Fulfilling your purpose
Nativity of John the Baptist • Sermon • Submitted
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Pondering my purpose
Pondering my purpose
My kids think my purpose is to entertain them. My work/study/service is a hindrance to fulfilling my purpose
Am I fulfilling my purpose is a fundamental question for each individual
We approach it from different seasons/stages in life
students - What career to pursue
work force - is this the rest of my life?!
couples - struggling to find the purpose in marriage
Not involved in service…how to serve
In service…is this the right service
Wouldn’t it be nice to be John the Baptist...
His purpose was laid out from the beginning
He didn’t have to wonder
BUT
John’s purpose was to be the forerunner…to prepare for something greater than himself.
his purpose paled in comparison to the purpose of Christ…salvation
When John fulfilled his purpose, he decreased and died in prison wondering if he fulfilled his purpose correctly
All of us have a purpose
11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
but He wielding all our purposes to fulfill His will.
Orthodox don’t believe in predestination in the sense that it we don’t have free will to decide or choose.
once free will is removed, so is love
To fulfill his Will/Purpose God will leverage the choices of humanity, which by being God He can foresee.
Examples in Scripture
Examples in Scripture
Jacob and Esau
10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; 11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Both were called to salvation.
God foresaw Jacob’s faith and obedience and knew it would serve his purpose
“Esau I hated” doesn’t mean he hated Esau but saw his choices would not serve His Will
Jacob was chosen, though younger, to be the seed of promise for the coming messiah.
Pharoah
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.” 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
God was longsuffering with Pharoah
He was also merciful and the plagues increased in severity due to Pharoah arrogance
Its above us
20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
The heart of God is for mercy and compassion
25 As He says also in Hosea, “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’ ” 26 “And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”
John the baptist and Me
80 And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.