~~ Watch the Video ~~
Outline:
- Introduction
- Finding Your Purpose in Life Series
- Purpose Definition (Psychology)
- Your Heart (Passions)
- Your Dream and Your Purpose
- Characteristics of Unique Dreams
- Don’t Follow the Crowd
- Passionate about other people
- God Given Dreams
Scriptures:
- Proverbs 16:3
- Ecclesiastes 4:6
- Psalm 127:2
- Psalm 37:4
- Proverbs 19:21
Introduction
Dreams Again
Proverbs 16:3
Commit your works to the LORD, And your plans will be established.
maybe you dreamed of
- Being an artist
- Being a mom
- A celebrity
As a teenager, I had dreams of being a rapper
We all had great dreams when we were young.
Then you
- You get bills
- got married.
- You get kids
Maybe you took the first job you could get and just stayed in it
And then the years went by
Maybe you had it all mapped out, but you didn’t get married when you thought you would
- So time has changed the plan.
You never got that degree.
- You never finished that thing you thought you were going to do
You think it’s too late for your dream now
It is never too late to become what God wants you to be
Don’t ask “what am I capable of”
- Ask what is God capable of
I’m going to invite you to dream again…
Graveyard
The wealthiest place on this planet is not
The gold mines of Africa
The oil fields in the Middle East
The technology in Silicon Valley
… It’s the graveyard
So many people died with their dreams still in them
Will you die with your vision
- Your dream
- your ideas
Disturb Us
"Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well-pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst for the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to grow dim."
**Sir Francis Drake** in **1577**
Finding Your Purpose in Life Series
The two greatest days in your life are:
- the day you were born
- the day you figure out why you were born
– – Mark twain
The Bible tells us that everything was created by God, the Designer, for a reason
If you want to find your purpose… You have to start with God
Your calling is the purpose that God created you for
- It's the end goal of your assignment on earth
- It is how you serve his purposes in the world
A Christian’s Callings
Christians have
- General callings
- A Unique calling
General Christian Assignments
All Christians are called to:
- To Love God
- Love your neighbor
- Make disciples
- Be conformed to the image of Christ – sanctification
Unique Calling
Additionally, you were given unique
- Natural ability
- Acquired skills
- Spiritual Gifts
- Personality
- Desires and preferences
- Life experiences
All of this makes uniquely qualified to serve others, and to glorify God
Your gifts and talents are owned by God… Not you
Success is Measured by Faithfulness, Not Impact
In this series we will discover:
- What a purpose is and why it matters
- What makes you unique
- How your life experiences have prepared you for your calling
- What is your unique purpose
- How to overcome the barriers preventing you from pursuing your purpose
Throughout this next year, I will walk alongside you and help guide you to finding your purpose
Purpose Definition (Psychology)
- It’s an ultimate goal that shapes your short-term choices and behavior.
- It is personally meaningful, coming from within.
- self-motivated
- The goal imbues your life with importance and value.
- Bigger than you
- a purpose in life goes beyond the self
- leading you to want to make a difference in the world
it has been linked to a lower risk of heart attack and a longer life
Calling
The problem is that you can have a purpose that is bad
- Hitler had a purpose
Your calling is a purpose that was given by God
We don’t all have the same purpose. We have unique goals and dreams and different ways to impact the world.
A Calling requires a “CALLER“
You’re calling is an invitation from your creator
- When you are nudged to go in a certain way
The only time we participate in our calling is when we act.
Finding your calling means aligning your life with what God wants to do through you and around you
You’re calling doesn’t apply to whims or superficial wants
- It is tied to who you are at the core
Your Heart (Passions)
S – spiritual gifts
H – Heart
A – abilities.
P – personality
E – experiences
Rick Warren defines "Heart" as what you love to do and what you care about most.
The Bible uses heart to describe your.
- Desires
- Dreams.
- Interest
- Ambitions.
- Affections
Your heart is the source of all of your motivations
Some people have a "heart" for
- Children
- The elderly
- Social justice.
Your heart
We instinctively care about some things and not about others,
- These are clues to where you should be serving
- Some things you’re passionate about and others you don’t care about
The Logic
Your passions act as a compass.
When you follow your heart, you don't need external motivation to get the job done.
Listening to the promptings of your heart can point to the ministry God wants you to have.
When you’re doing what you love to do no one has to
- Motivate you
- Check up on you
- Reward you.
- Pay you
When you don’t have a heart for what you are doing, you are easily discouraged
Your Dream and Your Purpose
- What Would You Do For No Paycheck
- What have you always dreamed of doing?
- What is it that when you do it you lose track of time?
84,600 dollars in bank
- You wake up to a new $84,600 in your bank account
- At the end of the night if you don’t spend it, it disappears.
- Seconds in a day
Give yourself permission to pursue your unique dreams
“Once I’m wealthy… I’ll start pursuing that passion”
- Once I’m retirement age, I’ll start thinking about my Legacy
It takes effort to figure out the difference between
- your passion and superficial whims
- What we were made to achieve and what others expect us to achieve
Unique identity
Many of us have pursued our dreams for our own interest, and it proved to be unsatisfying.
In order to find purpose and a unique identity, we have to identify and pursue our unique dreams.
You should tie your pursuit into finding your unique identity.
Unique dreams are not goals or specific targets we wish to achieve or accomplish.
- Be the CEO of a fortune 500 company.
- Write scripts for Hollywood.
- Retire on my own island in the South Pacific
We’re not talking about
- Bucket lists
- career goals.
- Five year plans
These things are reflections of your current hope
- rather than revelations of your identity.
Characteristics of Unique Dreams
They are more emotive than concrete
What excites you?
What inspires you?
They are connected to situations and circumstances that inspire us and make us feel genuinely alive
The opportunities that inspire you the most are often the opportunities you were created to seize.
Dreams are rarely tied to concrete goals or achievements.
Your unique dreams/passions are directly related to unique design
You will be specifically equipped and prepared to pursue them
If our passions are not tied to our unique design, they are more likely to be distractions than our purpose
Example: You can love basketball
- but be 5’ 6”
This disconnect can also include your
- Character
- Personality
- Experiences
- Connections
- Relationships
Maybe God Will Use Your Passion Elsewhere
David enjoyed playing an instrument. God used that to get them into the palace so he could become familiar with Saul.
Saul knew that David could dodge a spear because he had thrown one at him. Perhaps this gave him the confidence to put the freedom of the nation into the hands of a young boy.
Story: Dr. Ed Catmull
- dreamed of becoming a Disney animator
- He was a huge fan of Walt Disney
- spent his youth drawing and studying animation
- Realized he wasn’t good enough
- Gave up to go to college
- Ph.D. in computer science
- Computer graphics were invented
- he could use physics, calculus
- George Lucas, who hired him in 1979 to run Lucasfilm’s new Computer Graphics Division
- Became Pixar
- President of Walt Disney Animation Studios
He didn’t lose his passion
- But he didn’t chase a dream outside of his gifting
Example: me rapping
- I dreamed of being a rapper
- Justin Herman plaza - KMEL
- On news
- Gave up to go to college
- Gave myself 6 months after graduation
Who knows
- Spontaneous introductions
- rhyming
It’s Bigger than You
They will help you achieve a unique impact in the world
They don’t just help you; they help human flourishing as a whole
There is a problem that God created you to solve
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYxICCth2Lh/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
It’s not solely for your pleasure/happiness
Your passion is your willingness to suffer
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8yXJ5MR/
Beware of what you take pleasure in.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8pKJC7E/
Don’t Follow the Crowd
Ecclesiastes 4:6
One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.
The Fisherman and the Businessman
- Small village near coast of Sicily
- fisherman named Santo
- Small boat for a couple of hours every day
- Catching bluFin tuna
- Cook the fish and eat it
- Spend time with his wife and kids
- Play the guitar with his friends
Make sure you’re following God’s dream …not society’s
We often spend so much time trying to build a life
That we don’t have time to live the life that we’re building
Are you chasing after the wrong goal?
Are you living a life that was defined by someone else?
Are you pursuing your dream?
Are you pursuing God’s dream for your life?
Psalm 127:2
It is futile for you to rise up early, To stay up late, To eat the bread of painful labor; This is how He gives to His beloved sleep.
living a life of misery and labours, fretting at their own disappointments, eaten up with envy at the advancement of others, afflicted overmuch with losses and wrongs. There is no end of all their labours.” (Manton, cited in Spurgeon)
b. For so He gives His beloved sleep: Men who are affected by reliance on their own work experience the anxiety that comes with it. God’s blessing is to give His loved ones sleep. They can be at peace knowing that God’s hand is at work and His eye watches even as they sleep.
Passionate about other people
Who’s Pain Do You Feel?
if I say, I bought a great gift on Amazon, what is the first thing you’re gonna ask me?
- Who was the gift for?
The fact that it is a “gift” implies that it is not for yourself
Someone else needs to benefit from your purpose
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8xmDTJ7/
Is there a particular group of people that you have empathy for?
Maybe you
- Heart for The homeless
- Soft spot for Single mothers
- Lose sleep thinking about hungry children in some part of the world
Does your empathy for a particular group of people awaken a desire that moves you to action?
Kayla Mueller
Humanitarian, killed by terrorist while on a mission to help people in a foreign country
"Some people find God in church. Some people find God in nature. Some people find God in love”. "I find God in the suffering eyes reflected in mine.”
I've known for some time that my life's work is using my hands as tools to relieve suffering."
Ask yourself:
- Who’s pain do you feel?
- Who’s tears make you cry?
- Who’s enemy are you willing to protect them from?
God Given Dreams
Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
As you get closer to the Lord
- He will give you new desires
As you pursue God, your “dreams” will become aligned with God’s
Is it your dream or God’s dream?
you were not created for a dream centers around you
God is using the process of your life to purge the motives of your heart
- so he can give you the dream that aligns with his heart
Limits
We all have limits because of our
- Age
- Physical ability
- Talent
- Finances
God is making the limits in your life, the platform for his glory
You see your limit as a liability
Abraham had a dream to have offspring to be a great nation
God Didn’t see Abraham‘s limitations as a liability
- He saw them as an opportunity
God didn’t use Abram because he was young and healthy. He chose Sara because she was old and Baron.
Partner With God
Proverbs 19:21
Many plans are in a person’s heart, But the advice of the LORD will stand.
Many believers, because of disappointment, have lost the capacity to dream
Promises are the invitation of God into a relational journey together we labor to see things happen in the Earth that reveal his nature.
God invites us into a relationship where we have influence over what happens
Desires are formed in us based on who we fellowship with
The Lord wants the people that are free enough to think for themselves.
- Not independent of him.
- But because of him
it is the fulfilled desire of his children that helps to manifest and illustrate the nature of the Father in the world
God didn’t approach Moses until after he developed a heart for the Jews
Moses
- Couldn’t speak well
- Was afraid
Why did God choose him?
- Moses’ passion for the Jews was so strong that he killed someone
Moses shared God’s passion for the Jews
God is drawing us into a relational journey where our desires become the offspring of him
- Based on my understanding of his nature and his covenant
Desire becomes the offspring of a relationship we have with God
So the goal is to build a relationship with God to the point that you want what God wants
You become like who you hang around
So spend more time with God
Instructor: Michael Leadon
References
Walk Into Your Purpose
Michael Leadon
God wants to breathe life into your dream:
Bill Johnson ministries.
Follow your dream – the moments that make you
Vox Church.
Your purposes is calling
Dharius Daniels
Extra
The audience comes last – Rick Rubin.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYM9BAxKCNq/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
80% excitement, 20% fear, 0% deadness.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOG15nhjtNE/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
Proverbs 22:29
Do you see a person skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before obscure people.
Ecclesiastes 9:10
10Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity, planning, knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29
26For [aa]consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that there were not many wise according to [ab]the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28and the [ac]insignificant things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29so that no [ad]human may boast before God.
