Sermon Central
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What Is Our Purpose. Series
Contributed by Louis Mare on Jan 6, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: Like God called John to a specific purpose—before birth and before he could qualify himself for the task—He calls us to spread His story of salvation to the world—even when we don’t feel capable of doing the job.
You know, I do think we all have a purpose on this earth. The reason we have skills and talents, and passions are so that we can serve the greater community, earn a living, and also live life. I have seen in my own life that sometimes we hit this mid-life crisis scenario where we question our purpose. I have shared in one of my previous posts about starting small. Very recently, I have felt the same. I was wondering what I have to offer. Why has God let me get all this way? Now I think that I am not good enough.
You see, as a Pastor, you suppose to have everything together. People presume we always know what to do, and man, I am always reading, meditating and running around figuring out how to help. The problem is that I end up feeling like a failure. You feel inadequate. But the Holy Spirit and the reason why I love doing life with the Holy Spirit is that He can guide us to understand He called us all to minister, but not in the way we think but in the way God wants to.
We must understand that God called US ALL to spread the good news of salvation. It is not meant for a particular group of people only but for all. So I want to help in the next couple of blogs by sharing how you and I can be effective disciples of Jesus. This brings me to my first point:
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What purpose do you have in Christ?
You see, if we read the beginning part of Luke, we can see that John was chosen before he was even born for what he was called to do here on earth. He did not get the calling after he was somehow proven to be worthy. He did not receive a different calling; no it was already predestined on what he was supposed to do on this earth. He did not make himself unworthy or receive a new role. No, God already decided.
Look at Luke 1:15-17 (HCSB) For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb.16 He will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God.17 And he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah,to turn the hearts of fathers to their children,and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.
The angel’s words show that John would fulfil Malachi 4:5-6, in which the Lord promised to send Elijah. John, then, would preach in the spirit and power of his Old Testament predecessor, as we read in Luke 1:17.
Some significant aspects of John's character at birth were given to him.
1. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. “From birth” is literally “from his mother’s womb.” When Mary visited Elizabeth before John was born, the baby leapt into her womb. The ministry of the Holy Spirit was essential to Luke, and he often went to great lengths to show His empowering and enabling ministry. John’s parents were filled with the Spirit (Luke 1:41, 67).
5. Many of the people of Israel would he bring back to ... God. Crowds of Israelites did turn to the Lord through John’s ministry (Matt. 3:5-6; Mark 1:4-5).
6. He will go on before the Lord. John the Baptist was the Lord’s forerunner, announcing His coming in the spirit and power of Elijah. Luke here referred to two passages in Malachi which speak of messengers: a messenger was to be sent to clear the way before the Lord (Mal. 3:1), and Elijah’s return was promised before the day of the Lord (Mal. 4:5-6) to restore the hearts of the fathers to their children. Zechariah understood that the angel was identifying John the Baptist with the messenger in Malachi 3:1, for in his song of praise, he noted that John would “go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him” (Luke 1:76; cf. 3:4-6). Jesus affirmed that John fulfilled Malachi 3:1 (Matt. 11:10) and stated that John would have fulfilled Malachi 4:5-6 if the people had accepted his message (Matt. 11:14).
But here is the problem for us we put more emphasis on our performance than on God decisions and plans for us.
Let me put it this way. We are sometimes too scared to pray out loud because we cannot pray as pastors can, and we are afraid we will look stupid. Moses was too afraid because of his speech impediment. We do not share the bible cause we do not know enough. (BTW, some of the people I know have been in church for years and know the bible pretty well but are still too afraid.). You see, the devil came and made it all about us and our lack of performance to keep us silent.
