Purpose Driven Life, The Intro

Today, I and my husband attended the Good Friday Service in our church, International Christian Assembly (ICA) Surabaya. ICA is going to have Purpose Driven Life (PDL) Program, for 6 weeks, starting this Sunday. This is the Sermon (by Pastor Jeff):

JESUS LED THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE. WILL YOU?

Don’t suppose that I came to do away with the Law and the Prophets. - Matt 5:17 (CEV)

1. Jesus mission was to live in the Spirit of the Law.
- The one group of people Jesus could not tolerate were the religious leaders and Pharisees.
- The whole point behind Jesus most famous sermon was that if you do it on the outside but on the inside you don’t, it’s meaningless.
- You see Jesus came to this earth to establish a new covenant and one that was meant to be lived in the Spirit.
- The system was set up such that we couldn’t pass it.

Don’t think that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came to bring trouble, not peace. I came to turn sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law. Your worst enemy will be in your own family. If you love your father or mother or even your sons and daughters more than me, you aren’t fit to be my disciples. And unless you are willing to take up your cross and come with me, you aren’t fit to be my disciples. - Matt 10:34-38 (CEV)

2. Jesus mission on earth was to force people to make a decision.
- Truly one of the hard sayings of Jesus
- The cross demands that we make a decision

Others went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called the council together and said, “What should we do? This man is working a lot of miracles. If we don’t stop him now, everyone will put their faith in him. Then the Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation. - John 12:46-46 (CEV)

3. Jesus mission on earth was to minister the sick or sinners.
- If there was one purpose that described it all this had to be it.
- Jesus spent most of his time with people that didn’t lend lives that were considered by the majority of his day to be good.
- The worst people felt loved by Jesus.

I came to set fire to the earth, and I wish it was already on fire! I am going to be put to a hard test. And I will have to suffer a lot of pain until it’s over. - Luke 12:49-50 (CEV)

4. Jesus mission on earth was to suffer.
- He suffered in his phisical body. I often quote the scripture, by his stripes we are healed.
- He suffered the weight of betrayal, rejection, and desertion.
- He suffered as he bore the weight of the sins of mankind on himself.

I didn’t come from heaven to do what I want! I came to do what the Father wants me to do. He sent me, and he wants to make certain that none of the ones he has given me will be lost. Instead, he wants me to raise them to life on the last day. My Father wants everyone who sees the Son to have faith in him and to have eternal life. Then I will raise them to life on the last day. - John 6:38-40 (CEV)

Jesus answered: If God was your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and only from him. He sent me. I didn’t come on my own. Why can’t you understand what I am talking about? Can’t you stand hearing what I am saying? Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants. He has always been a murdered and a liar. There is nothing truthful about him. He speaks on his own, and everything he says is a lie. Not only is he a liar himself, but he is also the father of all lies. - John 8:42-44 (CEV)

5. Jesus mission on earth was to do the will of the Father.
- The will of the Father of Jesus was that he was born to die.
- For many years I’ve wondered was this something Jesus knew as an infant and at what point did Jesus realize that God’s will for him was.
- What is God’s will for your life?

Thank God, Jesus died for us so we don’t have to… But it is God’s will us also to do what the Father tells us to.