Bible Studies
A Personal Life Plan
Series: Additional StudiesIntroduction:
1. Do you feel like you are moving through life making a real contribution to the well-being of mankind? Or do you feel like you are kind of stumbling along carried about by emerging pressures just to get along? 2. Do you feel like you are making a difference? Or do you feel stifled, caught up in the mass of humanity, moving, but just drifting? 3. I believe that there is something more to life than “just drifting.” I believe that God is calling on us for more than that. I believe that He intends for our lives to be purposeful and I believe that when we are there is a feeling of accomplishment, direction and hopefulness different from the humdrum way the rest of the world lives. 4. But how can we move from the humdrum of mere survival to the vibrant vitality of truly living life? How can we be more purposeful, have really important objectives, move through life deliberately, even affect others so that they can have more than a humdrum existence?Discussion:
I. It all begins with the book of Genesis.A. “In the beginning God…”
1. I know that some deny the very existence of God.
2. Fact is most have never seriously examined the evidence. They have given very little thought to rationally considering whether He exists or not. While our society touts the use of the scientific method of assembling the evidence, developing a theory that possibly explains the evidence and then testing it, most of us simply accept what others say.
B. “God created.”
1. Here again most do the same thing.
2. The scientific method really does not work very well in examining the concept of origins.
3. We can assemble the evidence well enough and we can formulate theories, but we cannot test them.
4. One person says everything is traceable to a “big bang” and then gradually evolved from non-life to simple life to complex life over billions of years.
5. Another says, “God created.”
6. Neither is reproducible, therefore whatever “theory” you accept it is accepted by faith.
a. One person interprets the evidence and says “the general theory of evolution.”
b. Another interprets the same evidence and says, “God created.”
7. If you accept the general theory your life becomes rather purposeless. You are just an organism that developed by chance.
C. But this is not really about the existence or non-existence of God. It is about whether or not the Bible is a revelation from God.
1. Here again most of us do not do any serious investigation. Most have never read a book or considered an article on evidences for or against the Bible as a revelation from God.
2. For those who exalt the scientific method most of us do not use it well.
a. We don’t assemble the evidence.
b. We may have a theory for or against the Bible as the word of God, but we do not test our theory very well.
c. We enter the debate and express our opinions without doing our homework. Our opinions are formulated upon what we have been taught by our parents, teachers, the opinions of our friends, etc.
d. It is really not fair to draw a conclusion without having first examined the evidence. This course is incongruent with the scientific method.
D. By the way, the Genesis account moves from chaos to organization.
1. The scientific method assumes organization and is built around the idea of rational organization rather than randomness. This is suggestive of purposefulness.
2. Genesis moves from formless and void to the creation of Adam and Eve as the culminating act. There is design in the Genesis account leading to the crowning of the work of creation with Adam and Eve.
3. It is said that belief in God and belief in organization and design is what led to the development of the scientific method and science in the first place.
E. To be sure the Bible calls on us to believe some incredible stuff.
1. That God exists.
2. That He created the earth and all things in it, including us.
3. That we are created in His image.
4. That we are responsible to Him.
5. That He controls life and death.
6. That He supersedes nature—thus can perform miracles.
7. It would have to be written by God if it were going to believable. I could certainly not believe in such things just because some man said to.
F. Some people (including some church goers) only pretend to believe the Bible is the word of God.
1. They willing suspend their disbelief.
2. Like the idol worshipers of old they hear the voice of God in bluebirds. Interpret the stars. Hear the voice of God, when there is no voice.
3. It is just pretend.
4. They discredit genuine belief. Allow unbelievers to charge them with hypocrisy and discredit genuine faith.
5. Genuine purpose is lost in “just pretending.”
II. You are part of the unfolding plan of God.A. If the Bible is the word of God then it reveals that you are part of the unfolding plan of God.
B. Gen. 3 describes man’s sin and introduces death as something to be overcome, not something that is a hopeless end. If death is a hopeless end, then eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.
C. Gen. 3 and the rest of Scripture reveals God’s plan to preserve life.
D. The lineage of the people of God is traced—Adam, Seth, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.
1. A promise is made to these people—in you all the families of the earth will be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3).
2. You are included in “the families of the earth.”
3. Thus the whole account is a historical document involving the unfolding plan of God and you are a part of the plan.
4. Not only are you a special person created by God, but a special person in the plan of God. Not the result of a cosmic accident but one created purposefully and with a purpose to be accomplished.
III. It is about living and living deliberately.A. There is no greater example of living and living deliberately than Jesus.
1. Not only did he believe in God He believed in the revelation of God in Scripture.
a. When tempted in the wilderness he quoted Scripture revealing not only His belief in God but in the authoritative nature of Scripture (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10).
b. He said He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17-9).
c. Did He believe in God as creator? Did He accept the book of Genesis as a revelation from God? Indeed He did (Matt. 19:3-6).
2. He obviously saw Himself as an integral part of the plan of God.
a. Came to seek and save the lost in fulfillment of Scripture (Lk. 19:10).
b. Gave His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28).
3. So He lived His life deliberately and purposefully focused squarely on the accomplishment of His objectives.
4. You are not Jesus Christ, but the Lord has objectives for you and you need to live your life deliberately and purposefully too.
B. Another great example of living and living deliberately is Paul.
1. Moved by seeing the resurrected Jesus he began proclaiming, “He is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20).
2. He believed in the God of Genesis. He believed that God was active in the affairs of men, unfolding a plan for their redemption through the history of the descendants of Abraham (Acts 13:16ff).
3. Like Jesus, Paul staked his life on these beliefs (Acts 14:19).
4. He called on others to recognize God’s activity in their lives and accept this purpose for themselves (1 Thess. 1:9-10).
C. Scripture is filled with other examples of individuals, both men and women who did the
D. “I am not Jesus Christ. I am no Paul.” True, but do you not realize that the whole of Scripture is calling you to recognize your place in God’s plan and to live deliberately and purposefully?
1. “Well I am no preacher.”
2. Do you not realize that God wants you to serve Him in whatever capacity that He has gifted you to serve in? (Rom. 12:6-8).
3. “Well I am too old. I don’t seem to have a purpose.” Moses was in his 80’s when God used him to deliver Israel from Egypt. Miss Ella was 86 when she was teaching a class of 5-6 year olds. Bob Owen is 85 holds 12 meetings per year and makes trips to Scotland and Ethopia preaching and teaching. “I am too young.” How old was Joseph when he was sold and became the one through whom the nation of Israel was preserved (read Gen. 45:5). God told Jeremiah, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ because everywhere I send you you shall go” (Jer. 1:7).
4. “I don’t know what to do.” Read the Scripture and God will tell you.
IV. It is about being relevant.A. Somehow we seem to have a disconnect between what God is telling us and practical application.
1. This disconnect may come as a result of our not actually believing what Scripture says.
2. Perhaps we are unfamiliar with what Scripture says. Hard to see relevance when we are unfamiliar.
3. Hard to see relevance when we really don’t believe what God has said.
4. If everything is just make believe to us relevance evaporates.
B. Purpose evaporates along with it.
C. We are relegated to a humdrum existence. Chaos, deterioration and decay characterizes our life (Titus 3:3), but those who “have believed God are careful to engage” – “in good deeds” (Titus 3:8).
Conclusion:
1. Do you have a personal life plan? 2. If you do it gives direction and purpose to your life. See 1 Pet. 4:7-11. 3. If your only objective is survival, there is something greater (1 Tim. 6:17-19). 4. If your only objective is to be good so you can go to heaven and be blessed you miss the work to be done here. How many passages have we read about serving others? 5. Are you really a believer? The stronger your belief the more purposeful your life becomes.
