Do You Know Why? - Pastor Jeff Schreve

[Music] you ever feel like you're missing something in life that there has to be more than what you're experiencing but you just don't know what it is hi I'm pastor Jeffrey Eve and I want you to know that the things so many people are missing out on is purpose you see God made you for a purpose and there's no greater joy in life than to get in on his purpose for your life today on from his heart we'll look at a fundamental question that many people have trouble answering here's the question do you know why you were created grab your Bible and turn to Isaiah 43 as we find out the answer together [Music] [Music] mother was in the kitchen preparing lunch and four-year-old Jack and two-year-old Sarah were in the bedroom playing and all of a sudden there is a terrible horrible scream and a cry and mother runs in and she sees Jack and and Sarah has his hair and she's pulling his hair and he's screaming and and crying and he says she's pulling my hair and so mother separates them and says no Jack you got to understand she's little she's only two she doesn't understand the bad hurts I said okay so mother goes back in the kitchen about three minutes later there's a boil at loud scream this time it's Sarah Jack comes in with a big smile says she knows now difference between doing it on accident doing it on purpose we are starting a new series today and it's entitled living on purpose living on purpose living a life that is lived strategically that is lived with focus that is lived according to a plan and that plan is God's plan sad truth so many people they don't have any purpose to their life there's no focus to their life they're just kind of floating around they're just kind of blowing with the wind and they they go to work they draw their breath they draw their salary they go to school and they do the work at school and then they're involved in sports or extracurricular activities and and but it's there's nothing that is proactive life just as kind of reactive God doesn't want us to live that way he wants us to live life on purpose now to kick this series off we want to look at the critical fundamental question that people have been asking for thousands of years so question why why why am I here why am I on planet earth some of you may remember the 1992 an intial vice presidential debate between Al Gore and Dan Quayle and Ross Perot's running mate Admiral James Stockdale and nobody knew Admiral James Stockdale and he gets up and the very first thing when they asked him for his opening remarks he says this Who am I why am I here and everybody laughed because it's like yeah that's what we were wondering who you are and why you're here and he didn't do very well in the debate but tough why am I here it's a great question now people have have postulated an answer to that some have said in the in the church they said well let's see why was it why am I here well you know I mean God wanted me here I'm God maybe God was lonely God was lonely and so that's why he made me and everybody else because God was lonely wrong answer but thank you for playing so that's not it some others people say well you know I mean it's just it's just chance why am I here it's just chances I'm just a product of evolution and so it's just chance there's no purpose for my life there's no reason for me being here another wrong answer some people say well you know my purpose for being is just to grab all the gusto I can it's just to enjoy everything I can and they adopt this hedonistic philosophy about life eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die we have these little slogans you know he who dies with the most toys wins and and so that's what we think about life and people have a little motto for it they say get all you can can all you get sit on the can and poison the rest and that's how some people live and they say is that your purpose in life just to make a lot of money to have a bigger house and another house and a bunch of cars and all that is that really the purpose of life what why are we here why did God create us well without any kind of confusion God tells us in his word in the book of Isaiah chapter 43 he tells us exactly why he made us now this passage deals with the nation of Israel and God is calling them out of captivity back to himself and he says this starting in verse six I will say to the north give them up and to the south do not hold them back bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth everyone who is called by not my name and whom I have created for my glory whom I have formed even whom I have made why were you created for God's glory he makes it clear I created you he says for my glory so you've been created for the glory of God and furthermore the scripture goes on to say in first Corinthians 10:31 whether than you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God so you're created for the glory of God and you have been commanded to glorify God that is your ultimate purpose in life that is my ultimate purpose in life now that is not an incidental thing that's a fundamental thing that is the heartbeat of why we are here to glorify God and I don't care what you do in life I don't care if you're the president of Exxon if you become rich and famous and everybody knows your name and everybody chants your name like they do with LeBron James or or other great sports stars Michael Jordan or you know somebody from the Longhorns you know if you just could become someone like that what good is that if you don't glorify God because that's what you're created to do I created you for my glory I command you whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God now because we're created to do that because we're commanded to do that we need to know what it is what is this thing call the glory of God and how do i glorify God because man that's that seems like it's really important so I need to know about it so I want to share with you two simple but deep profound and wonderful discoveries about this thing called the glory of God discovery number one God's glory is the full weight and splendor of who he is he says I've created you for my glory the word for glory is the Hebrew word cavada kavod I'm sorry I always pronounced my Hebrew incorrectly that's why I normally just speak English but it's it's spelled kab OD but the B is pronounced like a V kavod it means splendor it means abundance it comes from the root cavada ka ba D or Chabad which means to have weight to be heavy and when you talk about the glory of God it is the weight of who God is the heaviness of who God is and the splendor of the person of the Lord now we we know about this word cavador Chabad because we're familiar in the Bible with the name Ichabod 1st Samuel Chapter four Phineas who was a person in the ministry a son of Eli but he was a wicked worthless guy along with his brother hot knee anyway they were going up to battle against the Philistines and they brought the Ark of the Covenant because they thought the Ark of the Covenant you know that was that box where the the glory of God that was kind of the symbol of God so they brought God into the battle so to speak but the Philistines defeated them and they took the Ark and Phineas's wife was getting ready to give birth her husband was killed in battle and the ark was taken and she is giving birth and she's dying in birth and the the nursemaid there says to her says don't don't be upset because you're giving birth to a son what do you want to name she says name him Ichabod because the glory has departed Ichabod means no glory because the glory they thought was in that box that was the symbol of God's glory and now that box was gone and so the glory has departed Ichabod no more glory hey God says the weight of Who I am that's my glory the splendor of Who I am now I want you to see because that's still kind of nebulous in Minds so I want you to see what's tied to this thing called the glory of God number one God's glory is tied to his holiness when you talk about the glory of God it's connected to his holiness do you remember in Isaiah chapter 6 Isaiah the prophet it's his charge and his call into the ministry his commission he says in the year of king uzziah's death I saw the Lord High and lifted up and his train filled the temple and he said Seraphim stood above him each having six wings and he said with two they covered their face and with two they covered their feet and with two they flew and they said they called back to one another and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory holy holy holy the earth is full of his glory there's a connection between the holiness of God and the glory of God they're tied together God is holy you know what that means when you say God is holy as we sang that song holy holy holy have you ever wondered why the the song that we sing is holy holy holy it goes back to Isaiah chapter 6 it goes to Revelation chapter 4 where the Bible says day and night the angels do not cease to say holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts who was and who is and who is to come the Almighty that's why we sing that song and to be holy means to be set apart it means to be separate you're not like anything else you're sacred then there is no one like God there is one God and only one God David in his great prayer in 1st chronicles chapter 27 chapter 17 verse 20 said this Oh Lord there is none like you neither is there any God besides you God is set apart he is holy and in here the thing the Angels the Seraphim that are at his throne that Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6 well six wings with two they cover their face with two they cover their feet and with two they fly now it makes sense that they would have wings to fly but why do they have to have wings to cover their face I mean they their mighty angels their pure perfect angels there there before the throne of the thrice holy God of the universe and they cover their face before him to look at God in His Holiness is like looking at a billion blazing Suns and the angels they cover their face I love what James McDonald says in his commentary on Isaiah chapter 6 he said every once in a while the angels will just they just let down for a second just to get a peek of the holiness the glory of God just to get a peek and then they put their wings back up to cover their face remember God told Moses no man can see my face and live God is so holy he's so awesome he's so majestic so his glories tied to his holiness his glory is tied to his goodness and his love in that passage in Exodus where the Lord says no man can see my face and live Moses asked the Lord this question he said Lord if I have found favor in your sight show me your glory show me your glory and God in response to Moses request said this I will make my goodness pass before you show me your glory okay you want to see my glory well I'm gonna show you my goodness because goodness and glory are tied together just like holiness and glory are tied together and if you remember the story if you remember the song he hide it to me in the cleft of the rock and covers me there with his hand that's what God did for Moses he put him in the cleft of the rock and he covered him with his hand because he said you can't see my face Moses I'll only let you see the backside of my glory and I'll proclaim my name as I pass by you and so God covered him with his hand as he passed by and God said this the Lord the Lord God there is no other the Lord the Lord God compassionate and gracious slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth he's good and he's loved and all that is tied into his glory when they dedicated the temple that Solomon built for the Lord it was an awesome day and they sacrificed so many animals and Solomon had this great prayer and then it says this in second chronicles chapter 7 now when Solomon had finished praying fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the house the weight of God's splendor filled the house and the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house and all the sons of Israel seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house bow down on the pavement with their faces to the ground and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord saying truly he is good truly his loving kindness is everlasting all of that's tied into his glory and when you put God's goodness and God's loving-kindness together you get this thing that we call grace Grace and the Bible talks in Ephesians chapter 1 about the praise of the glory of His grace so the weight of God the splendor of God it's seen in his holiness it's seen in His goodness and in his love in His grace and it is seen in his power his power that's probably the biggest one for us when we think of the glory god we think of the power of God he is all-mighty God I love what the scripture says in Psalm 19 verse 1 the heavens declare the glory of God and the expanse shows forth his handiwork day to day pours forth speech and night tonight reveals knowledge there are books and Brooks and sermons and stones and and God's creation speaks to his glory you look out at night and see all the stars and they just cry out glory the glory of God the heavens declare that when you think of creation there is power in God's creation the Bible says that in Romans chapter 1 his invisible attributes his eternal power have been clearly seen being observed through what has been made so that men are without excuse because the heavens declare the glory of God and how did God make everything he didn't do it through evolution he did it through oration he spoke and it was done the Bible says in Psalm 33 he commanded and it stood fast he said let there be light and bam there was light God has such tremendous power I was thinking just as we were singing about John chapter 11 when Lazarus was sick and they came to Jesus who was far away from Lazarus who said you need to come quick to Bethenny because Lazarus the one you love he is sick and Jesus said this his sickness is not unto death but it's for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified by it for the glory of God and if you know the story Lazarus ends up dying and they put Lazarus in the tomb and he's dead now four days before Jesus makes it to Bethany and when he makes it there he tells him to roll away the stone and he says Lazarus come forth and Lazarus came up out of the dead and the people said whoa we've never seen this before who can raise the dead the four-day-old dead no one can do this except God and it was the power of God that brought glory see all those things are tied together now let me tell you something that we all have trouble with starting with me we don't see God the way he really is I've told you before and it's worth repeating we see problems as huge and we see God as small and God is gigantic he is huge he is so much bigger than your mind if you just take it all the way out to the nth degree God is a million times bigger than that you know when you you think about how big scientists how big is the known universe I don't know they they it's such a huge number that they counted in terms of light-years and they say well you know the the earth or the universe is is like 14 billion light years in terms of measurement 14 billion light years and somebody said well that's not near big enough it's 28 billion light years some other guy I looked on said it's about a hundred billion light years because it keeps expanding well it's it's it's huge right it's just gigantic and the Bible says of God isaiah chapter 40 he measures off the heavens by the span the span is the distance between your thumb and your pinkie we measure it in billions of light years and god just goes he measures it like that he's a whopper his he had a big God and when God brings his weight to bear on a situation that's a lot of weight he's a splendor he says glory it's his honor that's who he is the holy holy holy god of the universe who is good who is love who has all power and all authority that's the glory of God you know it's sad but it's so true so often we trade what could be ours experiencing the glory of God which is our birthright as children of God we trade that for a cheap thrill here or there for this sexual immorality for this pornography for this drug for the this alcohol this pill or whatever it might be for for the holding onto this bitterness we we trade the glory of the infinite God for those things we're like Esau who traded his own birthright for a bowl of stew and we trade what could be ours as children of God to experience the glory of God for things that aren't worth anything hey God's glory is the full weight and splendor of who he is in Discovery number two we can live to the glory of God we really can it's possible whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do first Corinthians 10:31 whatever you do do all to the glory of God we're created for the glory of God were commanded to glorify God and we can glorify God and you said well what exactly is that glorifying God well that's that's in your life through your life bringing the weight of God into a situation bringing the the the bigness of God down here on earth through your life you know one of the ways that you can glorify God that's a key way so important is very simple you glorify God by loving him loving him that glorifies God when you love God Stephanie mentioned our mission statement loving God loving people reaching the world and that's what we're all about and that all comes straight from Scripture the greatest commandment Jesus said is that you love the Lord your God with all your heart all your soul all your strength and all your mind this is the great and foremost commandment he's the next one the second one is like it you love your neighbor as yourself on these two Commandments hang the whole law and the prophets loving God and loving people and then Jesus told us to go therefore and make disciples reaching the world for Christ so how do i glorify God I love him I love him but now wait a minute that's a problem for some people loving God you know why it's a problem for some people because they have tremendous difficulty thinking God loves them Christa black it's a friend of our church she's been here talking to our girls she led worship for us one Sunday tremendous woman of faith she's very honest about her struggles I loved what she had to say about this topic of loving God she said for years I attempted to live my life by the Christian motto love God love people get saved and then do something get up in the morning have a quiet time maybe worship a little bit go to church serve read your Bible and pray show God that you love him by actually working show God that you're serious about loving him and loving the people around you the problem with living my life in the order of that motto was this I absolutely hated myself she said I hated the way I looked I hated my past I hated that I wasn't enough I hated that I was insecure I hated my cellulite I hated that I struggled with something as stupid as food I hated my sexual disfunction I hated my rejection I hated my past I hated I hated I hated in fact the last thing I believed that I deserved was unconditional love from God why because I knew better I knew I was a mess and I didn't observe deserve to be loved but I needed to love God and I needed to love people and ah she says the stress of it all I'm feeling unworthy to accept love from God but striving to give love to God and to others hey you can only give what you've received she said that's why my favorite verse of all time is first John 4:19 we love because He first loved us so in order to actually love God I need to let him love me first in order to actually love others I need to let him love me first she said I've learned to simply go under the waterfall of his love and receive from him and then I can love him back and then I can love others hey you know I've put on your outline way to glorify God is to love him it really should say the way to glorify God is to love him back to love him back and that's a hard thing for people because just like Krista we struggle with the love of God we struggle thinking that God really does love me there's a book out written by a person who has extreme difficulty with the love of God his name is CJ world man the title of his book is this God hates you hate him back God hates you hate him back and he has this idea that God is a God of hate and God hates him specifically and because God hates me I'm gonna hate him back you know it's hard to if you know somebody hates you it's really hard to love that person who hates you God hates you hate him back and so just like Krista was struggling with understanding how God could love me many people are like that and so you tell him glorify God by loving him it's like how do I do that he doesn't even like me and as a matter of fact I think he hates me there was a football player some years ago his name was rod smart rod smart play the Las Vegas outlaws in the now-defunct XFL they let you put what you what you wanted on the back of your Jersey this is what rods smart put on the back of his jersey he hate me rod wasn't very good in English but that was the back of his jersey he hate me I thought about that I had a lot of people that wear that Jersey you can't see it but they wear it and they believe that he hate me because of the things I've done because of all the sin that I've committed because I'm an adulterer and because I have all this sexual dysfunction and because I've committed all these terrible horrible sins he hate me and because God is holy and and who can stand before this holy God and he must hate me he hate me and so how do you ever come to a God how can you glorify a God when you think he hates you you don't you know what you do you just keep getting further and further and further away from God I have a family member she has that Jersey that she wears that's not a real Jersey but it's in her mind he hate me listen he doesn't aw Tozer said this what comes to you into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us if what comes into your mind when you think about God is he hate me that speaks volumes about you you'll never be able to glorify God you'll never be able to love him back because there's no love there hey we love because He first loved us how do you fulfill the first commandment which is to love God with all your heart soul strength and mind by receiving his love first as as Christa says you go under the waterfall of his love and you by faith believed that he loves me and you take off the he hate me Jerzy and you put on the he loved me jersey and you sing that little song that i learned in college i'm My Beloved's and he is mine in his banner over me his love he loves me my friend guy Dowd grew up a big fat guy made fun of a lot in school unathletic dad was an alcoholic a barroom brawler grew up poor guy had somebody share Christ with him and it was a school teacher that ended up leading guy to the Lord and I love what guy said he said I learned this that Jesus loves me fat slob me and he received that love and it changed his life and it allowed guy to love God back and to glorify him by loving him back and then it allowed guy to love other people and now all of a sudden when you receive God's love you're able to love him back and you're able to love others and you glorify him when you do that when you love him back and you glorify him not only when you love him back but when you let your light shine that's how you glorify God that's what Jesus said he says you know he says of himself jesus said he's the light of the world and he is but then he said you his followers we are the light of the world because his light is in us by His Holy Spirit you are the light of the world the city set on a hill cannot be hidden men don't light a lamp and put it under a peck measure said they put it on the lamp stand so it can illumine the whole house he said this let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven you let your light shine and God is glorified now little o mean little o you how will we talk about the glory of God don't wait of God well how can we bring the weight of God into our homes into our jobs into our schools on into our teams into our church how do we do that we do that by putting the Lord first we do that by magnifying the Lord some 40 verse 16 tells us that let all who seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee and let those who love thy salvation say continually the Lord be magnified the Lord be magnified that's how you glorify God that's just letting your light shine saying I want you to be magnified in this place Lord I want you to shine through me in this place Lord Lord I want to reflect your holiness and your love and your grace and your goodness and your power because God works through his people the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 according to the power that works within us power from the Holy Spirit that is in it God says I want to be you to be my agent to bring my glory wherever you go that's how you glorify God and whatever you do whether then you eat how many are planning to eat in a little bit okay how many say I know I don't need to eat no yeah we're all most of us planning to eat whether then you eat you can eat to the glory of God you can drink to the glory of God whatever you do when you go to work tomorrow you can go to work for the glory of God you go to school for the glory of God you take a test for the glory of God anything that you do you do for the glory of God because you want God to be magnified in that situation that the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him would go forth in every place you go that's glorifying God Martin Luther said this a dairymaid can milk cows to the glory of God as we the songs that we sang today that there would be no other no higher praise Jesus son of God you you be the focus the highest in my life that he would come to have first place and everything that glorifies God now let me tell you what doesn't glorify God when we let sin get in our hearts when we're living in open sexual immorality when we're holding on to bitterness because someone hurt us see that's selling your birthright for pot of stew a bowl of stew when you're when you're doing something and you know this is wrong this is I'm not walking in the light anymore I'm walking in the darkness I'm living a lie I'm being a hypocrite God says hey I don't dwell that you're not glorifying me so what do you do if you're here today and you say man Jeff that's me I know that I'm messing up I know I'm not living right and because I'm not living right I feel like he hate me because he's holy and I am so sinful and so how can I have a relationship with him how could he even look upon me the scripture says God is too pure to look upon evil so high how can he Howard how can I ever get together with God he hate me you know one thing great verse I found it Saturday just in my quiet time in the book of Revelation it says this talking about the plagues that are hitting the earth and it says and men were scorched with fierce heat and they blaspheme the name of God who has the power over these plagues and they did not repent so as to give him glory and it was as if the Lord said when people repent I get glory I get glory and so I don't care how far away you are from God if you'll repent you can give God glory you can start today to glorify God so many of us are very familiar with this story of the prodigal son that Jesus told in Luke chapter 15 about the the younger son who who couldn't wait for his dad to die and said give me the share of the inheritance that falls to me and so the father cashed out and gave that share of the inheritance to his son that father who is so very wealthy just a wound in his heart that his son would want to leave him and more so that his son would basically be saying dad I wish you were dead when he gonna die you're not gonna die for a while so man I'll just cash out now and so the father gave him the wealth and the son went off to the far country and he spent his money on wine women and song and sin and then the money ran out and his friends ran out and a famine hit the land and he ends up boom at the pigsty and he's longing to eat the food that the pigs are eating and no one was giving anything to him and he's thinking in his mind my father's hired men they're not eating pig slop they have food to eat maybe I could go back and there's no way I could ever get back in good graces with my dad he hate me for what I did but maybe I could go back and just say father I've sinned against heaven and in your sight I'm no longer worthy to be called your son make me as one of your hired men maybe I could just come back as the lowly worker for my dad and it says he left the pigsty he got up and he walked back that long trip from the far country back to his father and the scripture says that father when that son was a long way off he saw him and he girded up his loins and he tucked his robe into his belt and he showed his legs which was a shameful thing for a father to do he ran to his son and he embraced him and that son said father I've sinned against heaven and in your sight I'm no longer worthy to be called your son the fathers they kissed him he put a robe on his back and a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet and they threw the biggest party that town had ever seen and that father said this son of mine was dead and has come back to life and man we need to sell right and that father was glorified the devil will tell you he hate he hate me he hate you you can't go back there but when you go back when you take one step toward the Saviour my friend you find his arms open wide if you're away from the Lord today today can be the day that you get back that you glorify him that you love him back and you let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven let me ask you in closing will you do what you are created to do my friend are you living your life on purpose do you even know how to do that listen if you're watching today and you're not sure you even have a personal relationship with Jesus it's impossible to live on purpose but today is the day for you if you would like to know Jesus Christ in a real way that's a life-changing way that can happen right now pray this prayer with me Lord Jesus I need you I know that I'm a sinner and I'm lost I can't save myself but Jesus I believe that you're God in the flesh I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead and right now Jesus I open my heart to you come into my life forgive me of all my sins be my Lord and be my Savior and changed me I surrender all to you my friend if you'll pray a prayer like that and mean it the Lord will come in and your life will never be the same hey I'd love to hear from you to know that you're watching to know that God is using this broadcast to make a difference in your life to know that you just prayed that prayer to receive Christ as your Savior and Lord please take the time to call that toll-free number write me email me let me know what's going on and how we can pray for you you really are important to God and you're important to us and we're here for you from his heart is the viewer supported broadcast ministry a pastor Jeff Shrieve who believes that no matter how badly you may have messed up in life God still loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life find out more about that plan when you go to premise heart dot o-r-g [Music]

Channel: From His Heart Ministries

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Length: 41min 43sec (2503 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 07 2018