The Purpose Driven Life

Lesson 1

What on Earth Am I Here For?

                What is the meaning of life?  Why am I here?  Yes, the age-old questions are alive and continue to be asked.  What’s your answer?  Do you have one?  How do you know it’s correct?

                Let us dig, think and share as we seek these answers and more.

Open:  What is the purpose of Life?

1.  “It’s not about you…Focusing on yourself will never reveal our life’s purpose…You were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not your using him for your own purpose.” [1]

• What do you think about this quote?  Why?

2.  Do you believe you are significant? 

• Why did you answer in this way?
• Read Ps 139:15-16
• What do these verses mean to you?

3.  Honestly, what “drives” your life?

q       Guilt

q       Anger or Resentment

q       Fear (of something or someone)

q       Money

q       Approval of Others

q       A Goal

q       Faith

q       Other  ______________________________________________

A purpose-driven life that is guided, controlled and directed by God’s purposes yields these five benefits[2]:

1.       Gives meaning to life  (Jer. 29:11)

2.       Simplifies your life  (Luke 10:38-42)

3.       Focuses your life  (Eph. 5:17)

4.       Motivates your life  (Rom 12:11)

5.       Prepares your life for eternity  (Mt 6:19-20; Rom 14:12)

• Do you believe these benefits are true?  Why or why not?

• Do you need a new driving force in your life?  Why?

4.  Living with an eternal perspective realizes that we were made to last forever and this life is not all there is.    Read  2 Cor. 5:1-5; Mt 25:34; Ecc. 3:11; 1 John 2:17

• What do you learn about eternal perspective?
• What would change in your life if you lived with this perspective every day?

5.  In a word or a picture, what describes your life?  Why?

The Bible describes life as a three part metaphor:  a test (James 1:12), a trust (1 Cor 4:2; Mt 25:21), and a temporary assignment (James 4:14; 2 Cor 4:18).

How are you tested?

What are you trusted with?

Are you living with heaven in sight?

6.  What is the common theme of these verses?  Rom 11:36; Ps 19:1; Rev 4:11; Isa 43:7

                How do we bring glory to God each day?

§         Rom 12:1

§         Rom 15:7; John 13:34-35

§         Eph 4:13

§         1 Pet 4:10-11

§         Mt 28:18-20; 2 Cor 4:15

The Challenge:

Will you live what you have learned and discovered?  Pray for strength, courage and discipline, and look for a trusted person or group to encourage you, and each other, to stay the course, applying these principles to your life.

With God’s power working within us, God can do much, much more than anything we ask or think of.”

                                                                                                                Ephesians 3:20  NCV