49 Sermon Illustrations on Purpose

A person without goals in his life is like a ship without maps and a compass. He will drift aimlessly from day to day hoping to arrive at the nebulus port of "somewhere." His voyage though life will be left to chance. Without goals life is uninteresting and without challenge. Goals are decisions to action. Goals are maps which give the routes to distant ports in life. Goals help a person know where he is going and how he is going to get there. A goal is more than a dream; it is a dream being acted upon. It is more than an "Oh, I wish I could." A goal is a clear statement of "This is what I am going to do." Goals are not fanciful doubts; they are declarations of faith. 14 Reasons for Setting Goals Do you have a list of goals that you are working on at this moment? If you do, congratulations, because it places you in a small group of achievers. If you do not have goals for your life, let me share some basic reasons why you need to set goals. Goals will give your life purpose. They help you to specifically know where you are going. They provide a clear target for your life. Goals will help you develop a plan of action for reaching your goals. Goals are exciting because they keep you active. Work is a sure way to success and happiness. Goals are biblical. Paul said, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). Goals produce results. They are not just exercises in futilities. Goals help keep you young and interested in life. There is hope and expectation in the future. When you work on your goals you help to encourage others to do the same. Good goals help you know where you are at each month. You have planned your journey in life. You have a map to check each action by. When you set meaningful goals you are following the pattern of all great leaders who have gone before. They work. Goals are essential if you are going to accomplish things in life. Whether on the job, in the home, or in the church, goals are vital to success. Goals get us involved in the present. The steps to accomplishment must be taken today. Goals provide a procedure for doing things decently and in order. It eliminates the "hit-and-miss" approach to life. Goals provide a framework for evaluating our progress. Nothing will happen until you set some goals for your life. This is the major advantage of failure: you do not have to do anything to achieve it.

A man's purpose of life should be like a river, which was born of a thousand little rills in the mountains; and when, at last, it has reached its manhood in the plain, though, if you watch it, you shall see little eddies that seem as if they had changed their minds, and were going back again to the mountains, yet all its mighty current flows, changeless, to the sea. If you build a dam across it, in a few hours it will go over it with a voice of victory. If tides check it at its mouth, it is only, that, when they ebb, it can sweep on again to the ocean. So goes the Amazon or the Orinoco across a continent, — never losing its way, or changing its direction, for the thousand streams that fall into it on the right hand and on the left, but only using them to increase its force, and bearing them onward in its resistless channel. Beecher.

On one bright summer day, the boy Warren Hastings, then just seven years old, lay on the bank of the rivulet which flows through the old domain of his house to join the Isis. There, as threescore and ten years later he told the tale, rose in his mind a scheme, which, through all the turns of his eventful career, was never abandoned. He would recover the estate which had belonged to his fathers. He would be Hastings of Daylesford. This purpose, formed in infancy and poverty, grew stronger as his intellect expanded, and as his fortune rose. He pursued his plan with that calm but indomitable force of will which was the most striking peculiarity of his character. When, under a tropical sun, he ruled fifty millions of Asiatics, his hopes, amidst all the cares of war, finance, and legislation, still pointed to Daylesford. And when his long public life, so singularly checkered with good and evil, with glory and obloquy, had at length closed forever, it was to Daylesford that he retired to die. Macaulay.

Half the failures in life arise from the pulling in one's horse as he is leaping — Chapin. — The world estimates men by their success in life, and, by general consent, success is evidence of superiority. — Everett. — There is nothing like a fixed, steady aim, with an honorable purpose. It dignifies your nature, and insures your success. — Beecher. — David Ricardo, the celebrated political economist, had what he called his own three golden rules, the observance of which he used to press on his friends. They were: "Never refuse an option when you can get it. Cut short your losses. Let your profits run out." Many a man has lost being a great man by splitting into two middling ones. — Phillips.

Daniel was not self-assertive or arrogant in his fidelity to God, but as prudent as he was brave. Determined to have a stand-in with God first—later gets a stand-in with the King

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It is told of Professor Huxley that once, when the British Association met in Dublin, he arrived late in the city; fearing to miss the president’s address, he rushed from the train to the station platform, jumped on a jaunting-car, and said to the Celt in charge, “Drive fast; I’m in a hurry.” Cabby whipt up his horse and proved to be another Jehu. Suddenly it flashed upon the passenger, bounding about the vehicle in a most undignified way, to shout to the driver above the rattle of the car, “Do you know where I want to go?” “No, yer honor,” was Pat’s laughing rejoinder, “but I’m driving fast all the while.”

There are many who keep up a great activity, but who, for want of a definite aim or a great guiding ideal, accomplish little good in the world.

See RESOLUTENESS.

PURPOSE DISCERNED

A stone-mason may be a mere machine for breaking rock or he may be an architect’s assistant. It all depends on his point of view. If he is absolutely ignorant of the purpose of the stone which he hammers he will be the machine. But if he has even a remote idea that his block of stone is going to be set somewhere between the base line and the finial of a cathedral of a thousand years his work graduates into the artistic. The knowledge that the earnest expectation of the cathedral waits for his chunk of stone makes that stone mean something more than stone to him.

— T. C. MCCLELLAND

“Happiness is an attitude of mind, born of the simple determination to be happy under all outward circumstances.”

-- J. Donald Walters

“A good laugh is sunshine in the house.”

-- William Makepeace Thackeray

"Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought: Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks."

-- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), writer and lexicographer, B&P 3/25/03

"Happiness in this world, when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit, and it leads us on a wild-goose chase, and is never attained. Follow some other object, and very possibly we may find that we have caught happiness without dreaming of it."

-- Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), Writer, B&P

"Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of others, but from doing something worthwhile."

-- Wilfred Grenfell (1865 - 1940), English medical missionary, B&P

"Joy has nothing to do with material things, or with a man's outward circumstance ... A man living in the lap of luxury can be wretched, and a man in the depths of poverty can overflow with joy."

-- William Barclay (1907 - 1978), clergyman and writer, B&P

"Happiness is not a state to arrive at but, rather, a manner of traveling."

-- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), essayist and lexicographer, B&P

"One is happy as a result of one's own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness - simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and above all, a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain."

-- George Sand (1804 - 1876), writer, cited in BITS & PIECES

"Your unhappiness is not due to your want of a fortune or high position or fame or sufficient vitamins. It is due not to a want of something outside of you, but to a want of something inside you. You were made for perfect happiness. No wonder everything short of God disappoints you."

-- Fulton Sheen, Catholic Bishop, QFTM 8/13/02

"The happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except that they are so."

-- William Ralph Inge (1860-1954), clergyman, B&P 5/2/03

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet."

-- James Oppenheim, "Instant Quotation Dictionary,", p. 153.

"Happiness is the harvest of a quiet eye."

-- Austin O'Malley, "Instant Quotation Dictionary," p. 153.

"The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one has to do."

-- James M. Barrie (also attributed to King George V)

"Success is getting what you want; Happiness is wanting what you get.

-- Dale Carnegie

"If happiness could be bought, we'd be unhappy with the price."

-- (unknown)

"The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what interests you and that you can do well, and put your whole soul into it - every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have."

-- John D. Rockefeller, III, QFTM 2/14/04

"I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances."

-- Martha Washington, QFTM 2/14/04

"You can multiply happiness by dividing it."

-- Cited in The Best of BITS & PIECES

"The opposite of joy is not sorrow. It is disobedience."

-- Leslie Weatherhead

"The thing has already taken form in my mind before I start it.

The first attempts are absolutely unbearable.

I say this because I want you to know that if you see something worthwhile in what I am doing, it is not by accident but because of real direction and purpose."

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

Painter

Cited in BITS & PIECES

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Sermon in Philippians series. Purpose in life. Philippians 1:1-6

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WHAT'S TO BE HAPPY ABOUT?

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I. Introduction to series on Philippians.

A. Paul in prison.

B. Writes to young church in Greece.

C. Focus is on Jesus.

II. A heartfelt prayer.

A. Almost all of Paul's letters begin with a prayer.

B. He has wonderful ____________ of their church. Acts 16:14,34

C. Joy is his predominant feeling.

III. Side by side.

A. Paul was happy because Christianity did not depend on him alone.

B. Two primary meanings: _____________ and _____________.

IV. Confidence in the future.

A. Paul sees God at work in their lives.

B. The end product is someone who perfectly reflects Jesus.

C. We can be confident - but not dogmatic.

V. What is the guiding purpose of YOUR life?

There are so many books and tapes on goal setting, I'm bored with them. Even many of the Christian ones have no scriptural basis.

But God has given us a wonderful, biblical model in Genesis 24, in which we can follow the steps to setting and reaching goals in the story of Eliezer, Abraham's servant, as he fulfilled his assigned project of finding Isaac a wife.

For years, I've used these 10 biblical steps in planning at Saddleback Valley Community Church:

1. DETERMINE YOUR POSITION

Ask yourself some questions. "Where am I now?" And, "What would I like to change?"

Take the time to evaluate your present situation. I do this about once a quarter. I ask these questions:

-- "Where am I headed?"

-- "Am I still headed in the right direction?"

If you were to call me from a phone booth and say, "I want to come over to your house. Give me directions," what would be the first thing I ask? "Where are you?" I've got to know where you are before I tell you how to get where you want to be.

That's true in any area of life. Before you can know where you want to go you've got to know where you are right now. Determine your position.

2. DEFINE YOUR PURPOSE

You need to clearly state your goal. I suggest getting a specific image in your mind so you know exactly what you want. First, you determine where you are and then you determine what you want.

Abraham said, "I want you to go to my country and to my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac." He knew exactly what he wanted. It was clearly defined. Later on, he gave other conditions: "I want a wife of the same nationality, from the same home town, same faith, someone who is beautiful, a virgin."

The point is -- you're never going to reach a vague goal. The more specific a goal is, the easier it is to reach. If you say, "God, bless my wife," how do you know when God's blessed your wife? Sometimes God blesses with a problem or a trial. Is that what you're praying for? You need to be specific. A vague goal has no drawing power. You need to know what you want.

Ask yourself three questions:

-- "What do I want to be?" (This is the most important -- What do I want to be in Christ's likeness?)

-- "What do I want to do?"

-- "What do I want to have?"

You say, "I want to travel." Great. Where? "I want to have income." Great. How much? "I want a career." Fantastic. What kind? "I want to witness?" To whom? Be specific. "I want to lose weight." How much? "I want to read the Bible." When do you want to read it?"

In 1960, JFK got up and said, "Within a decade we'll put a man on the moon." That was a decision. Did he try to figure out all the problems before he made the decision? No. He just set a goal. We're going to go there. Once the decision-making was out of the way, then the country moved into the problem solving. When he made the statement, it was physically and technologically impossible to do it. But he made the decision and later worried about the problems.

You need to be very, very specific. You determine your position, then you define your purpose.

3. DISCOVER A PROMISE

Find a promise you can claim from God's Word, and don't worry about the "how's" at this point.

When you're setting goals as a Christian, you don't look at your own resources, your own abilities. There are more than 7,000 promises in the Bible, just waiting to be claimed. They're like blank checks. Let the size of your God determine the size of your goal. We've set some big goals at Saddleback, and some people say, "Who do you think you are? Who do those people at Saddleback think they are?"

That's the wrong question. The issue is not who we think we are. The issue is who we think God is. How big is God?

Ask yourself:

-- "What promise can I claim?"

Keep looking in Scripture until you find a promise that's going to help you.

4. DESCRIBE THE PAYOFF

Every goal must have a payoff or reward. If there's no reward, then there's no motivation to fulfill it. You've got to settle the value of the goal in your mind.

Ask yourself three questions:

-- "What is the reward?"

-- "Why do I want it?"

-- "How will I feel when I get it?"

Why is it important to describe the profit up front?

Because when you settle the "Why?" God will show you the "How?"

When you know why you want to do what you want to do with your life, then you have a calling on your life, and God will show you the HOW.

If you delay in determining the payoff, then you'll give up when times get tough. You need to know the payoff to avoid discouragement.

5. DESIRE IN PRAYER

The Bible says in Mark 11:24, "Whatever you desire, pray and believe and you will have them." When you pray for your goals it does two things:

-- It reveals desire. Often God delays an answer to prayer or delays you attaining a goal you've been striving toward in order to see how badly you want it. He wants for you to distinguish whether this is a wish or a whim, or if this a deep desire in your heart.

2. It shows your dependence. Who are you really trusting in to see this goal accomplished? If I never pray about a goal, what is that saying? It's saying I don't think I need God's help. I can handle this on my own.

I continually ask myself: "Am I praying for my goals?"

Have I just set them, or am I really praying for them? Your goal sheet ought to be your prayer list.

They shouldn't be the only things on your prayer list, but they ought to be a part it: "Lord, these are the things I'm trying to accomplish with my life. I want my life to count. I want my life to be worthwhile. I want to make a difference. I want to be significant for your glory."

6. DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEMS

With this step, you identify the roadblocks and obstacles holding you back.

When assessing your goals, you want to ask yourself two questions:

-- "Why don't I have this already?"

-- "What are the barriers?"

The barriers will vary: they may be emotional, financial, intellectual or relational.

Take a look at Genesis 24 where Abraham sends his servant to find a wife for his son, Isaac. This is a great example of diagnosing the problem.

Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, is going to go to a foreign country. Can you imagine the number of serious problems he faced to reach the goal he'd been given? He needed to go to a country he'd never been to and find a lady he'd never met.

He needed to convince her to go with him and to marry a total stranger. Mission impossible? Would you do that? Do you think you'd be successful in that?

Believer has all kinds of problems to reach this goal:

-- In verse 21, he has the problem of finding the right girl.

-- In verse 49, he has the problem of getting the girl's parents' consent.

-- In verse 58, he had to get the girl's consent.

7. DESIGN A PLAN

Plan out a course of action to overcome the obstacles you've just identified. Write down some specific steps. Set a deadline, and schedule it.

As you design your plan, ask yourself these questions:

-- "How do I intend to get there?"

-- "How long will it take?"

As we look at Eliezer's story, we see that his plan is a masterpiece: He sets up a test. He'll take all his camels down to the water and have them kneel down. Then he'll ask a for a drink, and if the woman he asks says, "Let me water your camels, too," Eliezer will know he's found the right woman.

For one thing, this would have to be an unusual woman with a real heart for service. The average camel can drink up to 40 gallons of water! If you add up the camels, she's offering to hand-draw about 300 gallons of water.

Once this has occurred, Eliezer's plan is to then share his purpose. Only then will he reveal Abraham's wealth and try to get invited to her home, and only then will he pop the question. He has a strategic plan, and he follows it.

8. DISCIPLINE YOUR PERSONALITY

Nothing great is ever accomplished without discipline. The bottom line in your life is character. While you're working on your goals, God is working on you. God is much more interested in you than he is in your goals. During this planning and goal-setting process, God will work on you, making changes as you grow toward your goal.

I've said many times when I speak to pastors, "Growing churches require growing pastors." Likewise, growing businesses require growing businessmen. Growing marriages require growing husbands and wives. The moment you stop growing, you die.

You ought to ask yourself:

-- "Where do I need to change?" (God is more interested in your character than in the project)

-- "What kind of person do I need to become?"

When I first moved to the Saddleback Valley and set goals for Saddleback church, I was 26 years old. I thought, "There's no way I'm equipped to handle a church the size of the goal I've just set."

But here's what happened: As the church was growing, so was I. God had it all planned and knew I would grow to greater maturity before the church grew to larger portions.

9. DEPOSIT THE PRICE

There is always a price tag for reaching any goal. It doesn't matter whether it's a business, or a church, or any kind of dream. There's always a great sacrifice to reach your great goals. A lot of people I meet want to reach great goals or accomplish great dreams, but they only want to do it if it's convenient. It's as if they say, "I've got this dream, but I only want to do it in my spare time."

Ask yourself three questions at this stage:

-- "What will it cost me?"

-- "What am I willing to give?"

-- "Is the cause worth the cost?"

10. DEPEND ON PEOPLE

You will never achieve very much in life until you learn to get along with other people. John Rockefeller used to say there was one thing he'd pay more for than any other skill -- the ability to work with people. There are a lot of geniuses who can't get along with others. You've got to learn to depend on people because God works through people. It takes teamwork. Success is never a one-man show. NEVER! It's always a joint effort.

Ask yourself at this stage: "Who else can I involve?"

The secret of a great church is commitment and cooperation. When there is commitment and cooperation, God can do tremendous things. He can overlook all kinds of other things.

Vance Havner once said, "Snowflakes are frail but if enough of them stick together they can stop traffic."

You may not be able to do a lot by yourself, but when God's men and women get together, they can do anything.

I hope you'll take these principles and use them to re-evaluate your personal goals and the goals of your church. May God guide you and grant you the desires of your heart.

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John Wesley's Rule for Christian Living (also called his Closing Hymn):

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can

In all the ways you can,

In every place you can,

At all the times you can,

To everyone you can,

As long as you ever can –

Do all the good you can.

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Christian History; also found in Margaret T. Applegarth, {Twelve Baskets Full,} Harper's, 1957, 37.

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Another version:

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as ever you can.

- John Wesley

In order to be really transformed by God's grace, it is not

only important to see what we now are, but also important for us

to see what Christ can make of us by His grace: A melancholy

lawyer moved into a new community and immersed himself in his

new law practice. Townspeople sometimes observed him walking

alone at the eventide with his head bowed, and a look of mental

distress upon his face. One day he confessed to an artist, who

had a downtown studio, that he had made one, sad, terrible

mistake in his life. The artist said nothing, but weeks later he

invited the forlorn lawyer to view a portrait in his studio.

Accepting the invitation, the lawyer was surprised to see there

a portrait of himself, only there, in the portrait, he stood

erect, with his shoulders thrown back, and his head lifted up.

Ambition, desire, and hope were written on his face in that

portrait. Regarding this sunny, positive portrait of himself for

a few moments, the vision of what he could become was born in

his heart, and he said, to himself, "If he sees that in me, then

I can see it. If he thinks that I can be that, then I can be

that man; and what is more, I will be!" (adapted from McCartney)

When Joni Eareckson, an attractive teenager, stepped into a boat on Chesapeake Bay, she had her whole life ahead of her. She dreamed the dreams of most healthy young women -- marriage, home, children, and career. One mistake, however, one unplanned dive into shallow water, broke her neck. Since that moment, Joni's body has been helpless. She knows she will never leave her wheelchair.

Those who embrace a utilitarian worldview might consider Joni Eareckson worthless, a drain on society. "What can a person accomplish for the good of society when she can't walk or feed herself or even control her bodily functions?" they might ask.

I reflected on Joni's life recently when I attended a White House meeting with President Bush who spoke so eloquently about the need for a total ban on human cloning. As he spoke in the terms of a moral theologian about the dignity and sanctity of life, in the first row, just below the podium, directly in line with the president, sat Joni in her wheelchair. She is a powerful counterpoint in the cloning debate to Christopher Reeve, the wheelchair-bound defender of destructive embryonic stem cell research he believes will allow him to walk again.

Joni has known much suffering in her lifetime, and she might have despaired. But she has never exhibited self-pity. She has joyfully pursued God's purpose for her life in ministry and advocacy on behalf of the handicapped and in these vitally important debates on bioethics.

Several times during his talk, I saw President Bush look directly at Joni. At the end of his speech, the president surprised everyone. Stepping from the podium, he put his arms around Joni and embraced her and kissed her. It was a moving moment. Surely, I thought, this was the moment and the issue for which Joni had been born. There was a purpose for all her suffering.

With us in the White House that day also was Nigel Cameron, Dean of the Wilberforce Forum and Director of our Council for Biotechnology Policy. I met Nigel more than fifteen years ago when he was a young scholar in Edinburgh. At the time Nigel told me that abortion was only Bioethics 101 and that we would soon face much greater challenges in euthanasia, cloning, and germline intervention. I'm not sure I believed him, and probably many others didn't either. It must have, from time to time, been discouraging for him as he developed the bioethics arguments, and no one else really seemed to care. But recent developments have proved him absolutely right. He was the one alerting the Christian view, and Nigel Cameron is now one of the world's leading experts in bioethics, the most critical moral issue of the twenty-first century. He helped organize the coalition assembled in the White House that day.

As I think about Joni and Nigel and the roles they play in the bioethics debate, I'm reminded of the verse from the Old Testament book of Esther. The people need saving, and Esther was told that perhaps she was the queen "for such a time as this."

Sometimes people wonder why certain things happen to them. Why do we experience this trial or that setback? When I look at Joni and Nigel, I think back on my own days in prison -- it's obvious God uses suffering often to do His greatest work. He prepares us for just "such a time as this."

For more information:

"Bioethics and the Christian: An Interview with Joni Eareckson Tada"

You can read the text of President Bush's speech on the Wilberforce Forum website

Learn more about Joni Eareckson Tada's group, Joni and Friends, at its website .

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Copyright © 2002 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. 'BreakPoint with Chuck Colson' is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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Why We're Here

Read: Matthew 5:13-16

You are the light of the world. --Matthew 5:14

Mark and Alice Westlind are missionaries in Colombia. Here is an excerpt from their prayer letter:

"Driving through Christmas traffic, fighting the drizzling rain, I chanced on a 4-year-old little girl. She was wet and cold and shaking. Her clothes were ragged, her hair was matted, and her nose was running. She walked between the cars at the stoplight, washing headlights because she was too short to wash windshields. A few gave her coins, others honked at her to get away from their vehicles."

I admired the honesty of their next sentence because I have felt the same way. "As I drove away only some 50 cents poorer, I raged at God for the injustice in the world that allowed the situation. 'God, how could You just stand by, helpless?'" The missionary concluded, "Later that evening, God came to me softly with that still small voice and responded not in like kind to my rage, but with tenderness, 'I have done something. I created you.'"

Jesus came as light to our sin-darkened, cruel, unfair world. As we respond with compassion and goodness to suffering people, we proclaim His life-changing power. We can't solve all the world's problems, but we can bear witness to the Light and bring glory to the Father (Mt. 5:16). --DCE

God uses us to show His love

To people who are suffering;

Our deeds of kindness light the path

To God that they are traveling. --Sper

Opportunities to be kind are never hard to find.

I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.

Eleanor Roosevelt

"I need to focus on my purpose, not my problems." - Rick Warren

"You've got to get on with the future because that's where you are going to spend the rest of your life. If you don't, it's like trying to drive a car looking in the rear-view mirror ... you're going to crash." - Rick Warren

When you boil it down, there are really only two sources of vision: your ego or the Holy Spirit. Ego-based visions never last. They eventually wear out because human energy has a limit. Now, how can you tell the difference? I believe every God-given vision has three characteristics: 1. When it's a God-vision, God tells you what he's going to do. God tells you the WHAT - You get a vision of what God wants to do through you in your particular ministry. The problem is that usually after he tells us what he wants to do, we go out and try to accomplish it any old way! You try to build it your own way, fall flat on your face, and then come crawling back to God. You say, "What happened?" He says, "You didn't wait for Part Two of the vision." 2. When it's a God-vision, God tells you how he's going to do it. After God tells you the WHAT, he then tells you the HOW. He lets you in on HOW he's going to accomplish his vision. For example, God gave Paul Youngi Cho, of Korea, the vision for building the largest church in the world. Pastor Cho then tried to build it on his own and ended up having a nervous breakdown. He was in the hospital for months and in weak health for nearly ten years. While Cho was in the hospital, God said, "I gave you the vision, but PART TWO is the HOW. Now that you're on your back in the hospital and listening to me, do you want to know how we're going to do it? We're going to do it through cell groups." This was a whole different way, one that Pastor Cho would have never thought of on his own. 3. When it's a God-vision, God works according to his timing. The longer I'm a Christian, the more I'm convinced that God's timing is absolutely perfect. For instance, it could only have been the result of God's timing that we raised $3 million in one day at Saddleback with the plan to buy property to build our first building. And then three days LATER, the property that God wanted us to buy came on the market! It was God's timing. I'm convinced that God kept that specific property off the market for all those years waiting until the time he wanted us to buy it. He kept it for us, preserved it. Then, after we made the commitment to buy property and to give generously toward that goal, God said, "By the way, here's the property I've had in mind for your church all along." It was God's timing - perfect! That's how God shares his vision. Yet, even having God's vision doesn't automatically guarantee success. You may already know that at the end of my first year at Saddleback I burned out. So my vision for the second year of the church was simple: Hang on! No big dreams, just hang on and survive. When I couldn't take it any longer, I took a month off, and headed to the desert. As I got alone with God, two haunting doubts kept going through my mind: I don't deserve this success, and I can't handle it. I didn't think I deserved success at Saddleback because I wasn't fully the man of God I should have been, and with the church growing so rapidly, I didn't think I could handle such a large congregation (At the time, we were approaching 1,000 in membership - little did I know!). In the midst of my crisis of faith, God said, "You're right. You don't deserve it. But I use you by grace." Grace is the fact that God knows everything I'm going to do in the ministry, every mistake I'm going to make, but he's still chosen me. And God knows every mistake you're going to make in the ministry, but he's chosen you. God said, "I will build my church." In other words, it's not my responsibility to build it. My responsibility is to be faithful. God said, "You build the people and I'll build the church." I can honestly say that after January 1981 my motivations changed. My friend, Gordon MacDonald, talks about the difference between being called or being pushed. After that month in the desert, I can honestly say I am not pushed any more. I am very much at peace with myself. My self-esteem has absolutely nothing to do with whether this church succeeds or fails. I think that it's very important that we not be a pushed people, but that we be called. I'm drawn by God just like a magnet. I think that whenever God gives you a vision, you need to hold it up to God with an open hand. I often voice this small prayer, "God, if I'm getting in the way of this church, I'm willing to move." In particular, I think those of us who have planted churches can become very protective about our church plant. The fact is it's not "my baby;" it's God's baby. Every Sunday morning as I drive to the church, I pray the whole way. I play a worship tape, and I pray as I play those songs. I drive up on a hill that overlooks the Saddleback Valley, and I pray, "God, give me this valley. Let me have the privilege of winning these people to the Lord." Then, I remind myself, "God, I'm yours. I belong to you. I don't belong to this church. You have the freedom to put me anywhere you want me to be." The third thing I pray is, "Lord, I want to preach as if this is my last sermon. I don't know if that's your will, or whether you'll want me here next week, but I do know it's your will that I'm here this week. I want to preach as if this is my last sermon, and if you want my resignation by next week, I'll gladly give it to follow where you lead." I believe this prayer helps me to keep my motives pure and my focus on God's grace. And that's why I think you need to constantly ask yourself: Why am I in ministry? Why am I working so hard? Why am I doing what I'm doing? Whose vision are you following: God's or your own? God is much more interested in why you do what you do than in what you do.

Churches may use this article in their congregations.

The “passion” is the fuel for the purpose-driven life

As the most important event in human history, the Cross has stood as a beacon for every generation since the crucifixion. With "The Passion of the Christ" in theaters, Christ’s death on the Cross is getting more publicity than any time in our lifetime. And it should! As the most important event in human history, it has stood as a beacon for every generation since the crucifixion. Either what Christ did on the Cross changes everything about how we live or it’s a cruel joke on humanity.

As you interact with Christ’s death on the Cross through Mel Gibson’s movie, it will make you question the very nature of your existence – and most importantly the basis of your connection to God.

The Cross is the foundation of the purpose-driven life. The five reasons God put you in the world all find their power within the Cross.

Think of the Cross as the gasoline for the purpose-driven life. I have a bad habit of running out of gas while driving. A few months ago I was driving on Interstate 5 when all of a sudden I heard “put-put-put-put” and my engine just stopped. Luckily, the car was going downhill, so I was able to start the car for just long enough to get it to the side of the road.

As dangerous as that is on the interstate, it’s even more dangerous in our spiritual lives to live without the true fuel that the Cross gives our spiritual lives. Without internalizing what Jesus did on the Cross, eventually our spiritual lives will sputter just like the car I forgot to refuel.

Here are five reasons that the Cross is essential to living the kind of life that honors God:

1. The Cross gives us a reason to worship — “You were once dead because of your failures and your uncircumcised corrupt nature. But God made you alive with Christ when he forgave all our failures. He did this by erasing the charges that were brought against us by the written laws God had established. He took the charges away by nailing them to the Cross.” (Col. 2:13-14, GW)

I’ve realized recently that nothing weakens my worship like mental and spiritual clutter. Often when I’m trying to worship, whether at church on the weekends or in the day-to-day mundane moments of life, my mind rapidly drifts.

The only antidote for spiritual ADD is Christ’s Cross; it is, in fact, the only reason we can stand before God and worship him. Our actions alone can’t please him. The only reason we can connect with him is because he paid the full price of our sin. That makes Christ’s death on the Cross the focal point of our worship. We can’t focus on ourselves and still focus on the Cross; he did what we couldn’t do for ourselves.

Without the Cross, we can’t connect with God in the first place, and without the Cross we have no reason to live the kind of life that honors him.

Application — Are you struggling through shallow and scattered worship? Try focusing on the Cross during The Passion of the Christ. Thank God for doing for you what you couldn’t do for yourself.

2. The Cross is the basis of our fellowship — “He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace. By his death on the Cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the Cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.” (Eph. 2:15-16, TEV)

Since the very beginning of the church God has been in the business of making peace between diverse groups of people. At first it was the Jewish and non-Jewish people of the Roman world. Today that same God brings together people from vastly different ethnic and social groups from around the planet.

What’s powerful enough to bring the Christian church together across cultures? Only the Cross. Nothing else has the power to fuse people of different goals, backgrounds and even languages.

Why? As believers, we are keenly aware that the same sacrifice that paves the way for a convicted murderer to have a relationship with God also paves the way for our own relationship with God.

I’ll never forget visiting a small church in southern Israel and watching believers from an array of ethnic groups worship together, including Israelis and Palestinians. Years of political initiatives designed to bring these two warring people together have pretty much failed.

Yet, the Cross hasn’t!

Two thousand years after the most pivotal event in human history, God is still reconciling people to himself and calling them to reconcile with each other through the power of the Cross.

Application — Do you feel animosity toward another believer? Remember that person as you watch The Passion of the Christ. Jesus endured the same Cross for you as he did for your “enemy.” Allow what Christ did on the Cross to heal the scars between you. Go to the person and ask his or her for forgiveness (even if you think he or she is more at fault that you).

3. The Cross deepens our discipleship — “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” (Phil. 3:10, NIV)

Nothing makes us more like Jesus than pain and suffering. It’s one of the most sobering facts of the Christian life. As Rick Warren says in The Purpose-Driven Life, “Problems force us to look to God and depend on him instead of ourselves.” Pain strips away our outward defenses and leaves us looking for a higher power to depend upon.

Many Christian leaders have experienced deep pain: Martin Luther had an abusive father; Martin Luther King was imprisoned in his crusade for civil rights; Joni Eareckson Tada has been disabled since she was a teenager. In all of these cases, God used these believers — not despite the pain — but because of the pain.

Pain changes us. Anyone who has experienced extreme pain realizes this. Paul seemed to rejoice in the suffering inflicted upon him in his ministry because he understood its power. He knew that pain would force him to depend upon God just as Jesus did on the Cross. He knew that in order to become like Christ, he couldn’t run away from the pain.

Jesus calls us into a life where we accept the reality of suffering in this world, yet refuse to be the cause of it.

Application — What pain are you running away from? How are you allowing the prospect of pain to keep you from doing what God wants you to do? Are you afraid to take a risk because you are afraid of the pain it may bring? Make a commitment to look at pain in your life under the light of what God wants to do in your life. Watch The Passion of the Christ knowing that suffering can make you more like Christ.

4. The Cross models our ministry — “Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a Cross.” (Phil. 2:3-8, NLT)

Maybe it isn’t difficult for you to serve your spouse, your friends or people you really respect, but it isn’t easy to serve people who don’t love you back. As human beings, becoming a servant takes work.

Watching Jesus on the Cross can help with that. Paul tells us that even though Jesus was God, he humbled himself by taking on human form and dying on the Cross. The Creator of the universe died on a Cross to serve us – he put our needs over his comfort.

We must do the same. We must think of others before ourselves, whether serving at church or the office, or your community, and your own home. Let the Cross be your model for ministry.

Application — Keep the images of The Passion of the Christ in mind as you serve someone else this week. Remember the humility that Jesus showed as he asked his father to forgive those who were killing him.

5. The Cross is the content of our evangelism -”As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, my interest in this world died long ago, and the world’s interest in me is also long dead.” (Gal. 6:14, NLT)

God commands us to take care of the widows, orphans, and the poor. He tells us that peacemakers will be blessed. And God tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Still we can’t be confused – only one message on the planet has the power to change lives and defy death – Jesus died on a Cross and rose again in three days for every person who believes in him.

That’s the content of our message to the world. Because God loved us and showed grace to us, he motivates us to love others in practical ways, but unless we tell them about what Christ did for them on the Cross, the Bible says they’ll spend an eternity separated from him.

Often the world gets confused by our message. The sad part is that it is the simplest message in history. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NLT)

Application — After watching The Passion of the Christ, spend some time contemplating what Jesus did for you personally on the Cross. Write those thoughts out in three or four paragraphs and be prepared to share them with unsaved friends and family after you invite them to see the movie.

May the day of my birth perish. –Job 3:3

At age 30 she was ready to give up. She wrote in her diary, “My God, what will become of me? I have no desire but to die. There is not a night that I do not lie on my bed wishing I could leave it no more. Unconsciousness is all I desire.”

But the dark clouds gave way to light, and in time she discovered a new purpose for living. When she did die at the age of 90, she had left her mark on history. Some believe she and those who introduced antiseptics and chloroform to medicine did the most to relieve human suffering in the entire 19th century. Her name? Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing.

The patriarch Job in the Bible is another person who wanted to die more than anything else. Just as Florence Nightingale came out of her depression and found ways to help others in physical distress, so too Job lived through his grief. His example has helped many turn in faith to God in their darkest hour.

What about you? Maybe this Campus Journal article has reached you at a time when you’d just as soon not go on living. Because you are a believer in Christ, you feel even more despondent. You wonder how a Christian can have such dark thoughts of hopelessness and death.

Don’t give up! Coming to the end of yourself emotionally may be just what you need. It forces you to turn to Christ for the courage to keep on going and for a good reason to keep on living.

You may never turn out to be a Florence Nightingale. But you can do something to ease human suffering and help your fellowman. Decide now to start over. God often uses what seems to be the end of it all to initiate a new beginning. –MD

REFLECTION

• Have I been having dark, depressing thoughts lately? Do I feel like ending it all? Whom can I talk to about my feelings?

• Who in my school or dorm could use my help right now? In what ways am I willing to reach out to that person?

When you come to the end of yourself, begin with Jesus.

Les Brown and his twin brother were adopted by Mamie Brown, a kitchen worker and maid, shortly after their birth in a poverty-stricken Miami neighborhood.

Because of his hyperactivity and nonstop jabber, Les was placed in special education classes for the learning disabled in grade school and throughout high school. Upon graduation, he became a city sanitation worker in Miami Beach. But he had a dream of being a disc jockey.

At night he would take a transistor radio to bed where he listened to the local jive-talking deejays. He created an imaginary radio station in his tiny room with its torn vinyl flooring. A hairbrush served as his microphone as he practiced his patter, introducing records to his ghost listeners.

His mother and brother could hear him through the thin walls and would shout at him to quit flapping his jaws and go to sleep. But Les didn’t listen to them. He was wrapped up in his own world, living a dream.

One day Les boldly went to the local radio station during his lunch break from mowing grass for the city. He got into the station manager’s office and told him he wanted to be a disc jockey.

The manager eyed this disheveled young man in overalls and a straw hat and inquired, “Do you have any background in broadcasting?”

Les replied, “No sir, I don’t.”

“Well, son, I’m afraid we don’t have a job for you then.”

Les thanked him politely and left. The station manager assumed that he had seen the last of this young man. But he underestimated the depth of Les Brown’s commitment to his goal. You see, Les had a higher purpose than simply wanting to be a disc jockey. He wanted to buy a nicer house for his adoptive mother, whom he loved deeply. The disc jockey job was merely a step toward his goal.

Mamie Brown had taught Les to pursue his dreams, so he felt sure that he would get a job at that radio station in spite of what the station manager had said.

And so Les returned to the station every day for a week, asking if there were any job openings. Finally the station manager gave in and took him on as an errand boy – at no pay. At first, he fetched coffee or picked up lunches and dinner for the deejays who could not leave the studio. Eventually his enthusiasm for their work won him the confidence of the disc jockeys who would send him in their Cadillacs to pick up visiting celebrities such as the Temptations and Diana Ross and the Supremes. Little did any of them know that young Les did not have a driver’s license.

Les did whatever was asked of him at the station – and more. While hanging out with the deejays, he taught himself their hand movements on the control panel. He stayed in the control rooms and soaked up whatever he could until they asked him to leave. Then, back in his bedroom at night, he practiced and prepared himself for the opportunity that he knew would present itself.

One Saturday afternoon while Les was at the station, a deejay named Rock was drinking while on the air. Les was the only other person in the building, and he realized that Rock was drinking himself toward trouble. Les stayed close. He walked back and forth in front of the window in Rock’s booth. As he prowled, he said to himself. “Drink, Rock, drink!”

Les was hungry, and he was ready. He would have run down the street for more booze if Rock had asked. When the phone rang, Les pounced on it. It was the station manager, as he knew it would be.

“Les, this is Mr. Klein.”

“Yes,” said Les. “I know.”

“Les, I don’t think Rock can finish his program.”

“Yes sir, I know.”

“Would you call one of the other deejays to come in and take over?”

“Yes, sir. I sure will.”

But when Les hung up the telephone, he said to himself, “Now, he must think I’m crazy.”

Les did dial the telephone, but it wasn’t to call in another deejay. He called his mother first, and then his girlfriend. “You all go out on the front porch and turn up the radio because I’m about to come on the air!” he said.

He waited about 15 minutes before he called the general manager. “Mr. Klein, I can’t find nobody,” Les said.

Mr. Klein then asked, “Young man, do you know how to work the controls in the studio?”

“Yes sir,” replied Les.

Les darted into the booth, gently moved Rock aside and sat down at the turntable. He was ready. And he was hungry. He flipped on the microphone switch and said, “Look out! This is me LB, triple P – Les Brown, Your Platter Playing Poppa. There were none before me and there will be none after me. Therefore, that makes me the one and only. Young and single and love to mingle. Certified, bona fide, indubitably qualified to bring you satisfaction, a whole lot of action. Look out, baby, I’m your lo-o-ove man”

Because of his preparation, Les was ready. He vowed the audience and his general manager. From that fateful beginning, Les went on to a successful career in broadcasting, politics, public speaking and television.

In the Spring 2007 issue of Kindred Spirit, Chuck Swindoll writes, “A friend of mine is one of those crazy runners. You know the type – fifteen miles a day, marathons, pilgrimages to his favorite running routes all over the country, an obsession with breaking personal records, or in fanatical running lingo, his ‘PRs’...

“But don’t you want to know why anyone would want to do this to his body? I asked my friend recently what he likes about running. ‘The finish line,’ he said. And there you have it. He runs because he has the finish line in sight. It motivates him to keep putting one blistered foot in front of the other. I guess we can all understand that to some degree. If we can remember our purpose, we can be motivated to improve our practice.”

In London several years ago the Minister of Transportation received 1000s of letters complaining about the bus system. Seems buses were running off and not picking people up. Some were passing waiting passengers. Others would stop long enough to let some people on, then speed off leaving others. MOT looked into the matter. Official answer from the Bus Driver Association was: "If our drivers stopped at every stop where passengers were waiting to board the buses, they would run behind schedule." For what purpose do buses exist???

While doing my research for this book, I came across a fine, practical volume by a father-son team in ministry, Warren and David Wiersbe. They have given it an appropriate title, Making Sense of the Ministry. Within those pages are insightful comments that everyone engaged in ministry should read. I am indebted to the Wiersbes for the following list, which I have committed to memory. I even suggested that our congregation in Fullerton do the same.

What we have here are ten statements about the ministry that are essential yet easily forgotten; and when they are, things get out of whack. Read them slowly and carefully. Think of them as “Handle with Care” signs.

1. The foundation of ministry is character.

2. The nature of ministry is service.

3. The motive for ministry is love.

4. The measure of ministry is sacrifice.

5. The authority of ministry is submission.

6. The purpose of ministry is the glory of God.

7. The tools of ministry are the Word of God and prayer.

8. The privilege of ministry is growth.

9. The power of ministry is the Holy Spirit.

10. The model for ministry is Jesus Christ.

________

Chuck Swindoll. Rise and Shine. Portland: Multnoma, 1989. Submitted by Craig Watters, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Louisville, Colorado

Churches may use this article in their congregations.

The “passion” is the fuel for the purpose-driven life

As the most important event in human history, the Cross has stood as a beacon for every generation since the crucifixion. With "The Passion of the Christ" in theaters, Christ’s death on the Cross is getting more publicity than any time in our lifetime. And it should! As the most important event in human history, it has stood as a beacon for every generation since the crucifixion. Either what Christ did on the Cross changes everything about how we live or it’s a cruel joke on humanity.

As you interact with Christ’s death on the Cross through Mel Gibson’s movie, it will make you question the very nature of your existence – and most importantly the basis of your connection to God.

The Cross is the foundation of the purpose-driven life. The five reasons God put you in the world all find their power within the Cross.

Think of the Cross as the gasoline for the purpose-driven life. I have a bad habit of running out of gas while driving. A few months ago I was driving on Interstate 5 when all of a sudden I heard “put-put-put-put” and my engine just stopped. Luckily, the car was going downhill, so I was able to start the car for just long enough to get it to the side of the road.

As dangerous as that is on the interstate, it’s even more dangerous in our spiritual lives to live without the true fuel that the Cross gives our spiritual lives. Without internalizing what Jesus did on the Cross, eventually our spiritual lives will sputter just like the car I forgot to refuel.

Here are five reasons that the Cross is essential to living the kind of life that honors God:

1. The Cross gives us a reason to worship — “You were once dead because of your failures and your uncircumcised corrupt nature. But God made you alive with Christ when he forgave all our failures. He did this by erasing the charges that were brought against us by the written laws God had established. He took the charges away by nailing them to the Cross.” (Col. 2:13-14, GW)

I’ve realized recently that nothing weakens my worship like mental and spiritual clutter. Often when I’m trying to worship, whether at church on the weekends or in the day-to-day mundane moments of life, my mind rapidly drifts.

The only antidote for spiritual ADD is Christ’s Cross; it is, in fact, the only reason we can stand before God and worship him. Our actions alone can’t please him. The only reason we can connect with him is because he paid the full price of our sin. That makes Christ’s death on the Cross the focal point of our worship. We can’t focus on ourselves and still focus on the Cross; he did what we couldn’t do for ourselves.

Without the Cross, we can’t connect with God in the first place, and without the Cross we have no reason to live the kind of life that honors him.

Application — Are you struggling through shallow and scattered worship? Try focusing on the Cross during The Passion of the Christ. Thank God for doing for you what you couldn’t do for yourself.

2. The Cross is the basis of our fellowship — “He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace. By his death on the Cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the Cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.” (Eph. 2:15-16, TEV)

Since the very beginning of the church God has been in the business of making peace between diverse groups of people. At first it was the Jewish and non-Jewish people of the Roman world. Today that same God brings together people from vastly different ethnic and social groups from around the planet.

What’s powerful enough to bring the Christian church together across cultures? Only the Cross. Nothing else has the power to fuse people of different goals, backgrounds and even languages.

Why? As believers, we are keenly aware that the same sacrifice that paves the way for a convicted murderer to have a relationship with God also paves the way for our own relationship with God.

I’ll never forget visiting a small church in southern Israel and watching believers from an array of ethnic groups worship together, including Israelis and Palestinians. Years of political initiatives designed to bring these two warring people together have pretty much failed.

Yet, the Cross hasn’t!

Two thousand years after the most pivotal event in human history, God is still reconciling people to himself and calling them to reconcile with each other through the power of the Cross.

Application — Do you feel animosity toward another believer? Remember that person as you watch The Passion of the Christ. Jesus endured the same Cross for you as he did for your “enemy.” Allow what Christ did on the Cross to heal the scars between you. Go to the person and ask his or her for forgiveness (even if you think he or she is more at fault that you).

3. The Cross deepens our discipleship — “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” (Phil. 3:10, NIV)

Nothing makes us more like Jesus than pain and suffering. It’s one of the most sobering facts of the Christian life. As Rick Warren says in The Purpose-Driven Life, “Problems force us to look to God and depend on him instead of ourselves.” Pain strips away our outward defenses and leaves us looking for a higher power to depend upon.

Many Christian leaders have experienced deep pain: Martin Luther had an abusive father; Martin Luther King was imprisoned in his crusade for civil rights; Joni Eareckson Tada has been disabled since she was a teenager. In all of these cases, God used these believers — not despite the pain — but because of the pain.

Pain changes us. Anyone who has experienced extreme pain realizes this. Paul seemed to rejoice in the suffering inflicted upon him in his ministry because he understood its power. He knew that pain would force him to depend upon God just as Jesus did on the Cross. He knew that in order to become like Christ, he couldn’t run away from the pain.

Jesus calls us into a life where we accept the reality of suffering in this world, yet refuse to be the cause of it.

Application — What pain are you running away from? How are you allowing the prospect of pain to keep you from doing what God wants you to do? Are you afraid to take a risk because you are afraid of the pain it may bring? Make a commitment to look at pain in your life under the light of what God wants to do in your life. Watch The Passion of the Christ knowing that suffering can make you more like Christ.

4. The Cross models our ministry — “Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a Cross.” (Phil. 2:3-8, NLT)

Maybe it isn’t difficult for you to serve your spouse, your friends or people you really respect, but it isn’t easy to serve people who don’t love you back. As human beings, becoming a servant takes work.

Watching Jesus on the Cross can help with that. Paul tells us that even though Jesus was God, he humbled himself by taking on human form and dying on the Cross. The Creator of the universe died on a Cross to serve us – he put our needs over his comfort.

We must do the same. We must think of others before ourselves, whether serving at church or the office, or your community, and your own home. Let the Cross be your model for ministry.

Application — Keep the images of The Passion of the Christ in mind as you serve someone else this week. Remember the humility that Jesus showed as he asked his father to forgive those who were killing him.

5. The Cross is the content of our evangelism -”As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, my interest in this world died long ago, and the world’s interest in me is also long dead.” (Gal. 6:14, NLT)

God commands us to take care of the widows, orphans, and the poor. He tells us that peacemakers will be blessed. And God tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Still we can’t be confused – only one message on the planet has the power to change lives and defy death – Jesus died on a Cross and rose again in three days for every person who believes in him.

That’s the content of our message to the world. Because God loved us and showed grace to us, he motivates us to love others in practical ways, but unless we tell them about what Christ did for them on the Cross, the Bible says they’ll spend an eternity separated from him.

Often the world gets confused by our message. The sad part is that it is the simplest message in history. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NLT)

Application — After watching The Passion of the Christ, spend some time contemplating what Jesus did for you personally on the Cross. Write those thoughts out in three or four paragraphs and be prepared to share them with unsaved friends and family after you invite them to see the movie.

In the Spring 2007 issue of Kindred Spirit, Chuck Swindoll writes, “A friend of mine is one of those crazy runners. You know the type – fifteen miles a day, marathons, pilgrimages to his favorite running routes all over the country, an obsession with breaking personal records, or in fanatical running lingo, his ‘PRs’...

“But don’t you want to know why anyone would want to do this to his body? I asked my friend recently what he likes about running. ‘The finish line,’ he said. And there you have it. He runs because he has the finish line in sight. It motivates him to keep putting one blistered foot in front of the other. I guess we can all understand that to some degree. If we can remember our purpose, we can be motivated to improve our practice.”