LIVING LIFE ON PURPOSE

Sermon Notes, September 29, 2013

Pastor Jan Sinozich

Pastor Jan’s message was titled “Living Life On Purpose,” and was based on Nehemiah 1:1-10 and 6:1-3.  This is the first in a series of sermons from Nehemiah, in conjunction with the denomination-wide “Engage the Word” 40-day Bible reading journey.

At the beginning of the book, Nehemiah is about to discover his purpose.  He is a government worker—cup-bearer for King Artaxerxes.  His brother brings news about conditions for those who have returned to Judah: the wall has been torn down and the gates have been burned.  How does Nehemiah find his purpose?

First, he cultivated a concern.  Purpose begins with a God-given concern.  Not everybody shared Nehemiah’s concern, but he kept praying about it.  Not everyone who has a concern will do anything about it, although some had tried and failed.  God often gives a concern before He gives a solution.

Second, he centered on the eternal.  God-given concerns always center, in some way, on the eternal.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us He has planted eternity in the human heart.  People are the only things that last eternally.  We are trustees of the time, ability and money we are given: we are to use them to influence others.  We are to make an eternal difference.  The more we are like Jesus, the more God can use us.

Nehemiah also concentrated his energy.  The wall was nearly finished, and then Sanballat and company invited Nehemiah to a meeting.  Their plan was to get him away from the project and his supporters, and kill him.  But Nehemiah was not distracted, and sent word back, “I am doing a great work and can not come down.”  Distraction is the enemy of doing God’s work.  Not every good thing is the best thing.  We have to learn to say no to some good things in order to concentrate on the best things.

We were designed to live a life of purpose.  We each have a unique contribution to make.  We are called to invest our lives for eternity, and to concentrate all our energies on that task.  Let’s give God our time, money and abilities and let Him use us for eternity.