Awakening to God's Call: Choices for Eternal Purpose
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "Wherever you're at in your life right now, you might be going through a tough relationship right now. You're at odds with somebody who is close to you. Things are not okay. You just want them to go back to being okay and you're not sure that they ever will be. And you're wondering, what am I supposed to do? Today you need to hear that that is not the end of your story. You might have come to church hopeless today because you think that nobody notices you. You work hard, but nobody says good job or thank you so much. You sacrifice, but it just doesn't seem like anybody cares. And you've come to the point where you don't expect anybody is gonna value you in the way that you need to feel valued. You need to hear today that that is not the end of your story." [59:24]
2. "The question was this. What are the three hardest words in the English language to say? And I'm not talking about hardest words to pronounce. Like we're not talking about supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. We're not talking about Worcestershire sauce. I can't even say it. I'm talking about a phrase. I'm talking about a sentence. Three words. That when you put them together. People do not want to say those words. Do we have any guesses right now? Let me hear it. Okay. I heard some people say I love you. That's difficult for some people to say. I heard other people say I trust you. That's difficult for people to say. For some of you. Including some senior pastors. It might be quite difficult to say these three words that are close to my heart. Go Cubs go. But the authors. According to their study. Discovered that the three hardest words in the English language for people to say are these words. I don't know." [35:30]
3. "The risk we all face. Is getting stuck in the middle of an auto pilot life. Have you seen these Waymo's driving around? These cars with no drivers. Those things terrify me man. Not only. Because I think I'm going to get into an accident with one. Like no. Those things are super advanced. I know they're still working out the bugs. But they can see 300 yards in every direction. And those driverless cars. Are never looking down at their phones. While they're driving. I might trust them on the road. More than I trust any of us sitting here today. No. They terrify me because. One of the main pieces of human life. That we still have." [47:20]
4. "We'd use it to play the stock market. We'd use it to win arguments. My kids would use it to cheat at Go Fish. And this is topical. Because right now. In our world. For believers especially. It feels like something of future significance is about to happen. With everything taking place in Israel. And in the Middle East. With the current geopolitical climate. With tensions between the United States and other nations. With the proliferation of AI technologies. People are wondering is this the time when Jesus will finally return. And that's the part of the purpose for this series. For three weeks. We're going to be digging into the book of Joel. A book of prophecy. That was concerned with the events of the future." [38:26]
5. "You can leave today. You can go back to your normal life and change nothing. Or you can take the next courageous step toward truly following Jesus. I don't know what he's calling you to. Maybe he's calling you to make a decision for him today. To be a part of his life. To be a part of his life. To be a part of his church. To be a part of his life today. Or maybe you've been baptized today. Maybe that's the next step that God is calling you to make. Or maybe you've been baptized and you've been sneaking in here and sneaking out and that's kind of the nice thing about being in a church like this. You can be here and not really know anybody. Maybe the next courageous step that God is asking you to take is to join a life group." [01:15:54]
### Quotes for Members
1. "The purpose of prophecy, like the prophecy of Joel, is to take God's people and shake them loose from daily life and help them see their lives from a wider perspective. Stop obsessing about your drama with that person at work. Stop worrying about your second quarter earnings. Something bigger in life is going on here. Something bigger in life is going on here. Wake up! And the swarm of locusts that destroyed the land of Judah was a wake-up call to God's people. As the prophet says at the open of the prophecy in Joel 1, verse 5, he says, Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! people of Judah needed to wake up. They had gone to sleep in the midst of the tasks of daily life and had forgotten the larger story of which they were a part." [50:27]
2. "When tough times come, we think the purpose of life is simply to get back to normal. That's just how we are. When tough times come, we think the purpose of life is simply to get back to normal. I mean, that was true for me. I had cancer a little over 10 years ago. All I thought about was just going back to normal. I want to go back to when I have my hair. I want to go back to when I have my strength. I want to go back to when I'm not throwing up in a toilet. I want to go back to when I don't have problems in my life. We want to go back to normal. And yet, is that the purpose of life? To simply go back to normal?" [52:14]
3. "The day of the Lord is meant to remind us of the real story in which we are living. William Shatner, who famously played Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek. Do you see this, man? He actually went into outer space, for real. At 90 years old, William Shatner is actually the oldest man to ever travel into outer space. But he was surprised by his reaction to the experience of the whole thing, of going into space. Here's what he said, listen to this. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration. Instead, it felt like a funeral. It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of earth below filled me with an overwhelming sadness. Everything I had thought was wrong. Everything I had expected to see was wrong. I had a different experience. Because I discovered that the beauty isn't out there, it's down here with all of us. Leaving that behind made my connection to our tiny planet even more profound." [01:02:42]
4. "The day of the Lord is going to be a day of victory and of life. The day of the Lord, the coming of Jesus, is only a terror if we are not walking in God's way. If we don't believe in Jesus, if we're not following his way of life, then we should be legitimately nervous about the coming day of the Lord. But if we're living the Christian life, then the day of the Lord is something to look forward to. It's not a day of fire and brimstone and trauma. Instead, it's a day to anticipate with joy. Joy. That's what the prophet Joel tells to the people of Judah to give them hope. He says this, Joel chapter 3 verse 18, he says, in that day, the day of the Lord, the mountains will drip with new wine. The hills will flow with milk. All the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord's house and will water the valley of the Acacias." [01:04:54]
5. "The decisions that we make determine the day we have when Jesus returns. The decisions we make will determine the day when Jesus returns. Near the end of Joel's prophecy, he says something very curious and very strange. The prophet says this in Joel chapter three, verse 14. He says, multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. In speaking about the coming day of the Lord, the prophet says that many people are in a place where they must make a decision. Even now today, we are in the valley of decision. The Hebrew word for decision is charutz. We're going to try it. Everybody say, charutz. That was pretty good. You got it. It means to cut. It means to make a strong determination. It's like working with an electric table saw. Like when you're cutting two by fours, you only got one shot. You can measure twice. You can measure three times, four times, 20 times. You can only cut once. Because once you made the cut, you've made a decision. You made a choice. You can't take it back." [01:09:50]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "Wherever you're at in your life right now, you might be going through a tough relationship right now. You're at odds with somebody who is close to you. Things are not okay. You just want them to go back to being okay and you're not sure that they ever will be. And you're wondering, what am I supposed to do? Today you need to hear that that is not the end of your story. You might have come to church hopeless today because you think that nobody notices you. You work hard, but nobody says good job or thank you so much. You sacrifice, but it just doesn't seem like anybody cares. And you've come to the point where you don't expect anybody is gonna value you in the way that you need to feel valued. You need to hear today that that is not the end of your story." [59:24]
2. "The question was this. What are the three hardest words in the English language to say? And I'm not talking about hardest words to pronounce. Like we're not talking about supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. We're not talking about Worcestershire sauce. I can't even say it. I'm talking about a phrase. I'm talking about a sentence. Three words. That when you put them together. People do not want to say those words. Do we have any guesses right now? Let me hear it. Okay. I heard some people say I love you. That's difficult for some people to say. I heard other people say I trust you. That's difficult for people to say. For some of you. Including some senior pastors. It might be quite difficult to say these three words that are close to my heart. Go Cubs go. But the authors. According to their study. Discovered that the three hardest words in the English language for people to say are these words. I don't know." [35:30]
3. "The risk we all face. Is getting stuck in the middle of an auto pilot life. Have you seen these Waymo's driving around? These cars with no drivers. Those things terrify me man. Not only. Because I think I'm going to get into an accident with one. Like no. Those things are super advanced. I know they're still working out the bugs. But they can see 300 yards in every direction. And those driverless cars. Are never looking down at their phones. While they're driving. I might trust them on the road. More than I trust any of us sitting here today. No. They terrify me because. One of the main pieces of human life. That we still have." [47:20]
4. "We'd use it to play the stock market. We'd use it to win arguments. My kids would use it to cheat at Go Fish. And this is topical. Because right now. In our world. For believers especially. It feels like something of future significance is about to happen. With everything taking place in Israel. And in the Middle East. With the current geopolitical climate. With tensions between the United States and other nations. With the proliferation of AI technologies. People are wondering is this the time when Jesus will finally return. And that's the part of the purpose for this series. For three weeks. We're going to be digging into the book of Joel. A book of prophecy. That was concerned with the events of the future." [38:26]
5. "You can leave today. You can go back to your normal life and change nothing. Or you can take the next courageous step toward truly following Jesus. I don't know what he's calling you to. Maybe he's calling you to make a decision for him today. To be a part of his life. To be a part of his life. To be a part of his church. To be a part of his life today. Or maybe you've been baptized today. Maybe that's the next step that God is calling you to make. Or maybe you've been baptized and you've been sneaking in here and sneaking out and that's kind of the nice thing about being in a church like this. You can be here and not really know anybody. Maybe the next courageous step that God is asking you to take is to join a life group." [01:15:54]
### Quotes for Members
1. "The purpose of prophecy, like the prophecy of Joel, is to take God's people and shake them loose from daily life and help them see their lives from a wider perspective. Stop obsessing about your drama with that person at work. Stop worrying about your second quarter earnings. Something bigger in life is going on here. Something bigger in life is going on here. Wake up! And the swarm of locusts that destroyed the land of Judah was a wake-up call to God's people. As the prophet says at the open of the prophecy in Joel 1, verse 5, he says, Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! people of Judah needed to wake up. They had gone to sleep in the midst of the tasks of daily life and had forgotten the larger story of which they were a part." [50:27]
2. "When tough times come, we think the purpose of life is simply to get back to normal. That's just how we are. When tough times come, we think the purpose of life is simply to get back to normal. I mean, that was true for me. I had cancer a little over 10 years ago. All I thought about was just going back to normal. I want to go back to when I have my hair. I want to go back to when I have my strength. I want to go back to when I'm not throwing up in a toilet. I want to go back to when I don't have problems in my life. We want to go back to normal. And yet, is that the purpose of life? To simply go back to normal?" [52:14]
3. "The day of the Lord is meant to remind us of the real story in which we are living. William Shatner, who famously played Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek. Do you see this, man? He actually went into outer space, for real. At 90 years old, William Shatner is actually the oldest man to ever travel into outer space. But he was surprised by his reaction to the experience of the whole thing, of going into space. Here's what he said, listen to this. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration. Instead, it felt like a funeral. It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of earth below filled me with an overwhelming sadness. Everything I had thought was wrong. Everything I had expected to see was wrong. I had a different experience. Because I discovered that the beauty isn't out there, it's down here with all of us. Leaving that behind made my connection to our tiny planet even more profound." [01:02:42]
4. "The day of the Lord is going to be a day of victory and of life. The day of the Lord, the coming of Jesus, is only a terror if we are not walking in God's way. If we don't believe in Jesus, if we're not following his way of life, then we should be legitimately nervous about the coming day of the Lord. But if we're living the Christian life, then the day of the Lord is something to look forward to. It's not a day of fire and brimstone and trauma. Instead, it's a day to anticipate with joy. Joy. That's what the prophet Joel tells to the people of Judah to give them hope. He says this, Joel chapter 3 verse 18, he says, in that day, the day of the Lord, the mountains will drip with new wine. The hills will flow with milk. All the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord's house and will water the valley of the Acacias." [01:04:54]
5. "The decisions that we make determine the day we have when Jesus returns. The decisions we make will determine the day when Jesus returns. Near the end of Joel's prophecy, he says something very curious and very strange. The prophet says this in Joel chapter three, verse 14. He says, multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. In speaking about the coming day of the Lord, the prophet says that many people are in a place where they must make a decision. Even now today, we are in the valley of decision. The Hebrew word for decision is charutz. We're going to try it. Everybody say, charutz. That was pretty good. You got it. It means to cut. It means to make a strong determination. It's like working with an electric table saw. Like when you're cutting two by fours, you only got one shot. You can measure twice. You can measure three times, four times, 20 times. You can only cut once. Because once you made the cut, you've made a decision. You made a choice. You can't take it back." [01:09:50]
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