R716 Foundations of A Purpose Driven Life

Foundations are critical, and today Dr. Don Wilton's message is all about the foundations of a purpose-driven life. In just a moment we head to the book of Matthew, Chapter 24 for today's Bible study, but don't forget to join us online as well at www.tewonline.org. You can sign up for the daily devotional from Dr. Wilton right there at www.tewonline.org.

And now today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. As we open our Bibles this morning to Matthew, Chapter 25, I'm going to guarantee you something today. If you are being blessed of God, you need to be on the God because Satan will not like it, and he's going to try to do whatever he can to upset your life.

Somewhere, somehow, through someone, he's going to do that. So be on your God. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this extraordinary day today, time of worship, time when we come to give you thanks in all things. Father, we find ourselves calling upon your name. We're praying for our president, for our men and women in uniform, for those who are deployed overseas, for their families, for those who are being deployed even here in our own congregation, how much we respect them and love them. Father, we pray for the people of our community, indeed the world.

And we pray, our Father, that during these few moments that we have together, that you would so speak to our hearts that we could never be the same again. Some of us are playing the fool with God. Some of us are masquerading. Some of us don't know where to turn to. Some of us want to know what on earth we're here for to begin with. Your word has the complete answer to everything. Speak to us today, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. Now folks, what I'm going to speak to you this morning is on the foundation of a purpose-driven life, the foundations of a purpose-driven life. I don't have to give you an analogy today, but I think foundations are appropriate for any discussion in life, are they not? We build a home. We want to make certain that we have a proper foundation that is laid.

Foundations are very important. I think that as parents, we always pray that God would give to us the ability and the strength and the wisdom to provide our sons and daughters with the right kind of foundation so that when they are grown and they leave home and go off onto college and become parents and married people themselves, that they would have a strong foundation upon which to stand. I want to read to you this morning in Matthew chapter 25 and beginning at verse 14 because Jesus shares an extraordinary account about three men. It's interesting to note that this is Jesus talking.

He's obviously talking about himself. Remember that every time Jesus told a story in scripture, he wasn't concocting something to try and get our attention, but rather what he was giving to us was an earthly story that has a heavenly meaning. He was speaking from the portals of heaven and he was trying to show us what he requires of us and how we should live our own lives and in this context, what his purpose is for our lives.

I've met many people who wander around aimlessly on the highways and byways of life, looking for meaning, trying to find purpose, where they fit. What does God want of them? Well, let's read about it in Matthew chapter 25 and verse 14.

Again, Jesus said, it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one, he gave five talents of money. By the way, if you're interested, a talent was about $1,000.

So it was a lot of money back then. To one, he gave five talents, the other to another two and to another one talent, each according to his own ability. By the way, God has made us all very unique. Did you know that all of us are different? We all have our likes and dislikes, but we are very unique. We all have our own individual unique abilities.

It's a wonderful thing that in God has got a special purpose for all of us in the context of our own individual abilities. Then this man went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and he put his money to work and gained five more. So also the one with two talents gained two more, but the man who received the one talent went off. He dug a hole in the ground and he hid his master's money.

After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. Master, he said, you entrusted me with five talents.

Look, I have gained five more. His master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. By the way, did you note what he didn't say? He didn't say well done, good and successful servant. Success is not what God puts the emphasis upon.

Some of us say, well, I want to be successful. God says, no, what you need to be is faithful. And if you're faithful, successfulness follows faithfulness, not the other way around.

And success is measured in terms of God's purpose, not in terms of man's metering stick. All right, let's get back to this. Verse 19. Well, let's go down to verse, where am I?

Okay. Verse 21, his master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. The man with two talents also came. Master, he said, you entrusted me with two talents. See, I've gained two more.

He now had four. His master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. And so I'm going to put you in charge of many things.

Come and share your master's happiness. Now the man who had received the one talent, remember he's the one who went and dug a hole and buried it. He came and he said, master, watch how he tries to rationale this. Someone told me one time, the definition of to rationalize is to tell a rational lie. Now watch what he says. He rationalizes. He said, master, I knew that you were a hard man harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

So I was afraid you must understand this. And so I went out and I hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. His master applied you wicked, lazy servant. So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed.

Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned, the least that would have happened is that I would have received interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the 10 talents for everyone who has will be given more and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have even what he has will be taken from him and throw that worthless servant outside into darkness where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. May the Lord write his word upon our hearts, the foundations of a purpose driven life. Very important. Did you know that the way in which you and I define our own lives will govern the way in which we live our lives? What is important to you in your life is going to be determined by the way in which you see and view your own life. So the question is how do you define your own life? How do you see your own life? Some people would say, well my life is a party. If you define your own life as a party, then guess what's going to happen? Your primary value in life is going to be to have fun. Now folks, Americans, many of us are smitten with that. All we're doing is we're on a fun search.

We're looking for what next is going to give us the most fun. That's what governs what we do. That's our value.

Some people would define their lives as a race. Now I'm guilty as charged. I'll hold up both hands. This happens to me many times. It's my constant struggle. Define yourself as being engaged in a race and your primary value is going to be speed. I'm convinced one of these days the police department of New Orleans or at least of Spartanburg is going to come and give me a set of wonderful blue lights so that I can get around the city a little quicker because I just cannot possibly get to where I need to go quick enough. And don't all look at me.

You're all in the same place because you all pass me as well. Folks, life can be so hectic, running around, taking care of babies, children, business, up this way, down that way, school, getting stuff at the grocery store. Some people define their lives as a race and if your life is defined as a race, your primary value is going to be speed. I've got to get as much done in a shorter space of time as quickly as possible. Some people would define their lives as a marathon, like running a marathon. And that means your primary value is going to be endurance. Well, I'm just going to wake up and do it again. I'm just going to keep on at it, you know.

Second verse, same as the first. Some people define their lives as a battlefield. Have you ever lived with someone or been around someone who sees everything as a battle, battlefield? If you define your life as a battlefield, your governing primary value is going to be to win. You want to win. Same as if you define your life as a game.

You're going to want to win all the time. You define it as a battlefield. Everybody's against me. I'm out there fighting. I've got to earn my right. I've got to fight my way to the top. It's just a constant battle.

If you just define your life as a constant battle, your whole purpose in life is going to be governed by the need to win all the time. Every now and again, I'll play golf with somebody like that. I'm telling you, man, if they don't hit that thing smack right mound the diddle, which means in the center of the fairway, I mean, you'd think the end of the world had come.

I mean, I've been with some people. You could rather go and amputate their left leg than to hit a bad shot at playing golf. It's just a game of golf. It's a battlefield. Everything depends upon where the, my team won the game yesterday.

If my team didn't win yesterday, life is going to come to an abrupt end. Did you know that God's view of life is defined by three overriding metaphors in the Bible. I call them God's three foundations. There are three foundations that help us to define God's purpose for us. We don't understand these foundations. We can build a wonderful house, but when a wind comes, it's going to fall down.

Now, friend, listen carefully today. It is very important that these three foundations are in place. If they not in place, you don't have a leg to stand on when the storms of life come. You're going to be running around in a circle, wondering where you are and who you are and why you are. So how does God define these? Well, here it is foundation number one, life on earth is a test. Life on earth is a test. Everything in life is a test according to God. And by the way, there are three things that I can tell you if we understand this foundational principle. Number one, that God will test you and me.

Listen to this very, very carefully. God will test you and me deliberately. You're going to say to me, pastor, you mean that God actually sits up there in a sense, looks down upon mankind and sees a person like Don Wilton and says, boy, I'm going to get him today. Watch me folks. Does God do that?

Yes. Any questions this morning? Because God is my heavenly father and because he loves me supremely and because he has his divine sovereign purpose for my life, he is going to deliberately test me.

Not only going to test me deliberately, he's going to test me continually right through my life. It's not going to stop. Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment with the rest of today's message from Dr. Don. But Dr. Wilton is calling us to courage, calling us to stand strong even though there is grand opposition in the world today to living the Christian life. The resources on our website right now at www.tewonline.org are called A Call for Courage. You'll discover more on our website right now. I pray you'll take a moment and visit www.tewonline.org or call for your copy at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don. Life is one spiritual test after another. The Bible is full of it. Not only is he going to test me deliberately and continually, but he's going to test me practically. In other words, God is going to put practical situations and circumstances in my life that is going to be there in order to test my faith.

And I'm going to tell you what it produces in just a moment. There are many instances of that in scripture. God tested Abraham. His servant said, Abraham, I want you to take your only son Isaac and go and sacrifice him to me. He tested him. God tested Joseph. There was Joseph, the youngest son of an incredible extraordinary family, put him into a pit, sold him into slavery, sent him off to a foreign country.

I think Joseph finally rose to the top of Pharaoh's house and said, that's it. God said, uh-uh, I'm not through with you yet. He just put one test after another in front of him. God tested Daniel. God tested the apostle Paul, immanent statesman, great preacher and expositor, pastor, shepherd, missionary. God tested him. Time without number, put him in a ship and wrecked the ship, threw him into jail, persecuted him, brought opposition into his life, gave him a hard time.

I mean, did it. There are many people in scripture that passed the test and the many people who failed. Adam and Eve failed the test. Another one who failed the test was King David. There he was all powerful, had everything that opened and shut. God sent Bathsheba along.

She was a beautiful lady. What happened? David failed the test. He failed the test. You might say to me, well, pastor, how does God test? Let me give you a number of ways in which God, God will test people like you and me.

Perhaps he will test you by bringing about major changes in your life. Wonder if there's anyone here today who's really comfortable. Could I just, don't raise your hand, anyone comfortable here today? And I'm not talking about where you're sitting. I'm talking about where you are.

You've got it. You've got your home, your family, your wherewithal, the means, security, you belong. Let me tell you folks, if you love the Lord, God will test you by turning your comfort zone in the opposite direction. God can test you in the second place by delaying promises, delayed promises. God will test you with impossible problems.

I mean, it's just impossible. I've got the situation. I don't know what I'm going to do with it.

There is no way that I can handle it. You know what God's doing? He's just watching you. He's testing you. God will test you with unanswered prayer. You say to me, well, past it, you mean God doesn't answer prayer sometime?

Exactly right. He did that to Hezekiah, 2 Chronicles. Listen to what he did to Hezekiah. God withdrew from Hezekiah.

Why? In order to test him and see what was really in his heart. I think Hezekiah was an American.

You might say to me, how did you know that? You know why I know he's an American folks? Because Hezekiah wanted everything now.

And he didn't even have McDonald's folks. He wanted now. Folks, that's what we Americans want. We're so used to that. We've got everything at our fingertips.

So we expect God to do the same thing. Listen, we want something to eat. We go get it. We want to have some fun. We go do it. Want to drive somewhere, we drive there. Want to go to sleep, we go to sleep. Go to a ball game, have some fun.

Be around this, do that. Want something to drink? We not only do it immediately, but we've got everything in the world to drink. Have you ever sat in a restaurant with people like I do all the time? And up comes the person saying, what would you like to drink? You know, the dumbest question I've ever heard in a restaurant is, well, what do you have?

If I was that person serving, I would say, well, how much time do you have? I mean, you want this? Folks, just think about the options we've got. I love it.

I don't have to drink cold tea folks, if I don't want to. There's everything in the world. You know, we believe God is like that. Lord, I've got the situation. Lord, I need an answer. I need to know which way to turn in the road.

And I want you to tell me now. Unanswered prayer will test us. Number five, undeserved criticism. Some of you, you don't need to nudge your spouse right now, but have you ever been unjustly criticized by your spouse?

I mean, he walks in and he says, I just want to tell you something young lady, you might've been married to me for 15 years, but I'm not going to put up with this and you go, oh, you look like you've just won Miss World. I did that. And it's unjust. You know, you're right. You never did that.

Maybe it's at work. You've been working faithfully. You've been doing everything right. You've been honoring the Lord and here it comes.

Folks, now watch me. I can almost guarantee you that while you're doing purpose driven life, at some time, you're going to get undeservedly criticized. God's going to test you. God's going to test you. Number six, senseless tragedies.

How do you explain senseless tragedies? God's testing you. Number seven, the handling of your possessions.

God's watching you. I love this passage we just read. I love verse 14 particularly because the Bible says this man was the master.

He came and gave what was his to his servants and he entrusted his property to them. God tests us in the handling of our possessions. You see foundation number one is that life on earth is a test. Well, what does all this mean? How do you bring it all together? How do we apply it to our own lives?

Let me give you a couple of things. Number one, God will test your faith through the way in which you handle your problems. God will test your faith through the way in which you handle your problems. Number two, God will test your trust worthiness by the way in which you handle your possessions.

I want you to listen carefully. God's going to test your faith through the way in which you handle your problems, but he's going to test your trust worthiness through the way in which you handle your possessions. What are you doing with your possessions? What are you doing with your money, with your home, your family, your possessions, with your clothes, with the things that you have? Number three, God will test your love through the way you handle people.

You see folks, listen to me. Listen, God will test your love, your spiritual love through the way you handle people. God will test your faithfulness through the way you handle spiritual warfare.

Listen, if life on earth is a test, I want to guarantee you something today. If your marriage is doing well, you're going to encounter spiritual warfare in your marriage. If your children are growing up well and things are doing good, you're going to encounter spiritual warfare.

If life is on track and you're honoring God, you are going to encounter. The Bible says we need to be sober and we need to be vigilant because the devil is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We need to put on the whole armour of God. Are you with me? Are we with the Lord? As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Somebody say, amen.

Are you ready? Life on earth is a test. Principal number two, life on earth is a trust. It's a trust. God has entrusted to us our energy, our intelligence, our opportunities, our relationships, our resources.

What God's word teaches me that if I'm going to understand his purpose for my life, I have got to understand that everything that I have is on loan to me from God. Now, folks, if I'm going to accept this basic fundamental principle from God, that life on earth is not just a test, it is a trust, I've got to respond. I've got to respond to that.

Now, how do I respond to that? I respond, number one, by understanding ownership. Ownership. If life is a trust, I've got to understand who owns everything. David said in Psalm 24, he said, the world and all that is in it belong to the Lord, the earth and all that are in it are his. I've got to understand ownership. By the way, in this story here about these three men, verse 14 establishes ownership. The master of the house came and he said, I'm going to give to you what is mine.

Now I'm going to ask you a question, folks, a rhetorical question. What do you have right now that belongs to you? Is there anybody today worshiping on television or in this beautiful sanctuary that can stand up and say, well, let me tell you what I own. You don't own a single thing.

Let me save you the embarrassment. You don't own your house. You don't own your bank balance. You don't own your medical practise. You don't own your business. You don't own your children. You don't own your marriage. You don't own your retirement. God owns everything.

Now, are you willing to accept that? God owns everything. So the first thing you've got to understand is the ownership principle.

The second thing you've got to understand is the management principle. And again, it comes out in this great parable of the talents. Folks, when God created me and he created you, he gave to us these blessings. He said, listen, here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to give you all of these things and I'm going to put you in charge of managing my possessions. Such powerful teaching and preaching from the pulpit with Dr. Don Wilton. Now, as he steps into the studio, open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name, my friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you were praying with Dr. Wilton to give your life to Christ, to rededicate your life, we would love to speak with you, pray with you, and give you free resources if you'll call us right now at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or meet us online at tewonline.org. You know, I'm so glad that we've been able to share together by means of radio today.

You just mean so much to me and how thankful we are for the Word of God together. You can call right now and connect with me at 866-899-9673. Did you get that? 866-899-9673. Call and connect with me right now. Again, let's stay connected at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or online at tewonline.org.