it really mean to be full of purpose is just being successful at your job making lots of money being a good parent or spouse. If you're completely lost when it comes to your purpose you're really struggling to find any kind of meaning to your life right now. No matter where you're at. Finding purpose is one of the toughest challenges we face in this series Ryan Ingram shares what it means to live a meaningful life and unpack God's true calling.

Stay with us to learn how you can live out your God-given purpose. Even when difficulty hardship and conflict, you're not going to miss a single message. For more information about this series purposeful discovering God's calling on your life. Just go to LivingontheEdge.org and if you happen to miss a message. Along the way, you can always catch up on the chipping roadmap. Also, let me encourage you to sign up for the new daily discipleship with chip true spirituality taking part in this free video mentorship opportunity with chip would be a great next step in your faith journey for 17 days triple walk with you through Romans 12 and reveal what it means to really follow after Jesus and the ups and downs of everyday life preregistered for the study today and will send you our friend Lance Witt's devotional based on Romans 12 called leave ordinary behind at no cost. Sign up now. While this offer lasts by going to LivingontheEdge.org or by calling AAA 83336003 or go to LivingontheEdge.org at listeners just Discipleship, which, if we just started this new series from your son Ryan focusing on how we can live a more purposeful life.

But many don't know what that really means there would you take a minute to ensure what you learn from these messages about purpose. Be glad to date. In fact, I happen to be in the services when Ryan was teaching this and what I thought was really exciting for me is that he's going to develop discovering your purpose out of the book of acts at a time where there was chaos there was difficulty.

I mean, the world was very anti-Christian and it was very interesting in acts 13 there is a calling and were Paul and Barnabas discover their specific purpose and and then look at what about your purpose when life gets really complicated. Or when there's conflict.

How do you disagree with fellow believers.

Even her family members and stay on course in your purpose and then finally I think sometimes maybe more often than we want to admit when things get really hard. We start thinking I must be out of God's will. When what we can to learn is God's purpose often is really good but really difficult so I cannot wait for the Living on the Edge family to hear the series and be back in or to dialogue a bit with Ryan so we talk about how to put these in the practice. Thanks for that chip will we hope you make plans to be with us for this entire series. And if you happen to miss a program you can always listen on the chipping roadmap for LivingontheEdge.org I'm joined now by my son Ryan and Ryan. I am really excited for listeners to hear this new series I want you to have a great impact on the church that you pastor of their awakening church in San Jose California and I'm interested. I know you were teaching through acts 1314 1516 but why was it so important to not just teach through the passage but take this line of why is our purpose so important, especially in kind of the culture that were living in yeah absolutely stink so much that first is accustomed to get to be with you and get to share this sermon series with your audience something as you're saying that that came to mind was a quote by Gail Hyatt as she once said that people lose their way when they lose their why the people lose their way when they lose their why not talk to so many people incredible wonderful people over the course of this pandemic. Over the course of the last 18 months who have absolutely lost their way. You know, one of my good buddies is a pastor up in San Francisco. He once said that the pandemic and the news last 18 months there calling it the great reveal because it's actually revealed that so many people there why or their purpose is incredibly fragile. It's unstable and it's is notwithstanding the storms that were in their why of work it, it just got stripped away. Have a friend that once was telling me about it. You know he loved going into work and he had his identity wrapped up in what he did and how he worked with people and almost son that was stripped away and had an identity crisis in the season that we watch people whose wives have been their marriage or relationship and and then because it's the great reveal. And now you're seeing some things in your marriage and you're stuck in the same home, it begins to crumble in their losing their way or their kids and just a good friend whose kids are, you know growing up and moving out of the house will heat his life was his kids and now he's at an identity crisis, and so many millennial's engine Z there why is travel and experience and that all son that was stripped away to see people lose their way when they lose their why and in this season. In particular, our purposes in crisis and revealing the things that we put our hope in and the things that we put our trust in is incredibly fragile and will not sustain us in all the seasons of life, not here, here's what's critical about this in the long run. For all of us is that miss place priorities ultimately lead to miss spent lives when we place our priorities in the wrong place at the wrong things. It means were chasing and running after those and then when we look back on life, we see that all my goodness, I wish I invested time here. I wish I gave my life here. I wish I would have done you know it is being a pastor for almost 2 decades now of having you know the sad conversation with many people looking back on their life with pain and regret, wishing they had invested their lives and their time well you know part of the misspent lives when were talking about the series. Purposeful is in our culture, we've replace purposeful living with pleasure, full living, and it's become the pursuits and aim of our lives and as a result we are living shallow work were living lives that that really don't ultimately fulfill and were chasing after the next thing that will and what I believe in this season as the church is we have an incredible opportunity to actually reset the purpose of our lives to reset our why round what God says. This is how we are to spend and invest our very lives you know a great way to get more out of every message in this series is to use the message notes while you listen you get Ryan simple outline Scripture references.

Lots of fillings to help you remember what you're learning. Use them personally, or even with your small group.

These message notes are a quick download@livingontheedge.org under the broadcasts tab app listeners Fill in notes and your set will be sure to join us next time. As Ryan Ingram continues in a series purposeful Tobin this is Dave Drewry saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge