do you have a purpose in your life

 

 do you have a purpose in your life and
does life have meaning to you

or is your life cracking up and going
all the pieces
the big question today is
what is meaning
50 years ago when i started preaching
the philosophical question was what is
truth
today's question is what is the point
andrew morris
the great philosopher in france
wrote
the universe is indifferent
who created it
why are we here on this puny mud heap
spinning in infinite space
he said i have not the slightest idea
and there are many people that take that
attitude
albert camus
who was
the great philosopher that everybody
quoted
a few years ago said
man cannot live without meaning
are you trying to live without meaning
in your life
now here are some of the things that the
philosophers were saying that people
think about when they're alone
when you're alone here's what many
people that are here tonight think about
first you think about
well i have to suffer
maybe now or
soon
i must struggle
to make ends meet
i must struggle in my marriage i must
struggle with my girlfriend my boyfriend
because it seems that things are going
wrong
i must struggle to make grades in school
i'm at the mercy of chance
i feel guilty all the time and i don't
know what i'm guilty of
i ask the question when i'm alone who am
i
i know that i must die
and i'm afraid to die i don't want to
die
but i know i'm going to have to die
every person in this audience 75 years
from now will be dead
there are hundreds of people here
tonight that have to decide tonight and
your decision tonight yes or no will
decide where you'll be a hundred years
from now it's for me and my house we're
going to serve the lord i don't care if
the whole
outfit turns against god i don't care if
all of you turn to idolatry my house and
me we're going to serve the true and the
living god have you ever said that
robert browning exclaimed a hundred
years ago this business of life is made
up of terrible choices
and it is we have to make some of these
choices in our lives adam had to make
that choice was he going to build his
world with god and have peace in the
world and justice in the world or was he
going to
go his own way he decided to go his own
way and to listen to the devil
some people say well if i follow my
conscience isn't that enough no because
your conscience can be
dead
many people have a dead conscience
you see you you you tell a lie when
you're a child and your conscience
bothers you
now you can look a person straight in
the face and tell a lie and it doesn't
bother you at all
there was a time when you do some other
things that bother you now you can do it
and it doesn't bother you say well
that's not so bad then
your conscience doesn't bother you why
because your conscience has been seared
or it's dead
people say well being sincere if i'm
sincere in life isn't that enough no
it's not enough well if i i do so many
good things for people and i smile at
people and i'm friendly with people
don't you think god understands if i
commit a little sin now and again and
he'll understand he's a good god he's a
loving god and all that
no god doesn't understand
then there people say well i reformed
yes you can reform the rest of your life
but that's not it
so there
a choice that you have one life or the
other which will it be a life of
surrendered lord and savior or life in
which you surrender to yourself and your
own desires and your
own pleasures and your own greed and
your own jealousies
you have to make a choice which will it
be
not only two ways of life
but also you have to choose between two
destinies
what is your destiny where will you be
50 100 years from tonight
you'll be somewhere the real you your
body will be in the grave perhaps but
you
the real you your soul your spirit the
thing that thinks and remembers and
loves and so forth that's the part of
you that will live forever either in
heaven or hell and you've got to make a
choice between the two
you see your soul is important to the
devil
he wants your soul he'll pay any price
and some of you are selling your souls
so cheaply
what shall it profit a man if he gained
the whole world and lose his own soul
the devil will give you the whole world
if you'll follow him
but some of you'll follow him and he
won't give you anything
you just follow him because you don't
you're like the pig that's following the
man that's dropping the beans going to
the slaughter pen every little bitty
drops of bean and the pig goes following
right along
and you don't even think
that you're following the devil
in the wrong direction
be aware
there are certain things that have not
changed
and will never change
the first thing that has never changed
in all these centuries
the nature of god
has not changed
he said i am the lord
i change not all these centuries he's
from everlasting to everlasting he had
no beginning he has no end i don't
understand that but i accept it he's the
one thing that we can count on is god
he's unchanging in his holiness
god is unchanging in judgment
it says the lord shall judge
the ends of the earth god is unchanging
in love
god loves you
that's hard to believe that's hard to
take in but god loves you
and if you were the only person in the
whole world god would love you god is
love
that's one thing i want you to remember
when we leave
that we've said
and then the second thing the word of
god has not changed not only the nature
of god has not changed but the word of
god has not changed
he tells us where we came from he tells
us where we're going he tells us how to
live every day
the third thing that hasn't changed
human nature has not changed
yes god will never change
the word of god will never change
but you have to change
if you were to go to heaven
if you're to have a a new life here and
have purpose and meaning in your life
you have to change
the first thing you have to do is repent
the second thing is to believe and that
word believe means to commit
that's the marriage vow that we take
it's not just getting married it's a
lifetime commitment
has there been a time when you received
him as your lord and your savior
and said lord with your help i want to
follow you
i'm going to pray
and i'm going to be as faithful to you
as i can
some people say i'm trying to hold on
you don't need to hold on he holds you
just turn loose
and let him come into your heart
are you willing to change your way of
living
that's repentance to change your mind
to change the direction of your life
and you can't repent by yourself the
holy spirit has to help you do that
and then you come by faith and faith
means commitment when i stepped on this
platform
last night i'd never been on this
platform before
i didn't get down and examine it to see
if it would hold me up
i accepted by faith that the carpenters
that built it built it to hold a man
he will meet all those longings
and all those needs
and give you a new life
he can come into your family he can come
into that office where you've been
having trouble he can come into your
school room
he can come into every phase of your
life
and make you a new person
he can make those ends meet
he can help you meet those payments
he can help you
in looking for a job
he can
give you total assurance
that your sins are gone
and that god will never hold you
accountable for them again
they're forgiven
and he receives you with open arms
and he'll do it tonight
if you let him
i want him to take all of me
i surrender my life to him and i say
lord i am willing to repent of my sins
and turn by faith to you
and put my total confidence in my total
faith in you