I was looking back through sermon notes and I came across a sermon entitled “What Am I Doing with my Life?” that my pastor preached on Palm Sunday. It really relates to where I am right now emotionally and spiritually and so I decided to just share my sermon notes for this blog post. This sermon is encouragement to me and hopefully to you as well to never stop going after the life that God is calling us to.
You see, I really needed to see these notes. I was recently told that doing World Race is ‘an irresponsible decision that will ruin my life’.
I can’t explain the way I felt hearing that. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t upset me. But you know what? I was reminded of what Jesus himself said about the cost of following after him:
“Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice? Not so. I’ve come to disrupt and confront! From now on, when you find five in a house, it will be—
Three against two,
and two against three;
Father against son,
and son against father;
Mother against daughter,
and daughter against mother;
Mother-in-law against bride,
and bride against mother-in-law.”
—Luke 12:52-53 (MSG)
That scripture is sobering to say the least. As crazy as it may seem, it comforted me. It reminded me that there’s no guarantee that this journey through life will be easy. There’s no promise that everyone will agree with my beliefs or support the decisions I make based on my beliefs. All I can do is pray for others and trust in the one who has never disappointed me, never hurt me, never led me astray, never sinned against me. And that one person in Jesus.
So when I look at the title of Pastor Matt’s sermon, “What Am I Doing with my Life?”, my answer is: “I’m trusting God.” And I don’t believe that trusting God could ever lead to my ruin.
“What Am I Doing with My Life?”
Pastor Matt Jensen
The Image Church~Jacksonville, FL
4/13/14
- Psalm 37:4 — “Take delight in the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.”
–When we ask ourselves what we’re doing with our lives, the answer is always the same: WHAT WE WANT!!
–In our hearts, the motive behind everything we do is our own happiness. So when we look at Psalm 37:4, we have to do a heart inventory. We’ve got to take a look at what and/or who we’re delighting in, admiring, emulating, resembling, etc.
(If you’re anything like me,
after you take a moment to do a heart inventory,
you might look a little like the image below.)
–So now what?
We’ve got to refocus. We’ve got to remember. Remember that we have the choice of living a life for and about ourselves or a life that’s for and about God. And we gotta constantly make and re-make the choice to live for God.
We gotta constantly remember our IDENTITY in God, we gotta keep living a lifestyle of WORSHIP, we gotta take off our own masks and live with our family of brothers and sisters in true COMMUNITY, and we gotta go after that call, that one purpose God’s put on our lives. We gotta live a life on a MISSION!
>>> Want to listen to this sermon in its entirety? Click HERE! <<<
