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PASTOR WOOD’S Message notes

Message Notes: January 17, 2021
Title: “Taking Hold of Your Purpose”
Text: 1 Samuel 3

Intro: Fred the builder and his side job calling.

I. God calls us to be Jesus’ image bearers who glorify God.
A. We cannot bear an image we do not see nor give glory we do not know.
1. 1 Samuel 3:10-“Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.”
2. Samuel is a prophet in the making.
B. The Lord calls Samuel to fulfill his purpose as prophet.
C. “Speak O Lord, for your servant is listening.”
D. Samuel is to be a sharp contrast to Eli and his wicked sons.
E. The Word calls us to faith and to fulfill our purpose.

II. Our calling often gets lost amongst the weeds and the key to getting out is a matter of devotion.
A. Illustration: Playing in the weeds.
B. David Schmidt, Professor of Homiletics in St. Louis Seminary wrote an article in the Concordia Journal last summer titled, “Devotion and Discipleship in a Discontented Age.”1
1. “Devotion is a deeper reverence for a teaching of the faith that manifests itself in contemplative and active practices in the world.”
2. Example of a couple married for 70 years.
3. We all believe in these things but not all of us are devoted to them.”
4. It is in this devotional life that we realize our purpose; we discover what is truly meaningful.
5. 1 Corinthians 6:12, “You might be able to do anything but not everything is actually good for you.”

III. The importance of “yet”.
A. “Yet” is a strong and important word for purpose
1. It implies potential and possibility.
2. It is a contrast word.
3. It is a word that does not doubt.
B. “Yet” is a word for hope and anticipation.
1. 1 John 3:2-3 which says, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”
2. 1 Samuel 3 “Samuel did not know God—yet.”
3. But by the end of the chapter he did.
C. Jesus approached all people with “yet” as a possibility— “All things being possible with God.”
D. “Yet” can feel like it may never come but it does.
1. An example from Seminary.
2. Often associated with burn out.
3. And then vicarage came.
4. And then I met my wife.
E. The full measure of God’s image in each believer remains in a state of “yet” but the Christian purpose is to aim everything at its fulfillment in the resurrection.
1. Hope and anticipation.
2. Faith and spiritual maturity
3. Repentance and wisdom.
4. Philippians 3:12-14—” Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.…”
6. Job 19:25-26 “…but I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see Him; with my
own eyes I will behold Him, and not as a stranger.”

Conclusion: When I come home from long trips its always the last twenty or so miles feel like the longest. And when I finally get home, it takes a while for the numbness to leave my back side and for my legs to loosen up from renewed blood flow. My neck aches and everyone we had been couped up with in the car quickly go their separate ways. It is always good to get back to the comforts of home. Purpose in Jesus revives us in the same way. It not only glorifies the Lord, but puts invigorates our faith walk. The Lord calls us according to His purpose and by grace I pray we respond, “Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening.” When we do our lives become that much more familiar with the image bearing of our calling. In Jesus name. Amen.

Taking It Home:
1. Can you identify what you are truly devoted to in any given week? What takes most of your energy, fills your thoughts, and holds your focus?
2. Can you identify a time when your faith got stuck in the “weeds” of burn out or confusion? How did this get better?
3. How often do you turn to the Word of God? Where has a deeper study blessed with a greater sense of purpose as a Christian?
Consider Reading Philippians 3

PRINTABLE PDF: MNJan17.PDF