Pressing Toward Our Divine Purpose in Christ

"In Philippians 3, he says, But whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith." [00:21:08] (31 seconds)


"I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus has taken hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining forward to that which is ahead, I press on. Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has called me heavenward. That's our goal. Amen." [00:21:59] (26 seconds)


"To whom much is given, much is required. To whom much is given, much is required. This phrase means that God is going to hold each and every one of us responsible for what we've done with what we have. Understand that? God is going to hold you, God's going to hold me responsible with what we've done with what we have. And that includes things like our time, our talents, our abilities, our personalities, our wealth. Are we using that for the glory of God to benefit others? To take care of those things that we need to take care of? See, I think this idea, Jesus was telling his disciples and us, we all were made for more." [00:34:03] (46 seconds)


"That is, we were all created with God's purposes in mind. He created us for relationship, and he created us with responsibility. And he has blessed all of us with unique talents, abilities, interests, aptitudes, and opportunities that are unique to us. So that through our lives, we might glory. We might glorify God as he's called and he's willed. One commentator said it this way. To be made for more means that God has created each of us uniquely and for a purpose." [00:34:49] (30 seconds)


"Listen to this verse in Proverbs 16. Nine. In his heart. A man plans his course. But the Lord. Determines his steps. In his heart. A man plans his course. But the Lord determines his step. I think this. This verse right here shows us a significant problem that we all face. Most of us have this problem. Because while God has a plan for our. Lives. Our human will. And our human plans. Too often get in the way." [00:42:14] (32 seconds)


"God's will requires my surrender, not my ambition. And so while we may have big plans for our lives, God has a better plan, leaving us with a significant decision that we experience day in, day out. In fact, this decision occurs hundreds of times during a day. Do I want God's will or do I want my will? God's will, my will. That's the struggle we all face." [00:43:43] (31 seconds)


"There are three aspects to God's will. You have his providential will, you have his prescriptive will, and you have his personal will. Everybody say providential. Everybody say prescriptive. Everybody say personal. Now, every one of us in this room, we want to know God's personal will, but you'll never know God's personal will until you understand his providential and prescriptive will. So let's jump into those very quickly. The providential will includes those things which God has done abundantly." [00:44:26] (28 seconds)


"God in his foreknowledge saw that man would fall, and then he, of his own sovereign choice, provided a single solution to the problem of sin, and that was him coming in the flesh, incarcerating himself in flesh to live a sinless life, to die on a cross, to be buried, and the third day raised from the dead, because it is the only mechanism, it's the only means by which any of us can be forgiven, and God did that of his own sovereign choice." [00:45:40] (31 seconds)


"In your hands, you hold the infallible and errant breath of God given to you. In your hands, you hold the infallible and errant breath of God given to you. In your hands, you hold the infallible and errant breath of God given to you. So that we might know who God is. We might know good from evil. We might know right from wrong. We might be able to distinguish what's of God, what's not of God, but all this has been given to us to help us to see God's progressive plan of revelation so that we can know the one true God in relationship." [00:46:22] (31 seconds)


"Because once you receive him as your Savior, now you have to make the decision day in, day out whether or not you're going to allow him to be your Lord. Are you going to allow him to be the boss? Are you going to allow him to be your master? And this is something that you'll do the rest of your life, but... going through what's called the process of sanctification where every day a little more of you dies and a little more of him lives inside of you." [00:57:04] (26 seconds)


"Pretty incredible to think about. Psalm 139 explains this. For you created me in my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I am fearfully and wonderfully and uniquely made. Now, what does this mean? It means God took great care in designing each one of us, giving every one of us unique physical identity, but also a unique calling and purpose. And just like a fingerprint, there's no one else in the world who is exactly like you or has your calling." [01:00:45] (35 seconds)