Skip to main content

Are you Thankfullly Equipped - Part 2

We looked at how Jesus provides us the tools we need to accomplish His will, so what's next?  Well once we have the tools, we need to know our purpose.  Here's the story from Mark 6:7-13 again.

And he called to the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.  He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff - no bread, no bag, no money in their belts - but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.  And he said to them, "Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there.  And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them."  So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent.  And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

This story is actually in the Bible several times (which tells you how important it is) and I feel the version from Matthew explains our purpose so let's look at Matthew 10:6-8, "Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons."

Jesus provided the disciples with a purpose.  He sent them out to the lost to proclaim the kingdom of heaven.  He also commanded them to heal sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons.  But look closely, these miraculous acts were not their primary purpose.  Mark 6:11 says, "if they will not listen to you."  Their main purpose was to proclaim that the King had come.  The healing and other signs were to substantiate their message to the people, not their purpose.

So what is our purpose in life?  Is it to be a good person, marry a good spouse, have a big house, nice car, or good career?  Those may be things that happen in our life, but they are not our purpose.

"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." - Romans 14:17
-  Food, drink, house, and career aren't overly important, but how much time and energy do we spend focused on them?
-  Life and purpose is to be about righteousness; holy, obedient living.
-  We should be living for peace in our relationships with God and each other.
-  We should live for joy, which is much deeper than the happiness that the 'stuff' of the world brings.  Greg Laurie says, "The problem with happiness is that it's generally derived from accomplishments, accumulation, and, to some degree, through escape." 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2020 is Hindsight...Finally!

Wow, what a year! 2020 could literally be an entire decade, maybe more, of history, change, and lessons rolled up into these twelve months. While many aspects of 2020 were kind of sucky and we would like to forget them, it will certainly be a year to remember. And it will be enlightening when this year is looked back on in 10, 25, or 50 years to be discussed. I wonder if we'll seem like geniuses or idiots? Probably both to some extent! While there is so much that I could consider and analyze about this year, I'll try to break some of it down into four dimensions - Physical, Spiritual, Mental, and Social/Emotional. These are events and happenings from my world and perspective and I'm trying to be open in sharing and would love to hear from others on events you found most transforming. Physical When COVID cause gyms to close, that messed me up. Our town and state were late to be hit with severe cases and therefore later than many across the country to close up shop. I'm n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Worship > Fellowship

I believe that worship, true worship of God, is more important than fellowship with other believers.  Now I'm not saying that fellowship and relationships aren't important.  But I am saying that if I'm not worshiping God, if I'm not right with him, then my other relationships can't be right.  My fellowship and worship with him is more important than my relationship with my wife, my son, family, friends, my church, and my community.  Think about it.  How can I love my wife like Christ loved the church if I don't love Christ?  I wouldn't know how to love without knowing him.  Why should she submit to me if I'm not worth submitting to?  And yes I do believes wives should submit, but I also believe that won't be an issue as long as she's submitting to a godly husband.  (Ephesians 5:22-25) Our love for others must flow from our love and worship of God.  1 John 4:19-21 reads, "We love because he first loved us.  If anyone says,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Do You Need Revival?

"Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in You?" - Psalm 85:6 The thoughts below were in my devotional this morning by Dr. Lee Sheppard: "So how can we know if we need revival in our lives?  Well, we need revival when our salvation has lost its joy, when our sin does not break our heart, and when we make little to no effort to witness to the lost.  We need revival when worship becomes boring, when we are at odds with believers and see no need for reconciliation, and when we fail to believe God for the impossible.  We need revival when we have to be begged to give and serve in church and when we would rather make money than give money.  We need revival when we have to be entertained to be drawn to church and when we are indifferent to the fact that there are 2.5 billion people on the planet who have never heard the name of Jesus.  We need revival when we don't regularly see the supernatural evidence of God's power and when ...
Post a Comment
Read more