SPEAKER_00: Again, very thankful to be with you all this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I've had something on my mind this morning and this week, and I want to ask a question.
SPEAKER_00: And then we're going to dive into this.
SPEAKER_00: Um what is our purpose here?
SPEAKER_00: You could ask it another way.
SPEAKER_00: Why are we here, or why do we exist?
SPEAKER_00: And please don't misunderstand me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be abstract at all.
SPEAKER_00: I know that in sermons and in preaching ministers can take different roots, I guess, or different approaches.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you a couple examples.
SPEAKER_00: So think about the fact that a minister can preach a sermon that's somewhat abstract.
SPEAKER_00: We talk about the high things of God, the overarching principles of the Bible, and then we never apply those to an individual.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we we talk about what the Bible says, but we never give you application of how that would apply to your life.
SPEAKER_00: Well, a minister can do the exact opposite.
SPEAKER_00: He can take a particular scripture and he can attempt to apply that directly to mind and your situation, for instance, finances or marriage or something like that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, and so what is the right course to take?
SPEAKER_00: Well, a sermon is not supposed to be specifically targeted to an individual.
SPEAKER_00: And I would tell you that, well, you know, Brother Josh, you know, the common answer will be, well, it's somewhere in between.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's do it this way.
SPEAKER_00: The calling of the minister is to preach the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And then we're supposed to allow the Holy Spirit to apply that to each individual person's life.
SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, the same way that let's say a middle-aged man like myself in South Mississippi would take a sermon, would not be the same way that a young 20-year-old single mother in an urban city would take the same message, would not be the same way that an elderly person in a nursing home would take the message, would not be the same way that a teenager in Africa who's living in poverty, if they got the opportunity to hear the same message on the radio, I would venture to say that all those people would take that exact same message in a very different way.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not logical?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: So the calling of the minister is to preach the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: I heard one minister say one time that his preaching was implicational.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, he preached the word of God and then allowed the Holy Spirit to apply that to each individual person's life.
SPEAKER_00: Now, uh you and I both probably have preferences.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Brother Josh, I just wish you'd come right out and say what you're trying to say instead of beating around a bush or making things more uh broad and unclear.
SPEAKER_00: And brothers and sisters, I can tell you that it is always a struggle on the behalf of the minister for us to get out of the way.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I don't want to interject myself.
SPEAKER_00: I want to get out of the way and preach the word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to do through me what he's called me to do.
SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you that probably this side of heaven, I won't ever get that exactly right.
SPEAKER_00: But this morning, I want to talk about what most people would consider an abstract or lofty subject, but I want to bring that down to earth to the point where it applies directly to mind in your life.
SPEAKER_00: So with the Lord's help, we're gonna just dive into this and we pray he would intervene and sort out my word.
SPEAKER_00: So uh the first thing again, so if my message had a title today, it would be What is Our Purpose or Why Are We Here?
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing I want to do is give you a list.
SPEAKER_00: And uh so I'm gonna be talking about some professions.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm gonna be talking about some of our situations in life.
SPEAKER_00: So let's just dive into this.
SPEAKER_00: Think about a person who is a farmer, or a nurse, or a truck driver, or an electrician, or a supervisor, or a homemaker, or a teacher, or a lawyer, or a banker, or someone who works in fast food, or someone who's bedridden in a nursing home, or someone who is a teenager in the inner city, someone who is currently a student in school, or a mechanic, or an engineer, or even a scientist, or a photographer, or an artist, or someone who works for the government, or they're a military or police officer, or Brother Josh, where are you going with this?
SPEAKER_00: That covers a whole lot of people and a whole lot of situations.
SPEAKER_00: Someone who has cancer, or someone who is absolutely the polar opposite of that and is perfectly healthy and in the absolute peak of physical fitness in the prime of their life.
SPEAKER_00: Someone who's the CEO of a company, or someone who's living under a bridge and homeless.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Josh, what's your point?
SPEAKER_00: Well, to the title of our sermon, all of these people, and so many more, because I can't obviously list all of them, and all of these people and so many more, what is their purpose?
SPEAKER_00: Why were they created?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you and I actually exist?
SPEAKER_00: Well, brother, that seems to be a very, very abstract principle.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is a little bit of an abstract principle, but it is one of the so-called big questions of life.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you and I here?
SPEAKER_00: By the way, why are y'all here today in church?
SPEAKER_00: As opposed to being in your recliner at home drinking a cup of coffee, reading your favorite book, or watching your favorite show.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you, why did you get dressed up and drive on a rainy day to come here in this place?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you and I exist?
SPEAKER_00: Now, how I want to start this message today is, again, I don't want to be lofty and abstract, and you know, Brother Josh, what does this sermon have to do with me?
SPEAKER_00: I hope it's actually the opposite of that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me first start off with telling you why we are not here and what we are not here to do.
SPEAKER_00: Because let's say that you or I were to go and take a survey.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say you and I were to go to a thriving, large college campus, and you were to ask a hundred people, what is your purpose in life, or why do you exist?
SPEAKER_00: Or let's say you were to go to a major metropolitan area, I mean, in the middle of a bustling city, and you stopped a hundred people, I mean, from every social class, from the homeless to a CEO on the street, and ask them, what is your purpose in life, and why do you exist?
SPEAKER_00: Or let's say you were to go to a grocery store in South Mississippi and ask the exact same question.
SPEAKER_00: What do you think your answers would be?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Brother Josh, that's a that's a lot of answers that people would probably give about why they exist and what their purpose in life is and why are we here?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I want to give you a few of the answers.
SPEAKER_00: I want to start with men that are lost, men that don't know the Lord, people that are not born-again Christians.
SPEAKER_00: What would be some of their answers about why they actually exist and what they're meant to do in the world?
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you five of these, and we're going to cover each one.
SPEAKER_00: I'll go ahead and tell them to you.
SPEAKER_00: So, this man on the street or woman on the street who's lost, they might say, if they're honest with themselves, well, my uh purpose in life is uh is to pursue whatever I want, right?
SPEAKER_00: You know, whether that's pleasure or personal fulfillment, that uh my purpose in life is to do whatever I want to do.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, is that not a selfish purpose?
SPEAKER_00: That whatever I want to do, it's all about me.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about I.
SPEAKER_00: Well, somebody else, that man on the street, he might say, Well, what is your purpose in life?
SPEAKER_00: I want to be wealthy.
SPEAKER_00: I want to have multiple millions or billions of dollars in the bank.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be an Elon Musk or something like that.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be the most wealthy man in the world, or I just I just want to be wealthy.
SPEAKER_00: I want to have a big house and fine cars and wear fine clothes, and I want to be well respected, and I want to have a checking account that's just busting at the seams, and their pursuit in life might be wealth.
SPEAKER_00: It might be material possessions.
SPEAKER_00: Someone else might say, uh, well, I just want to follow my heart.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to be true to myself.
SPEAKER_00: Again, a selfish motivation.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody else in a different situation might say, Well, I just want to be comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: I just don't want to really have any pain in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to be comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: And then you might occasionally run into a person that says, Well, this life actually is rather meaningless.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we've just evolved, you know, like uh like the whales and the fishes and the apes and everything else, and there is no purpose of life.
SPEAKER_00: We're just a product of evolution, so life itself is actually meaningless.
SPEAKER_00: So these are actually some of the conclusions that the lost people of the world might come to as this is their purpose in life, that they exist.
SPEAKER_00: Let's dive into these very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: If y'all will turn with me to 1 John chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: And so in 1 John chapter 2, we're going to look at that wrong response of if you were to ask a lost man what is his purpose in life, and he were to be honest with himself and say, well, my purpose really is to pursue pleasure and personal fulfillment, whatever I want to do.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John chapter 2, we're going to begin reading in verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: John exhorts us, he says, love not the world.
SPEAKER_00: Now, he's not talking about the rock of our planet, obviously.
SPEAKER_00: He is talking about the worldly mindset.
SPEAKER_00: He is talking about all the things that are in the world.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying you shouldn't be of that mind that you want to pursue all the things that the people of the world chase after.
SPEAKER_00: Whether that's position or power or money or wealth or whatever that is.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the context.
SPEAKER_00: So John is telling us, writing to Christians, he says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Now stop right there.
SPEAKER_00: So while you and I are talking about this very lofty or somewhat abstract subject, right, I'll agree with you there.
SPEAKER_00: I have a question.
SPEAKER_00: Do you and I love the things of the world?
SPEAKER_00: Let's be honest now.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: I collect pocket knife.
SPEAKER_00: That's a physical, material thing.
SPEAKER_00: I really, really like potka knife.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: In the grand scheme of things, they're not important.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you and I both might might like to have five million dollars in our 401k.
SPEAKER_00: But for some people that may not be possible.
SPEAKER_00: And some people, trust in that is their security blanket.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the Bible says love not the world.
SPEAKER_00: Neither the things that are in the world.
SPEAKER_00: If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, it's not wrong to have pocket knives.
SPEAKER_00: It's not wrong to have five million dollars in the bank.
SPEAKER_00: As long as your purpose in life is to glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: And as long as you don't trust in those things, and long as you don't love those things.
SPEAKER_00: They're inanimate objects.
SPEAKER_00: A man can use a pocket knife to go cut a loaf of bread to feed a starving child.
SPEAKER_00: Amen and praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: A man can use his wealth to bless and benefit his own family, to provide a roof on his head, to pay for the medical care for his wife who has cancer, to bless his grandchildren's grandchildren, or his church and his community and those that are in need.
SPEAKER_00: He can take his wealth and glorify and honor God with it.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And we all should do that.
SPEAKER_00: But they should, the money and the pocket knives and everything like them, we should not love them.
SPEAKER_00: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
SPEAKER_00: If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
SPEAKER_00: For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, by the way, that's specifically talking about men's and women's carnal appetites, as in the things that you and I selfishly, sinfully desire.
SPEAKER_00: Whether that's sex or if you go on and read, it says, and the lust of the eyes, that's the idea of covetousness.
SPEAKER_00: The next one it says, and the pride of life, that's the man who wants to climb the culprit ladder, and he'll sacrifice everybody and everything that's in his way, including his family, and he doesn't care who he steps on.
SPEAKER_00: So the scriptures warn us, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of the life is not of the Father, but is of the world.
SPEAKER_00: That pertains to mine and your fallen sinful nature, our selfish nature.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: And the world passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
SPEAKER_00: So I ask you again, why do you and I exist?
SPEAKER_00: So if the man on the street says, I exist to do whatever I want to do, I exist to pursue pleasure, I exist to pursue personal fulfillment, I can tell you, according to the Bible, your pursuit in life is wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Your pursuit in life is vanity.
SPEAKER_00: If your goal in life is to climb the corporate ladder and, you know, for everybody to honor you and you want to just be a selfish individual and do whatever you want to do, your goal in life is dishonoring to God.
SPEAKER_00: And it's actually harmful to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Even though, if men and women were honest with themselves, some men and women in this world actually have that as one of the goals or pursuits in their own life.
SPEAKER_00: Let's move on.
SPEAKER_00: One of the goals that some people have in life is the pursuit of wealth and material possessions.
SPEAKER_00: I want to have more.
SPEAKER_00: I want to have more than everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: I want everybody to look at me.
SPEAKER_00: I want everybody to envy me.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Matthew chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: You'll notice that in Matthew chapter 6, we're in the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the direct teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ about this matter.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible teach a tremendous amount about money and the use of money in this world.
SPEAKER_00: So in Matthew chapter 6, we begin reading in verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.
SPEAKER_00: Now, keep your finger there.
SPEAKER_00: Keep your finger there, and turn with me over to Proverbs chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: Don't lose your place.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to get one verse in Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs chapter 13 and verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 13, 22 says, A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children.
SPEAKER_00: And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
SPEAKER_00: Not at all.
SPEAKER_00: Now, does that Christian trust in his wealth as his security blanket?
SPEAKER_00: And does he selfishly, oh, well, this is where my security lies, you know, this is all for me, this is all for I, look at what I have done, I'm a self-made man.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if he has that mentality, then that's a sinful mentality.
SPEAKER_00: But if the same man with the same five million dollars in the bank wants to, has been a good steward and not been a wasteful spender or someone who lives in excess all of his life, but instead he's been a diligent workman and he has been a wonderful steward.
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, the Bible talks about the parable of the talents.
SPEAKER_00: Man was given one talent.
SPEAKER_00: And what did he do with it?
SPEAKER_00: He went and buried it in the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And then another man was given two talents.
SPEAKER_00: Again, they're talking about money.
SPEAKER_00: And the man with two talents, he went and created two more talents.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, he went and through his own mental energy and uh giving it to be uh increased uh by way of percentages, he brought, he earned his master two more talents.
SPEAKER_00: So that man actually multiplied the money that he had by his good and faithful stewardship to his master.
SPEAKER_00: And then you had the one that was given five talents, and he went and earned five more talents.
SPEAKER_00: So in the end, that man had ten talents.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Bible, and he, the Lord, uh the master told the two with the two talents and with the five talents, Well done, thy good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: But the man that had the one talent went buried in the ground and didn't even earn interest on the master's money.
SPEAKER_00: The master taught him that he was a wicked and lazy servant.
SPEAKER_00: See, the point is, brothers and sisters, you and I may be a teacher, or you and I may be work at the local gas station as a cashier.
SPEAKER_00: But that doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: The little cashier at the local gas station can glorify and honor God with the wage that he or she earns and the stewardship and faithfulness and the obedience of how they use that.
SPEAKER_00: And the man who's a CEO of a corporation making$20 million a year, he can just spend it and sow it however he wants to and go selfishly consume everything, and he can dishonor the Lord, and in the Lord's sight, that man is a selfish, ungodly man, and the the little young lady or boy working at the gas station is glorifying and honoring God with their obedience and faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: And the world doesn't recognize that or see that, they'll put the CEO of a corporation on a pedestal and they'll berate the person who's working at the gas station.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you ought to get you a better job.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord doesn't look at things that way.
SPEAKER_00: So why do you and I exist?
SPEAKER_00: What is our purpose here?
SPEAKER_00: So the good man, through his faithfulness and stewardship and obedience to the Lord, leaves his children's children an inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: And the ungodly man just consumes it all.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter if you have a little or a lot.
SPEAKER_00: Just be faithful and obedient in what you do have.
SPEAKER_00: So one of the, so let's go back to Christ here in Matthew chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: He says in Matthew chapter 6, verse 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through.
SPEAKER_00: And steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart, there will your heart be also.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's the that is the real crux of the matter.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever your treasure is, see, the man who was making millions of dollars, his treasure was, I want to gain more money.
SPEAKER_00: I love money, I love the perceived steeds, I love the position.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: You can have the same CEO of a corporation who is a godly man who loves his employees, who is concerned about his community, and he can take the money that the Lord has given him, and he multiplies that, and he literally goes and he's a philanthropist, or he he's a faithful churchgoer, he helps his community, he actively looks for people in need, and he can actually take that money and go bless and benefit others, and he can be in the same position that the sinful millionaire is, and he can honor the Lord with it.
SPEAKER_00: Two different men or two men in the same position doing totally opposite things with the same amount of money.
SPEAKER_00: Or you can be the little worker at a gas station, and you can just be bitter.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, look at my position in life.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: I'm just terrible.
SPEAKER_00: I just can't get a better job, and my life is just terrible and awful, and the government is just oppressing me and putting me down.
SPEAKER_00: Or you can be a worker at a gas station and say, Lord, just help me to go today and be the absolute best worker at a gas station.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to show you all a story, a true story.
SPEAKER_00: We were coming back from Jackson late one night.
SPEAKER_00: It's a true story.
SPEAKER_00: This was probably about 10 years ago, and uh we had to go and purchase an automobile and or or do something with an automobile, and we were driving back home, it was late, it was after 9 o'clock, and it was pouring down rain, and we hadn't eaten for hours and hours, and all my kids were dead, we're hungry, you know, and so we just stopped at a Wendy's in Brandon, and we went into there, we were soaking wet, we were just tired, and there wasn't but a handful of people there working back in the back.
SPEAKER_00: There was uh there was one man out there sweeping the floor in Wendy's, and that man was crippled.
SPEAKER_00: If I had to guess, he was probably in his late 30s, maybe early 40s, but he was visibly hunched over and he had a one-handed walker that he walked with, and he was out in the dining room with his walker, and he was sweeping the floor with his other hand.
SPEAKER_00: And when we walked through the door, he made a beeline from where he was.
SPEAKER_00: He laid his broom because there was nobody else in there, and he went and he checked us out.
SPEAKER_00: He did all of that.
SPEAKER_00: He was very nice, he was very kind, and then he checked us out, he made sure that they had all their stuff, and then he went, after he got us squared away, he went immediately back and started working again.
SPEAKER_00: And the whole time we were there eating, that man was sweeping.
SPEAKER_00: I saw another couple come in, he just went right up there, he checked the people out, and I was thinking to myself, and there was younger people that were at least half this man's age that were back there in the kitchen, and some of them were just goofing off and taking their time and not being concerned.
SPEAKER_00: I just thought to myself, wow, that man is just a model of diligence.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, this man was handicapped.
SPEAKER_00: And brothers and sisters, he took his job very seriously.
SPEAKER_00: So this man is a man in Brandon, Mississippi, working in Wendy's as a cashier who is being faithful in his level of diligence and workmanship.
SPEAKER_00: And when I left there, I thought to myself, wow, if I could only be a workman like that, if I personally would have that level of diligence and care and concern and faithfulness and stewardship.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, I think to myself, if I was the business owner, if I was the owner of that windy's, wow, what an employee! That he is a model employee.
SPEAKER_00: Well, not only that, again, I don't know if that man was a Christian or not, but in his example, I was beyond impressed with that man's level of diligence and how he worked.
SPEAKER_00: And brothers and sisters, he was a cashier.
SPEAKER_00: Are there men in high-rise buildings that make millions of dollars a year, which are just as selfish and lazy as they can be?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: And one glorifies the Lord more than the other one does.
SPEAKER_00: But there are also men in those high-rise buildings that glorify the Lord with what the Lord has given them to be steward of.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
SPEAKER_00: Is your treasure the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Is my treasure I want to please you?
SPEAKER_00: If I'm a cashier or a millionaire, if I'm a stay-at-home mom or a doctor, do I want to glorify you in all that I do?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there's a lot of popular sayings today, you know, to each his own, or you need to follow your own heart, or to your own heart be true.
SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you that that is absolute terrible unbiblical advice.
SPEAKER_00: If y'all will turn me to Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_00: Right after Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: In Jeremiah chapter 17, there's a verse of scripture that reminds us of our position that in the modern world that you and I live in, people say something, well, you just need to follow your heart, and you need to be true to your heart, and you need to focus on what you know who you really are.
SPEAKER_00: No, you don't.
SPEAKER_00: Not at all.
SPEAKER_00: In Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9, the Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
SPEAKER_00: Who can know it?
SPEAKER_00: You and I are fallen, sinful, selfish creatures.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Josh, who is a pastor, does not need to follow his own heart.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, I need to die to myself.
SPEAKER_00: I need to literally crucify my own flesh or what my own selfish tendencies want to be, and I need to follow after the Lord Jesus Christ and his example and all the things that he said and done.
SPEAKER_00: I need to die to myself.
SPEAKER_00: It's not what Josh wants, it's what Christ wants.
SPEAKER_00: So in the world's wisdom, air quotes, we do not need to be true to ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We need to kill our flesh.
SPEAKER_00: We need to die to self.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that when I'm a 50, 60, 70-year-old man, if the Lord lets me live that long, that I am less like Josh King and more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Lord help me to die to my will and my wants and my desires.
SPEAKER_00: And may your desires become my desires.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things in the world, people want to be comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: People want to be very comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: I just, I don't like being stressed out.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like uh uh I don't like to deal with hard things.
SPEAKER_00: You know, that creates a lot of anxiety in me, and by the way, everybody has to deal with some level of that.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all turn, if you will, to Romans chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna be really quick here.
SPEAKER_00: In Romans chapter 8, we read in verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 8, verse 18 says, For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Brother Josh, why does God not come down and heal every single Christian who is a cancer patient?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody ever had that question?
SPEAKER_00: Why does God not come down and give$100,000 to every poor Christian?
SPEAKER_00: He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, right?
SPEAKER_00: Why does God not do that?
SPEAKER_00: For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, this place, this body that I live in and you live in, is not our permanent home.
SPEAKER_00: This, while you and I are to be a good steward of this body and our time here on earth, this is not where you and I will reside forever.
SPEAKER_00: And therefore, this is not God's primary.
SPEAKER_00: Our primary home is in heaven, amen.
SPEAKER_00: And that also needs to be our primary focus.
SPEAKER_00: What are we talking about today?
SPEAKER_00: We are talking about why do you and I exist?
SPEAKER_00: What is mine and your purpose in life?
SPEAKER_00: Mine and your purpose in life is not to primarily focus on this shell of a body that you and I live in while you and I need to be a good steward of it.
SPEAKER_00: And we need to take the two talents or one talent that we have and go multiply it to be healthy and work and do all the things that he's asked us to do.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we need to do that.
SPEAKER_00: But there is something more important than that.
SPEAKER_00: It's him.
SPEAKER_00: So the suffering that I may have, whether it's physical or mental or you know, or related to disease or whatever, it's just temporary.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, For I reckon that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.
SPEAKER_00: Christ has already purchased mine and your heavenly home.
SPEAKER_00: He's already given you something that's better than you have now.
SPEAKER_00: And yet I'm spending all my time in a wrong focus and focusing it on here, like the lost people of the world.
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing what they do.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, let me chase after money or let me chase after my prominence or my physical health or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: Let me let me amass all these cars and houses and you know that that's my focus.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's saying, your focus is off.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what you're supposed to be doing.
SPEAKER_00: We started out with talking about what we're not supposed to be doing.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, by the way, you know, when people say that well, my folks, I just don't want to have any pain in my life and I want to be comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Job, it tells us that man here in this world is his life is full of trouble.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus actually told us that here in this life, that the in the world there is no peace.
SPEAKER_00: But I leave with you my peace.
SPEAKER_00: Uh that's found, by the way, in Job 14.1 and John 16, 33.
SPEAKER_00: We won't read those for time's sake.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but but you and I are actually guaranteed to have suffering and tribulation and pain and hardship here in this world.
SPEAKER_00: We're actually guaranteed that in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Brother Josh, how is that that a wonderful God would allow that because the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall one day be revealed in us.
SPEAKER_00: God saying, if you suffer here for, let's say, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 years, that's incomparable to the glory that I have already given you in your home in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to far outweigh the other.
SPEAKER_00: Right now, you just don't think about it like that.
SPEAKER_00: So, last one, uh, the people of the world sometimes will just say, Well, you know, go Josh, you're a pastor, but you know, I don't agree with you, and I don't believe what you believe, and life is just meaningless.
SPEAKER_00: We're just a product of evolution, and you know, man, we're just like the apes and the fishes and everything else, and you know, we're just a we're just a creature.
SPEAKER_00: We're just, you know, we're just gonna die and then we're going to oblivion, we're just gonna rot and go back in the ground, and you know, there's just nothing else.
SPEAKER_00: Really?
SPEAKER_00: That's not what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: Very quickly, if you will, turn with Genesis chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: In Genesis chapter 1, we begreed in beginning in verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis chapter 1, beginning in verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after his kind.
SPEAKER_00: And it was so, and God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that was that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and God saw that it was good.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them, and God blessed them, and God said of them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the seed, over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in that which is the fruit of the tree yielding seed to you shall be for meat, and to every beast of the earth, and the fowl of the air, and everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat, and it was so.
SPEAKER_00: And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
SPEAKER_00: And the evening and the morning were the sixth day, and amen.
SPEAKER_00: But verse 27 says, And God created man in his own image, and the image of God created he him, male and female created he them.
SPEAKER_00: You know what that means?
SPEAKER_00: That verse right there is referred to as the Amago Dei.
SPEAKER_00: That literally means the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are image bearers of God.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are representatives of him here in this earth.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, let me give you a real quick illustration.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you and I are literally today in a church house where you and I have gathered together for a religious service and we are talking about the meaning of life and our purpose here.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all tell me, does any chimpanzee or elephant or dog ever contemplate the same things?
SPEAKER_00: Never, not once in the history of all creation does any other creature other than a human being contemplate why he is here, why he exists, or what his purpose is.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean, Brother Josh?
SPEAKER_00: Uh my point is this: only man was made in God's image.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are mind, body, and soul.
SPEAKER_00: We have a physical body, we have a mind that contemplates the things like we're talking about today, why I exist and what my purpose is, and we have a soul.
SPEAKER_00: That means that you and I are eternal.
SPEAKER_00: That, you know, when you and I die, we don't just go back in the ground.
SPEAKER_00: We literally go to be in heaven or hell in all eternity after our death.
SPEAKER_00: There is no other creature on this planet other than a human being that ever thinks about this at all.
SPEAKER_00: That's why after the flood, you and I are actually given the creatures of the earth to eat.
SPEAKER_00: You and I can actually go kill a deer or a cow or a goat or a fish, and we can actually consume that and eat its flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because that creature does not have a soul.
SPEAKER_00: That creature is not eternal.
SPEAKER_00: It is of the earth earthly.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: That is also this right here, the Amago Dei, the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are literally the image-bearers of God.
SPEAKER_00: That is why human life is so precious.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, that's why abortion is so abominably wicked.
SPEAKER_00: You know, so the Germans, they would literally exterminate their own people, someone who is retarded or someone who is sick, because Hitler looked at those people like they were worthless eaters.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, if you're not contributing to Nazi Germany, you know, if you're not some scientist or, you know, you're not some mother raising children or whatever for more soldiers, then you are literally a worthless human being.
SPEAKER_00: You need to be exterminated off this earth, and Hitler not only killed the Jews, but he also killed Germans that had problems or handicaps or that were old.
SPEAKER_00: He would kill his own people.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what that comes out of?
SPEAKER_00: That is a mindless, sinful, selfish, ungodless mentality that literally believes in evolution that says there is no greater meaning or greater purpose in life.
SPEAKER_00: That is a wicked, devilish mentality.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why uh that's why we had the Holocaust in World War II because of evolution, and because of the beliefs of a madman.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm here to tell you today that that's not the truth.
SPEAKER_00: The truth is that all human beings were made in the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, every little child in the womb is a precious life, a human being, an eternal soul.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you get to see their face or not, if they get aborted in the womb, that is why that is so abominable.
SPEAKER_00: And no Christian ever should do that.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's biblical.
SPEAKER_00: So, very quickly to wrap all this up.
SPEAKER_00: The world will tell you that its purpose in life is to pursue pleasure or personal fulfillment, or to accrue wealth or material possessions, or to follow mine own heart and be true, or to avoid pain and maximize comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Or all this stuff, brother Josh, that you're talking about, is absolutely meaningless because we're just like the evolved creatures and that's all we are, and when we die, we die.
SPEAKER_00: That's some of the conclusions of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's wrap all this up and tell you what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: What should be our purpose in life?
SPEAKER_00: To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter if you're a cashier or a billionaire.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, that's not me berating a cashier.
SPEAKER_00: Just like that man who was a cashier at Wendy's on that night.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all know that was over a decade ago, and I still remember that man.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: I still give glory to God for the diligent workmanship that I saw in that individual.
SPEAKER_00: To God be the glory for that.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: So, by the way, we uh have covered Genesis to Revelation this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Revelation chapter 2, I'm sorry, Revelation chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: And verse 11 reads, Revelation 4 and 11.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
SPEAKER_00: What is mine and your purpose here in this world?
SPEAKER_00: It's not to go selfishly do whatever I want to do.
SPEAKER_00: You and I were created to glorify God, to honor God.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, well, Brother Josh, that's what I don't understand about you Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all tell us things like you know, that uh marriage is between only one man and one woman.
SPEAKER_00: Well, why is that?
SPEAKER_00: It's because God created us male and female.
SPEAKER_00: He actually created marriage and man didn't do that, and therefore you and I, as a created thing, do not get to redefine marriage.
SPEAKER_00: So when you say, well, Brother Josh, why are you wanting to beat up on the gay folks?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not wanting to beat up on the gay folks.
SPEAKER_00: I want to speak truth into the life of people who are struggling with the sin of homosexuality so that they know that their lifestyle is actually dishonoring to God and they are harming their own selves because they are violating God's created order.
SPEAKER_00: Because they are, when they're wanting to live in that lifestyle, that they cannot glorify God if they're currently living in that lifestyle because they're violating God's created order.
SPEAKER_00: I don't hate those people, and I actually love those people and want to speak truth in their life and will be willing to come alongside of them and help rescue them out of their current struggle with sin that they're having.
SPEAKER_00: But that's the biblical answer.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians, and we have two more verses and we're done.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is very clear.
SPEAKER_00: This is one of those I need to underline this verse in my Bible.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31, we read Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're driving an 18-wheeler, hauling goods, Ros Josh, and by the way, uh a lot of people think that you can't be doing the Lord's work unless you're an evangelist or you're a preacher, you know, or you're some kind of music minister or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you can't be doing the Lord's work.
SPEAKER_00: That's not true.
SPEAKER_00: Does the Baker not do the Lord's work when he provides food and goods and services to other humans in the world who need to eat, or he helps them to celebrate?
SPEAKER_00: The monumental things in their life?
SPEAKER_00: Does the plumber not do the Lord's work when you have a family who needs running water in their home to take baths so they can go to work, so they can do all the things they need?
SPEAKER_00: And he literally goes and crawls up front of their dirty house that nobody else wants to do.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes and he puts his sweat and his energy and his knowledge and his labor to use so that he can bless and he can benefit that family.
SPEAKER_00: And then also, in turn, the workman is worth his higher, and so he can actually put food on his own table to feed his wife and his children, and then one day maybe bless his grandchildren's grandchildren because the good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children.
SPEAKER_00: So the plumber who's crawling under houses and fixing clogged toilets, is he not doing the Lord's work?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he is.
SPEAKER_00: If, if he's doing it to the Lord's glory and honor.
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: He pays his taxes.
SPEAKER_00: He's a godly Christian man.
SPEAKER_00: He loves his employees and he seeks to bless them when he can.
SPEAKER_00: And he literally pays wages to 10,000 employees and helps put food on their table.
SPEAKER_00: And he seeks to glorify the Lord in doing that.
SPEAKER_00: Is that man not doing the Lord's work?
SPEAKER_00: Even though he might be building cylinders or coke bottles or cars or whatever it is, is that man not doing the Lord's work?
SPEAKER_00: He is doing the Lord's work.
SPEAKER_00: Amen and praise the Lord, even though he's not going door to door and being an evangelist.
SPEAKER_00: That is the Lord's work.
SPEAKER_00: What is mine and your purpose here?
SPEAKER_00: To exist.
SPEAKER_00: It is to glorify and honor the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, in closing, it is to enjoy him forever.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean, Brother Josh?
SPEAKER_00: Turn me to Psalm 16.
SPEAKER_00: I love this.
SPEAKER_00: This is the capstone of everything.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 16.
SPEAKER_00: In Psalm 16, we begin reading in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 16, verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: The Psalm of David.
SPEAKER_00: I have set the Lord always before me.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's where he should be set.
SPEAKER_00: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
SPEAKER_00: He's supposed to be the most important thing in my life and yours.
SPEAKER_00: I have set the Lord always before me.
SPEAKER_00: Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, I don't necessarily have to have the five million dollars in the bank.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, I can be the cashier at the gas station.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't mean you don't.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, by the way, I had this other thought as well.
SPEAKER_00: We know that according to the Bible, that uh the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_00: Have y'all ever thought about the fact that you and I aren't?
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean, Brother Josh?
SPEAKER_00: Well, you and I are young people, and uh we're teenagers, and then we're in our 20s, and if we live long enough, you know, we live to be middle-aged or maybe even uh you know late middle age or old age?
SPEAKER_00: While the Lord doesn't change, you and I do.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you might have been a strapping young man in your youth, and now you're in a wheelchair and you can't do anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Well, brother Josh, what do I do now?
SPEAKER_00: Do I just spend all my days embittered that I can't work anymore?
SPEAKER_00: Or that I can't do the job that I used to do?
SPEAKER_00: Do I spend all my days embittered?
SPEAKER_00: No, friend.
SPEAKER_00: In your youth, you seek after Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In your 20s, you you be the diligent workman.
SPEAKER_00: In your 40s, you, good Lord willing, you be fruitful and multiply and raise a family, and you and you teach and bring your children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And you be the workman and you be the example to other people that you work with to glorify and honor the Lord in your late middle age.
SPEAKER_00: You become a blessing to your adult children if you if you have that blessing in your life.
SPEAKER_00: And then you you show them and you come alongside of them as mothers and fathers in Israel, and you be a leader and a guide to them of how to do these things.
SPEAKER_00: And in your old age, then your children that you reared up, they they come alongside of you and they help you and they care for you because they love you.
SPEAKER_00: And in your old age, when you're in that wheelchair, what are you doing then?
SPEAKER_00: You're looking for the coming day of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
SPEAKER_00: I still enjoy my family, but Lord, I can't go out and build a fence or crawl under a house or tend after a half a dozen children anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I can't cook for three dozen people.
SPEAKER_00: I can't do that anymore.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay, saint.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_00: But you and I aren't.
SPEAKER_00: You and I do change, and by the way, in every stage of life, you and I need to be faithful to the Lord and obedient to him, and you and I need to change to go along with him.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You and I can't be the person that we used to be.
SPEAKER_00: So let's you and I stop being bitter about that or lamenting that.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, Lord, how can I serve you now?
SPEAKER_00: Christ, how can I follow you now?
SPEAKER_00: How can the grandmother in the nursing home, how can she serve the Lord now?
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: She may be the greatest prayer warrior in the church, and she can't even go to the church.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: She may pray for her family and her relatives and then the people in her community and all of her church members, and she may pray more than the pastor does, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so that lady in a nursing home who can't do anything else, she is the most diligent prayer warrior in the entire church, and she is doing the Lord's work to the Lord's honor in that stage of her life, and she's gone through all those other stages of her life, and the Lord is pleased with him.
SPEAKER_00: And so then when she dies and goes home to the Lord, well done, my good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: And in the world's eyes, in the world's eyes, oh, she's just a throwaway lady in the nursing home, right?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, look at the CEO, look at that man who's a performance athlete on the field, you know, who's a star football player.
SPEAKER_00: That man is a terrible human being.
SPEAKER_00: He is so sinful and selfish and consuming everything, spending millions of dollars and so disrespectful to everybody.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know who I am?
SPEAKER_00: You should serve me?
SPEAKER_00: That's a terrible human being.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be like him.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be like that grandmother in the nursing home who loves the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: She's honoring the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: What is mine and your purpose in life?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you and I exist?
SPEAKER_00: To glorify and honor him, and finally, in closing, to enjoy him forever.
SPEAKER_00: David said in Psalm 16:8, I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices.
SPEAKER_00: My flesh also shall rest in hope.
SPEAKER_00: For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
SPEAKER_00: Thou wilt show me the path of life.
SPEAKER_00: In thy presence is fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: God actually shows us the path of life.
SPEAKER_00: How are you and I supposed to live?
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're a teenager or a 98-year-old, how are you and I supposed to live?
SPEAKER_00: God shows us the path of life.
SPEAKER_00: And in thy presence is fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: You and I can have a little taste of his presence right here and right now.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: When you and I walk with him.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all remember on the road to, I think it was Emmaus, the two disciples of the Lord, when the Lord was taught when the resurrected Christ was talking to them, and he was explaining to them about Christ, and then when they finally reached the restaurant or the inn or wherever they reached, and the Lord sat down with them, and then it finally, the Lord opened their eyes, and they knew they were talking to Jesus, and then he left immediately.
SPEAKER_00: And then they turned to each other and they said, Did not your heart burn as he was talking?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, for a little while, a little time, those two men got to walk with the Lord and hear from him.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: That's what this is.
SPEAKER_00: That's what this world is.
SPEAKER_00: And you and I need to struggle and fight and try every day to walk with him, every morning, every evening, every day.
SPEAKER_00: And there are days you and I utterly fail.
SPEAKER_00: And there are some days, amen, and praise the Lord, that you and I actually walk with him, right?
SPEAKER_00: May we have more of those days on the road to Emmaus.
SPEAKER_00: And then one day, after all the struggling and the disease and the hardship and the anxiety from this world are gone, and you and I die, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints, and in thy presence is fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: This is not our home.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, the folks of the world get this wrong.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us how to get it right.
SPEAKER_00: What is our purpose and why are we here?
SPEAKER_00: We are here to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this has been an encouragement to you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask Brother Don if he wanted to come up and help us close in a word of song.
SPEAKER_00: The church doors are always open if you desire tonight with the membership of our church.