Purpose FULL - Divine Calling, Part 1

The Oxford Dictionary defines the word purpose as the reason for which something is done. So let me ask you, what's your purpose? Is it just to live a good life, work hard, be a good spouse, good parent? Have you lost your way, your focus, your purpose, and all the chaos that has happened in recent times?

If so, stay with me. We're going to learn to discover your purpose right here on Living on the Edge. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Thanks for joining us as we begin a new series called Purposeful that will directly speak to that natural longing we all have to know, why we're here, and the meaning to our lives. Our teacher for this series is Chip's son, Ryan Ingram, pastor at Awakening Church in San Jose, California. In these changing times, Living on the Edge is committed to bringing you new voices like Ryan for a fresh biblical perspective on the challenges we're facing.

Our mission to encourage Christians to live like Christians remains the same, whether it's through Chip's teaching or the occasional guest speaker. So we hope you'll enjoy what Ryan has to share. Over the next several programs, Ryan will explain how we can stay on purpose when difficulty, hardship, and conflict come. He also impacts how God defines success and what that has to do with our mission here on earth. But Ryan kicks off this series by tackling perhaps the most asked question in all of Christendom, what is God's plan for my life? If you have your Bibles ready, turn to Acts chapter 13 for Ryan's message, Divine Calling. Purposeful.

Why don't you say that with me? Purposeful. Like, how do you live like a life full of purpose? You know life's big questions.

You wrestled with them at one point, or maybe you're wrestling with them. You know, the question of existence. Why am I here? The question, you know, of meaning or significance.

Does my life matter? The question of purpose. What am I here for?

And isn't it true that for many of us, this last year probably shook the foundation of many of those questions? Like why am I here? What's going on? I don't even understand what's happening in the world, and does anything matter at all? And when we're talking about purpose, hasn't it felt like for some, like your purpose has been put on pause, or for some, you felt like your purpose was lost? Because so much of your life was built around what you did, or who you were around, and then all of a sudden those things were stripped away, whether it was the approval of people or success in your job, and now you're looking around and going like, why am I here?

What is really going on? And I think a lot, you just kind of felt like this is just purpose less. What's the point of it all? And the question is, how do we actually live a life, and can we live a life full or filled with purpose? Now what's incredible about the gospel and the writings of scripture is God's word just begins from the very pages of the Bible saying that you are filled with purpose.

I mean, just think about this. This is in the first couple pages of the Bible in Genesis where it says that you are created in the image of God. Like I'm looking at image bearers.

I'm looking at ones who have intrinsic value and worth, who is not an accident, who is not a mistake, one who has been intentionally, carefully designed and placed on purpose. I like how Dallas Willard says it. He says that you are an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe. Have you ever thought about yourself like that?

I mean, think about that. That's who you are. You're an eternal being. You will go on forever and you have an eternal destiny in God's great universe. There's a point to it all and a point to your life.

And so what does this mean? First, it means that you were made on purpose. Don't miss this because some of you need this today. This is the reason God has you here. You were made on purpose. You're not an accident. You're not a mistake.

You're not a waste of time. Whatever those thoughts that have been rattling around in your mind are a lie from the pit of hell. You're made on purpose and as a result, you're made for a purpose. God has such an incredible plan for you and He's designed you. Fearfully and wonderfully made, knit together and there's a purpose and a plan and you don't want to miss it. And the question that all of us wrestle with then is, well, how in the world do I figure out God's purpose for my life?

I get it, Ryan. God has a purpose for my life. But what is God's purpose for my life?

Thank you very much. I've been asking that question for decades. Or better yet, what is God's calling in your life? And to be sure, this isn't just a 20-year-old question. I think sometimes we think about this, so like, yeah, I remember asking that question when I was in my 20s, you know, and we wrestle with that. You know, we're wrestling with our why am I here and what is my job and all these sort of things.

But it's definitely a question in the 40s, by the way, 20s. You know why? There's a little thing. You may have heard of it. You might not have.

It's not that big of a deal. Little thing called a midlife crisis, where people do the dumbest things because they realize one thing. The weight of what they've built their life on no longer supports their life. And so they're looking for something else to bring purpose and meaning. And maybe it's found in a new car.

Maybe it's found in a new life entirely. And then when I talk to those in our church that are in their 60s, 70s. Those who have lived life well look back with great contentment and satisfaction. But I've also had too many conversations that look back with regret and pain.

And I wish I would have invested my life differently. The things I poured my life in, the purposes I thought mattered, really didn't. So how do we discover God's calling on our life? I want to talk about the divine calling of God. How do you discover it and give you three specific clear callings of God in your life today to live that out?

And to do that, we're going to dive back into Acts. In Acts chapter 13, if you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open up there. And we're going to look at a snapshot of where Barnabas and Saul get a clear calling from God. It's this clear calling from God. And out of this, we're going to unpack three clear callings for God in your life.

It begins this way. Now in the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetriarch, and Saul. Now notice, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart. I don't know why that was my Holy Spirit voice.

Okay. He said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the word to which I've called them. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. Don't you want that? Like wouldn't that make your life so simple? Like all of a sudden, you're like, what, Timmy, this is my calling for your life.

Like fantastic. That would be great. Like, Ingram, that is so dramatic.

I mean, when is that ever going to happen? Yeah, I would love to have the Holy Spirit say, set apart me, and here we go. How do you discover God's calling for your life?

What's fascinating though is the backstory to this moment. What led up and set up this moment that gave Paul and Barnabas their specific calling. You see, there is the clear calling of God on your life, his will for your life, that when we live it out, then his specific calling for your life will be revealed. And the challenge before many of us is we want God's specific calling without living out his revealed calling. You see, I want to give you a little bit of the backstory of Paul or Saul, and a little bit of his background, because what you'll see is how God was working to this moment of setting apart for a new season of ministry, and it's what God wants to do in your life, and how he wants to grow and help you become who he's made you to be to live out the purposes for your life. And so today I want to give you three clear callings of God for your life to live out. The first is simply this, you are called to Jesus. You are called to Jesus. This might be, no it's not might be, this is the most important one, lean in with me here.

If you miss, if we get nothing out of this, get this. Now you remember Saul's story, he was traveling on the road to Damascus. He was a persecutor of the faith. He has a life-changing encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, and as a result, his entire world flipped, the entire direction of his life. His job, in fact, changed.

He encountered the risen Savior, and it changed everything in his life. See your first and foremost calling is not to a job, not to your school, to your education. It's not even to your marriage. Your first calling is to Jesus.

That's it. You are called to a person first instead of a task. You're invited into a relationship, not rules. I like the way Jesus said it. His invitation to you and to me today, he says, come to me.

Like would you? Would you really come to me? The invitation's always been open wherever you've been.

The invitation's always been there, whatever you've done. Come to me. Come to me, all who are weary and burdened. Come to me, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.

Learn from me, for I'm gentle and humble in heart, and you'll find rest for your soul. See the challenge for us is when we're talking about Jesus being our first calling, is the way we answer that often in real life is it's Jesus plus something else equals my purpose in life. Maybe it's Jesus plus your job, or Jesus plus, man, when I marry him, or when I meet her, Jesus plus, you know, when we're finally able to have kids, or Jesus plus success, or upward mobility or, you know, these sort of things, and it's just Jesus.

It's just him. It's your first, my first calling. Nothing more and nothing less than simply Jesus. I like how Rick Warren says it. He says, the first purpose of your life or calling is to let God love you.

Isn't that good? The first purpose and calling of your life. And he doesn't say to love God, which certainly that is true, but it's to let God love you. You know how you let God love you? You come to him.

You gotta come to him. Like you have a perfect heavenly father who's eager to hear your voice, a savior who suffered and died for you to bring you into relationship, he says, just come to me. Would you let God love you today?

Would you stop putting up the walls? Stop putting up the things that I get it, that you have hurts and you have wounds and you have baggage and you have these things that you just build up and you're just like, God, I'm just so nervous and afraid. Okay, okay, God, I'm a little, but I'm just gonna come to you and here's my heart.

And he meets you there every single time. Our first calling. Our first calling is we are called to Jesus, called to a person. The second calling and clear calling of our lives is we're called to faithfulness.

We're called to faithfulness. You know, it's interesting when you read through Acts and it's so, it's kind of hard because we miss it is we don't realize like you can flip a page and like years have gone by, you know? So Paul's in Damascus, right? He actually spent three years in Damascus, but it's one sentence in Acts and he spends three years in Damascus and then he travels back to Jerusalem. And when he goes back to Jerusalem, everybody's still afraid of him. Even after three years, they're like, we don't trust this guy. We don't know this guy.

And I love it. Barnabas, he's a son of encouragement. He's the only one that goes to Paul, puts his arm around them, and he actually brings them up to the apostles and brings them into community and into fellowship. And then the apostle Paul, Saul then, he starts preaching in Jerusalem. And I mean, some people are getting upset in the city and they want to kill him now.

These are people that we would call friends then. And so the disciples don't really know what to do. And they set him off to his hometown of Tarsus. Now from chapter nine to chapter 13, where Paul and Barnabas are called out, the amount of time is 13 years. A 13 year span and 10 of those years was spent in Tarsus.

He goes back and think about this, the guy who would one day pin much of the New Testament, who would plant hundreds of churches, spends a decade, spends a decade. And what's he doing? Well the reality is we don't really know what he's doing because it's called the silent years. We have nothing recorded.

Here's what we know. He worked the family trade. Because we know he was Paul, he couldn't help but share about Jesus. And he was just faithful with what was in front of him for a decade. See, we're called to faithfulness. We're called to be faithful for what's in front of us. You've been listening to the first part of Ryan Ingram's message, Divine Calling, from his series Purposeful.

He and Chip will join us here in the studio with some additional thoughts and application in just a minute. But what does it really mean to be full of purpose? Is it just being successful at your job, making lots of money, being a good parent or spouse? Maybe you're completely lost when it comes to your purpose and you're really struggling to find any kind of meaning to your life right now. No matter where you're at, finding purpose is one of the toughest challenges we face. In this series, Ryan Ingram shares what it means to live a meaningful life and unpack God's true calling. Stay with us to learn how you can live out your God-given purpose even when difficulty, hardship and conflict come.

You're not going to want to miss a single message. For more information about this series, Purposeful, Discovering God's Calling on Your Life, just go to LivingOnTheEdge.org. And if you happen to miss a message along the way, you can always catch up on the Chip Ingram app. Also, let me encourage you to sign up for the new Daily Discipleship with Chip, True Spirituality. Taking part in this free video mentorship opportunity with Chip would be a great next step on your faith journey. For 17 days, Chip will walk with you through Romans 12 and reveal what it means to really follow after Jesus in the ups and downs of everyday life. Pre-register for this study today and we'll send you our friend Lance Witt's devotional based on Romans 12 called, Leave Ordinary Behind at No Cost.

Sign up now while this offer lasts by going to LivingOnTheEdge.org or by calling 888-333-6003 or go to LivingOnTheEdge.org. App listeners, just tap Discipleship. Well, Chip, we've just started this new series from your son, Ryan, focusing on how we can live a more purposeful life, but many don't know what that really means. Would you take a minute and share what we'll learn from these messages about purpose?

Be glad to, Dave. In fact, I happened to be in the services when Ryan was teaching this. What I thought was really exciting for me is that he's going to develop discovering your purpose out of the book of Acts at a time where there was chaos, there was difficulty.

I mean, the world was very anti-Christian. And it was very interesting in Acts 13, there's a calling and where Paul and Barnabas discovered their specific purpose. And then we'll look at, well, what about your purpose when life gets really complicated or when there's conflict? How do you disagree with fellow believers even or family members and stay on course in your purpose?

And then finally, I think sometimes, maybe more often than we want to admit, when things get really hard, we start thinking, I must be out of God's will when what we're going to learn is God's purpose often is really good, but really difficult. So I cannot wait for the Living on the Edge family to hear this series. And I'll be back to dialogue a bit with Ryan so that we can talk about how to put these into practice. Thanks for that, Chip. Well, we hope you'll make plans to be with us for this entire series. And if you happen to miss a program, you can always listen on the Chip Ingram app or at livingontheedge.org. I'm joined now by my son, Ryan.

And Ryan, I am really excited for listeners to hear this new series. I watched it have a great impact on the church that you pastor, their awakening church in San Jose, California. And I'm interested, I know you were teaching through Acts 13, 14, 15, 16, but why was it so important to not just teach through the passage, but take this line of why is our purpose so important, especially in kind of the culture that we're living in?

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much, Dad. First, it's awesome to get to be with you and get to share this sermon series with your audience. Something as you're saying that came to mind was a quote by Gail Hyatt. She once said that people lose their way when they lose their why, that people lose their way when they lose their why. And I've talked to so many people, incredible, wonderful people over the course of this pandemic, over the course of the last 18 months, who have absolutely lost their way.

You know, one of my good buddies, he's a pastor up in San Francisco. He once said that the pandemic and these last 18 months, they're calling it the great reveal, because it's actually revealed that so many people, their why or their purpose is incredibly fragile. It's unstable. It's notwithstanding the storms that we're in, their why of work. It just got stripped away. I have a friend that once was telling me about, you know, he loved going into work and he had his identity wrapped up in what he did and how he worked with people. And all of a sudden that was stripped away and he had an identity crisis in this season. We've watched people whose whys have been their marriage or relationship. And then because it's the great reveal and now you're seeing some things in your marriage and you're stuck in the same home, it begins to crumble and they're losing their way or their kids and just a good friend whose kids are, you know, growing up and moving out of the house. Well, his life was his kids and now he's at an identity crisis and so many millennials in Gen Z, their why is travel and experience and then all of a sudden that was stripped away. See, people lose their way when they lose their why and in this season in particular, our purpose is in crisis and we're revealing the things that we've put our hope in and the things that we've put our trust in is incredibly fragile and will not sustain us in all the seasons of life.

Now here's what's critical about this. In the long run for all of us is that misplaced priorities ultimately lead to misspent lives. When we place our priorities in the wrong place at the wrong things, it means we're chasing and running after those and then when we look back on life, we see that, oh my goodness, I wish I invested time here. I wish I gave my life here.

I wish I would have done. You know, as being a pastor for almost two decades now, I've had, you know, the sad conversation with many people looking back on their life with pain and regret, wishing they had invested their lives and their time well. You know, part of the misspent lives when we're talking about the series purposeful is in our culture, we've replaced purposeful living with pleasureful living, and it's become the pursuit and the aim of our lives. And as a result, we're living shallow, we're living lives that really don't ultimately fulfill and we're chasing after the next thing that will. And what I believe in this season as the church is we have an incredible opportunity to actually reset the purpose of our lives, to reset our why around what God says.

This is how we are to spend and invest our very lives. You know, a great way to get more out of every message in this series is to use the message notes while you listen. You'll get Ryan's simple outline, scripture references, and lots of fill-ins to help you remember what you're learning.

Use them personally or even with your small group. These message notes are a quick download at livingontheedge.org under the broadcasts tab. App listeners tap fill in notes and you're set. Well, be sure to join us next time as Ryan Ingram continues in his series Purposeful. Until then, this is Dave Drouie saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.