R719 The Absolutes Of a Purpose Driven Life, Pt.3

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton about the absolutes of a purpose-driven life. As we open God's Word together, we're available for you to pray anytime, 24 hours a day at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. It would be our privilege to pray with and for you. The Encouraging Word.

Now today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. I'm going to ask you to open your Bibles to Paul's letter to the Colossians and chapter 1. Paul's letter to the Colossians and the first chapter this morning. Just for the sake of those who may be worshiping with us for the first time or perhaps in a long time, we're right in the middle of the purpose-driven life and God is speaking because God has a plan for each one of us. He doesn't need us, but He chooses to use us. And as we try to understand and to know the mind of Christ, as we try to come to grips with God's purpose for our lives, we've come to the conclusion that there are a number of non-negotiables that we need to have in place.

Because if we don't have these non-negotiables or absolutes in place, we're going to be blown around, tossed to and fro with every wind of change, with every ideology, with every persuasion, with every thought pattern and every philosophy, every argument and every debate that comes down our way. It's going to influence us. It's going to change us.

It's going to alter our direction. I want to be able to stand up straight. I want to be able to be bold and resolute, to be a man of deep and abiding conviction.

I want our young people to be able to grow up to become solid rocks in their community based upon the absolutes of the Word of God. And friend, we believe that these things are essential. They're essential because they are God's non-negotiables. Now there are many, but we're focusing on three.

The first one we looked at last week was the source absolute. And we came to the conclusion that God and God alone is the originator of our very lives. We must understand that.

I'm going to reinforce that for you. Let's have a look at Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one, I'm going to begin at verse 15.

Bible says that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible. God, the first born, here it is, over all creation. For by him all things were created. By the way, what does God take responsibility for? All things. Now what do you have that predisposes you toward who God is that does not belong to God? Very important, my friends, the Bible says by Jesus Christ, who is the son of the living God, all things were created. Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities.

All things were created by him and for him. That is an incredible statement. Tell you why it's an incredible statement, folks, because there's a lot wrong in this world.

You ever thought about that? Do you know the only way that people like Corrie ten Boom survived the horrors of Nazi Germany? You know the only way she survived, you might say, well, it was her resilience, her bravery.

No, I'll tell you what it was. It was that Corrie ten Boom understood the source absolute. Even in the pit of hell itself, folks, people will tell you that survived the concentration camps in Auschwitz and Dachau and so on and so forth. They'll tell you the only way that they survived in the midst of the most horrific circumstances was that they understand they stood upon the source absolute. Let's continue, verse 17. He is before all things and in him all things hold together.

I'm going to stop right there. In him, all things hold together. Well, what do absolutes do for us?

They hold us, they bind us, they keep us, they keep us rooted right where we need to be. Well, this week I sat down, I got out a pen as we were reading through the purpose driven life and the assigned passages. And I began to say to myself, Don Wilton, what are some of the most critical questions that you would ask of yourself personally? And I wrote down a whole lot of them.

I'm only going to share six of them with you. I believe that these are some of the most critical questions that we could ever ask. Number one, number one, who am I?

Who am I? I think that's a critical question. The pursuit, the never ending pursuit to find out who we really are. Do you know that there are some people who are born and don't know who they are? Some people graduate from high school and even with a high school diploma, they still haven't found out who they are. Some people go on to university and college and they get higher education degrees including PhDs and they graduate and they still don't know who they are. Some people who marry wonderful people, husbands and wives and wonderful sons and daughters and yet they still don't know who they are.

There's some people who have wonderful businesses and travel the world but they never know who they are. There's some people who come to the point of death and at the point of death, they still are wondering, who am I? I believe with all my heart that there are millions of people today for whom that's the most critical question, who am I?

Because everything comes from that. If you don't know who you are, you're going to wander around like the children of Israel in the wilderness. You're going to go from this thing to that thing, you're never going to have a sense of fulfillment. If you don't know who you are, you will lead an unfulfilled life. Have you ever had moments of unfulfillment in your life where you're doing a lot, you're busy, you're active, you're engaged but you're unfulfilled? Here's a second one that I wrote down, what on earth am I here for?

We've heard that one before. Not only do I need to know who I am but I want to know why I'm here. What on earth am I here for? What is the purpose for my being? Am I just kind of going through life as a vapor? Number three, does God really have a plan for me?

Please don't misunderstand me but I should imagine because I do all the talking around here on Sunday mornings, that there's at least one person today out of the thousands who worship with us who would look at me and say, you know, boy I wish I could be Don Wilton, he just seems to have it all together. Does God have a plan for me? Evidently he seems to have a plan for everybody else but not me. Why am I wandering aimlessly around? Does God have a plan for me?

We're discovering that he does. You've been fearfully, wonderfully and very uniquely handcrafted by God. You are here according to his purpose and the Lord Jesus has a wonderful, wonderful plan for you.

He's planned your whole life and he wants you to know that and he wants you to be complete and to be fulfilled and to be whole. Here's one, now this is a tough one. Number four, this was my fourth question that I asked and it's a tough one. If God loves me, why do I hurt so much? You see my friends, I have met many people over the years for whom that is a very real question. Sometimes we would say to ourselves, well, you know, I know the Lord Jesus Christ and I ought not to be asking questions like that.

It's rather cheeky. I don't want to be rude to God. I don't want to be an affront to God.

I don't want God to think that I am being disrespectful. But the fact of the matter is that people hurt. We lose loved ones. We go through tremendous pain and suffering.

We hurt financially. Our children disappoint us. I've met parents who have done everything right and their children bring them so much grief and so much pain. That parent has got every reason to say, Lord, if you love me, why do I hurt like this?

I've met faithful men and women who have been faithful and yet their marriages have broken up. Why do I hurt like this? If God loves me, why do I hurt so much? And then we begin to understand that God is working all things together for the good of those that love God and to those who are the called according to his purpose. It's a remarkable thing to know that God is not just with me when I'm on a mountaintop, but he's in the deepest valley of my experience. Here's another one. Number five, how can I become like Christ?

That was our operative question this week. How can I become like Christ? You see, that has to do with growth, maturity. It's about discipleship. Did you know, by the way, that God's purpose for you is that you ought to grow to become more like him? That you need to grow in spiritual maturity.

Yesterday, my wife and I had the best fun last night because we had a visit. His name is Cash Hargrove. He's the grandson of our chairman of deacons, Bruce Cash. Let me tell you, this little fella is three months old. He's about this big, as cute as a button. I'm calling Jerry Richardson today because I found him a new linebacker for the Carolina Panthers. I mean, this boy is one little cuddly fella. You just want to gobble him up. Well, he came to visit us last night. We passed him around. We just had the best time.

You stand him on his feet and both arms come up just like that. You know something? While I was holding Cash, that little skunk spit all over me. And I'll guarantee you, when he spat all over me, youpsed and everything else, there was not one time that that cute little fella, Cash, gave one single thought to, you know, I don't think I need to do this to Dr. Don.

That's just not right. Well, the girls went out and started admiring the paint work in the house and did girl stuff and all the other kinds of things that go on. And us guys were left with the little fella. And I'll tell you, we kind of passed him around, just had the greatest time. He's the cutest little thing.

But I'm going to ask you something, folks. Why did little Cash Hargrove not think twice about spitting up all over me? Because he's a baby. He's a baby.

I understand that, don't you? Do you know that babies are the most selfish creatures in the world? All babies think about as number one. They let you know when they don't have food. They let you know when they've had too much food.

I'm not going to make that sound. I mean, babies, let me tell you, babies are the most selfish people. What do you do?

You change them, you burp them, you love them, you rock them because they're babies. How can I become more like Christ is the question that taps into the purpose of God. Now, I'm going to ask you a very tough question after I've made a wonderful statement. Someone said to me a couple of days ago, Pastor, you've been there 10 years.

What are some of the greatest joys you've experienced in 10 years at Spartanburg? You know what one of the greatest joys is for me? That I've watched many of you, so many of you grow to become more like Christ. Now, folks, please listen to me. When I came here, some of you were a bunch of babies. And I have watched you grow and become spiritually mature.

And guess what? I would pray with all my heart that you would say the same thing about me. I would pray that many of you in this congregation would say, Pastor, when you came here, man, am I glad you don't behave like such a big old baby anymore? Are you listening to what I'm saying? Now, folks, when did you come to know Jesus Christ? When did you give your heart to the Lord? All right, now that you've answered that question, do you still behave like a baby?

Huh? You say, well, how does a baby behave? Well, babies pout.

Have you ever met a Christian who's a member of a church who pouts? You don't get your own way, so you pout. Or maybe you stomp your feet. Or maybe you want your diaper changed all the time.

Or just maybe you're just selfish. If it doesn't suit you, you get mad. Or maybe you just can't help yourself squawk. You squawk all the time.

Everybody's got to listen to you squawk. You complain, you go home, and when you have lunch on Sunday, you have church and preacher for lunch. Let me tell you what you're doing, Daddy. If you're behaving like a baby spiritually in front of your children, you're cultivating a bunch of babies. You criticize your church, you criticize your pastor, you criticize everything, your children are going to grow up and do exactly the same thing. I wonder if there's a parent here today that you never, you never do things that are deep and meaningful. You're not faithful.

You run here and there and everywhere. Your children are going to grow up exactly the same. You say, what do you mean? Just look at them when they go to college. Ask yourself, are they going to church?

What are they doing? I know this is confrontational, folks. I've had parents who say to me, man, it doesn't matter. I'm just going to drink a little. I'll have my own private little liquor cabinet.

It doesn't matter. On one hand, I'm going to tell my kids that I love the Lord, that I've got principles. We're going to go to church. But on the other hand, I'm going to do exactly what I want. Guess what your children are going to do? You just gave them license to start drinking yourself. And don't believe all this poppycock about billboards that say parents who care tell their children how to say no and know when to say when and don't drink and drive.

Have you seen all this absolute junk that floats around all these lies that come up? God, my friend, God speaks to our hearts. And he said, listen, I want to drink. I want to drink. God speaks to our hearts and he said, listen, I want you to know that I have created you with one purpose in mind and that is to grow to be more like Jesus.

Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with more in just a moment. But isn't that our goal to be more like Jesus and the way he affected culture in the love of Jesus. That's what we're called to do with a call to courage. A wonderful book available on our website right now alongside a message from Dr. Wilton.

Be salt and light. Both of those resources are right now on our website, TEWonline.org. I hope you'll drop by and take a look.

That's TEWonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don. Next question, number six, what should I believe? See, these are critical questions. They make us uncomfortable. Boy, we struggle.

We struggle like anything. Because all of us mess up. By the way, if there's a single person here who's never messed up in any of these departments, I'd like to meet you. By the way, if you're a parent just sitting here today and something has been said that makes you really worry, you're sitting there saying, boy, am I guilty. Can I tell you how to handle that? Gather your children around. Your wife and your children or your husband and your children around the table today. Sit down and say to them, my beloved sons and daughters, my wife, my husband, I went to church this morning. God spoke to me and I've been wrong and I want to tell you that I'm sorry.

Any questions? I'll tell you, you'll do more parenting in 30 seconds than you would have done in the last 30 years. Turn to your daughter who you've offended because of your own personal behavior. It's not because you don't love her. You've just lived a double life. You've showed her one thing and done another thing.

Just turn to her, say, honey, I love you with all my heart. Daddy wants to tell you something. I went to church this morning. God spoke to me. Have you ever heard the phrase, when I come into church, the preacher got all over my feet. Boy, it hurt. Oh man, I'm sitting there.

That seat was hot. I felt like he was talking to me. God speaks to you.

That's the purpose of God. When we come into the house of God, God speaks. You see friends, it all comes down to these absolutes. Absolute number one, the source absolute. Absolute number two, the sustenance absolute. We read about it now in Colossians chapter one.

It's one thing for me to be born to know that my source is God, that I'm rooted in him, but how am I gonna be sustained? You know, if little Cash Hargrove came to our house last night and all the girls went off to go and admire the postcards and the dads were left behind, it's ludicrous to think that Robert Hargrove, his father, or my son, Rob, or myself, or Emory Cash, that we would have stood up and said, you know, we're just gonna go outside and throw a Frisbee for a while, put the little baby down and say, Cash, you just take care of yourself. We'll be back in a little while. That's a ludicrous statement. Well folks, let me tell you, God is the same. He doesn't just put us down. He sustains us. If you hold to the sustenance absolute, you hold to the absolute truth that, whereas God is the source of my creation, he is my root, that beyond that, God has made a covenant to take care of me.

Now, how does he do it? Two ways in which he does it, according to the scriptures. Number one, his power sustains the earth, and number two, his grace monitors the earth. There are your two operatives in the purpose-driven life, the power of God and the grace of God. How does God sustain me? I stand upon that as an absolute.

I can tell you whether I'm in the deepest valley or whether I'm on top of the mountain. It doesn't matter where I've been, no matter how much I've sinned, no matter where I've fallen. I can tell you this, my friends, God sustains me. He sustains me by his power and by his grace. The power of God is rooted in his sovereign majesty. It is based upon the character of God.

It is because of who he is. The grace of God is based upon what he does. What is the grace of God? It's his unmerited favor.

That's God's grace. It's as if someone were to come to people like you and me. Imagine if someone came up to me sometime and said to me, now Pastor, I just wanna give you this thing.

And I mean, it's a wonderful thing. And I turn to that person and I say to them, oh, listen, that is so kind of you, but I cannot accept that. Have you ever been offered a gift, but you find it very hard to accept it? I know some people who are so used to giving, they can't imagine actually receiving. By the way, did you know that there is a gift of giving and there's a gift of receiving?

And can you imagine someone coming up to you and saying to you, listen, man, I've got this thing or whatever it is and I just wanna give it to you. I just felt, oh, oh no, no. No, no, absolutely, thank, that is just so kind of you. Thank you very much, but I, no, no, no. I insist that you take it.

Oh, no, no, man, your grandmother would shoot me. I'm not, no, there is no, no, no, no. I'm not gonna have that. I can't, no, I want you to take it. It is on my heart.

I know I want you to, you finally get to the point at which that person says, well, I know that you don't want to take it. I understand that. I understand that, but I insist it's yours. Folks, that's what God's grace is. Now listen, there is not a single thing we deserve to receive the grace of God, but he gives it to us anyway. So for all of those of you that were about to get up and walk out, please remain seated because there's not one of us here today who deserves to stand upon the sustenance absolute. God's power and God's grace, it is an absolute.

It is not dependent on me. And what does that mean? It means that God will not disrupt the plans that he has for you. It means that God will not relinquish the power he has made available to you. And it means that God will not suspend his grace, which covers you. He's the God of covenant. Now just think about that. Is God dependent upon what I do or feel?

About any given thing? No, God is God. He does what he does because he's God. He makes his power available to me. He gives to me his grace and because he does these two, he's not gonna disrupt the plans that he's made for me. He's not going to relinquish the power that he has made available to me and he's certainly not going to suspend his grace which covers me. I am covered by the grace of God and I don't deserve it. You know, I didn't read you all that passage in Colossians, but if I'd read you that whole passage, we would have got down to verse 22.

The Bible says in Colossians 1-22, but now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight without blemish, watch this, watch this and free from accusation. All right, friends, here's a little bit more. All right, friends, here's a little quiz today. What is the number one thing Satan will do to you continually?

Someone tell me this morning. Accuse you. Satan is the accuser. He'll accuse you, man. He'll make you feel miserable. He'll tell you you're sorry. He'll tell you you're this. He'll tell you you're hopeless. He'll tell you you've messed up. He'll tell you you're a hypocrite. He'll tell you that you made mistakes. He is the accuser.

Why is he that? Because the Bible says the thief has come to do what? To destroy, but Jesus said, I've come that you might have life. And that life is available to each of us.

You've heard Dr. Don Wilton preaching from the pulpit, but now open your heart to what he wants to share with you 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 just gave your life to Jesus, welcome to the family of God, or rededicated your life to Christ, welcome home. We're so excited to see what God's gonna do next in your life and would love to be a part of it, love to pray for you, celebrate with you, and put some free resources in your hands that Dr. Wilton wants you to have. Our phone number's 866-899-WORD.

Take a moment, jot the number down, store it in your cell, 866-899-9673. We'll connect you to us 24 hours a day, and we'd love to put these resources in your hands. Before we get away, closing thoughts from our chief encourager, Dr. Don Wilton. 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. Until next time, let's stay connected on our website at www.tewonline.org. The Encouraging Word.