Ep 80 | What is my purpose

I'm a lineman , so I'm gonna let . I mean I may jump in , you know , as we go through the 80s , but today , Maverick , would you choose number 80 ?

So if you pick like the big time guy that everybody knows about , it may sell you tickets , but the teams that make it to the super bowls are the ones that can protect their quarterback and , on the other side of the line , get to the quarterback . So in a lot of cases , these are the guys you win ball games with .

So the Cowboys drafted a lot of football players . They drafted football players and the more and more I'm learning about this , um Tyler Booker .

He's a rat guard from um , the Alabama Crimson Tide , and if you know anything about college football , Alabama , Georgia , is is kind of the big competitive rivalry over the last few years and um , the and the Eagles drafted a kid named Jalen Carter last year from the University of Georgia and he's a great player , like a great player , Just an incredibly tough

defensive tackle type of player . Well , in college , Tyler Booker tore up Jalen Carter and they interviewed Tyler Booker . Uh , tore up Jalen Carter , Okay , and they interviewed Tyler Booker and he said , yeah , I'm ready to bully Jalen Carter again as a pro . And and the , the , the football player in me , went oh man , like this is awesome , I can't wait .

I can't wait to watch these guys . Uh , because you know , Jalen Carter didn't have to deal with Booker because Booker was a year younger , younger in college but he gets to deal with him this next year . So do you love how I'm continuing to talk about Lyman even though we're in the 80s .

I love Jerry Rice for who he is and the athlete he is . He plays on a team I hate . You know he plays on a team I hate , and so it's like it's one of those deals where I like you but not really I would love you if you're on my team .

And when I was growing up , there was a person exactly like Jerry Rice for the generation before me , for my generation , there was a player who you heard about in college who came into the league , was absolutely amazing . So many people in my grade had his jersey and he played on a team I hated .

And number 80 for me is always Jeremy Shockey , tied in for the New York Giants and he was the worst , but it's because he was the best and didn't play on the Cowboys .

It was just such a fun matchup watching those two just go toe-to-toe . And I remember seeing number 80 score one . He did score quite a bit of touchdowns , but man did he get ? Like if you needed a first down , you needed a third down conversion . You knew exactly who he was going to and you couldn't stop it .

The main question because we think it has a little bit more purpose , and that was a weird segue . The question for you , jake , that is the most Googled question , is does life have a purpose ?

Whether you're listening to this and you , you feel like you have a general understanding of what it means to live with purpose or you're still seeking purpose . I think it's . It's it , no matter what checkpoint of life we get to . You know , I meet people you know in our church that are seeking their purpose .

Currently they're trying to figure out why has God put me on this earth ? What is he doing in my life ? How has he gotten me there ?

Or it's people who have lived with lots of purpose , but now they've reached a different stage of life and they're going okay . So what's my purpose now ? Where am I at now ? And when you begin to speak about purpose , you can be extremely general . And when you begin to speak about purpose , you can be extremely general , and what I mean by that is okay .

So what is like life's all time answer to the question ? And then you begin to get specific , like , okay , great , I know that this is the purpose for all men , but what is my purpose , what is my singular purpose ? And I think we can answer that question for both today . So let's start with just the general answer , like what is the purpose of life ?

And Maverick is going to answer that for you in full comprehension . I'm messing with you , but , like you , you work with teenagers . So do you think , like when you're talking to 12 to 18 year olds , is this whether it's something they're talking about out loud or you can just view their behavior ? Do you see a seeking of purpose ?

It is not out loud because when you're in that age you , I mean , and the parents will really , really understand this they feel like they almost have it figured out , like they hit about 15 , 16 , and sometimes even younger sometimes a little later , but sometimes younger and they feel like they have it figured out , they know what life's purpose is .

But what they don't realize is that their life has been laid out for them every single Monday morning that they have gotten up , they get up at a specific time , go to school , do homework , go home , have their extracurricular activity .

There's such a schedule around them that really they just find purpose in what they're doing that week and it's not life's purpose . But when I say they're seeking purpose , there's a reason our chapel is filled every single Wednesday .

There's a reason that camp and D-Now and Sunday school , like we're seeing just massive attendance and we're seeing that when we show up to events that they're coming around us they're seeking because they're understanding that there's more to life than whether it's sports or band or school even , or even going to college .

Like we had many youth who , like their purpose was valedictorian and they , they could see that there's not um , satisfaction in it , like once you achieve the championship , well then you're going on to win the next championship .

You know , once you achieve , uh , going to college and being a college athlete , like getting some of your college paid for you're seeing that they don't have the fulfillment that they thought they were going to achieve , and so that's why they're seeking , in our case , the Lord , or they start seeking out just other things in that that lead to nothing .

And so we talk about purpose , we talk about true satisfaction , true fulfillment , through the Bible almost weekly , because I know it's on these students' minds .

And you know , I just I looked up , you know , oxford's dictionary for the word purpose , because I think a lot of times we think we understand what a word means , but we either understand half of it or we don't understand any of it . We think it's something else .

But the word purpose means the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists . So , in other words , why am I here ? Why was I made ? Why am I in the situation that I'm in ? And clearly we can't control who we're born to , we can't control the town that we're from .

I mean , there's certain elements of life we cannot control , but then the things that are within our control , how does that help us define our purpose ? How does that help us define who we are , what we are , why we are and I know I keep seeming to avoid scripture , but I'm not .

I'm trying to help people that are listening to this think about why is this such an important element ? I can speak to times of my life that I've been in and I can speak to the time of life I'm in and I can tell you adolescence , childhood , teenage life , early adulthood so much of my life was wrapped up in .

Okay , I'm going to chase this thing and I'm going to try to conquer this thing . That's the way my mind works . It's the worst sometimes , but I'm going to try to conquer this , I'm going to try to find this , I'm going to try to gain this , I'm going to try to have this .

And what I've discovered is , every time I've gotten one of those items on the list checked off , it's replaced with something else and it's frustrating . And now I'm in a stage of life and I guess I could be a little controversial . I'm in a stage of life where my family and the people around me , we are distracting ourselves with taking our kids places .

We are distracting ourselves with taking our kids places . So right now we kind of many times the temptation is to live Well . My purpose is to to make sure my kids get to school , to make sure my kids are being healthy , to make sure that my kids have what they need and to get them to all these sporting events or extracurricular activities .

And the truth is Maverick , just based off of my opinion my opinion , which I think is truth , is that we're distracting ourselves . We're that's all we're doing .

And , and here's why I think we're distracting ourselves , because when moments in life happen where those things are not available , like COVID , like when all of a sudden we couldn't take our kids to everything , we're sitting there twiddling our thumbs , going , well , what do I do now ?

Or or , or , um , maybe an injury happens , your child can't , um go , uh to do the game . Or maybe , uh , you're like one of our members who , uh , he , uh , ruptured his Achilles doing coach pitch baseball . Uh , I'm talking to you , matt Orchowski .

Uh , when all of a sudden something changes , then we are faced with well then , uh , by by , by , by chasing , and and that's why this question is so important , because what if you could have the answer ? What if you could know , no matter what , whether I'm doing a lot or I'm doing nothing , to still know your purpose ? So now let's get to the scriptures .

Um , so I , uh , I'd like to give one general example . So , who is the person in the Bible ? Um , so , who is the person in the Bible that you could claim had it all ?

So we know that the blessing of God just saturated Solomon , because Solomon is David's son . Um . God told David that I'm not going to allow you , david , to build my um temple , I'm going to allow the one neck you know . So that's Solomon . Solomon built God's temple .

Solomon had a palace that was even more grand than the temple , and the scriptures say that you know . God told Solomon what do you want ? What can I , what do you want me to give you ? And Solomon asks for wisdom . He says give me the discernment .

And God is so pleased with that answer that God says not only am I going to give you discernment , I'm going to give you everything . And by everything he literally meant everything . I mean Solomon had more esteem , more respect , more riches , more everything . I mean the Bible .

If you look at inflation , at what Solomon owned , you could make the case that Solomon is literally the richest man that ever lived on the face of the earth . So I'm interested in what this man has to say . You know , solomon wrote several Proverbs and then he also wrote the book of Ecclesiastes .

Okay , and Ecclesiastes is a dreadful book because Solomon is literally crying out the same heart cry of every person who's ever lived that thought , that got what they thought they wanted and then got it and then realized that there was nothing in there . And he says over and over and over again vanity , vanity , all is vanity .

And the word vanity means empty , pointless , worthless . So Solomon , and even in the book of Ecclesiastes

, solomon says you know what ? I tried to find meaning in all the areas of life that the world would claim has meaning , and so you know , in money and influence . He said I got to the end of that and I still needed more . There was no emptiness . And then he said I gave myself to women .

You know , the Bible says that Solomon was wise , but it said he had thousands of wives and thousands of concubines , which is an Old Testament word for basically a prostitute . Solomon was able to exhaust himself in the lifestyle of the world and at the end of it he said I still felt empty . I still felt like I had nothing .

There is basically one verse that defines the entire book of Ecclesiastes . So if you want to sound smart in front of people , read the last three verses of , of , of , of Ecclesiastes , and you can define the whole book .

So , ecclesiastes , chapter 12 , verse 12 says but beyond these , my son be warned , there is no end to the making of many books and much study . Wearies the body . Don't read that to your junior high kid .

Verse 13 , when all has been heard , the conclusion of the matter is this fear God , keep his commands , because this is for all humanity , for God will bring every act to judgment , including every hidden thing , whether good or evil . So really , verse 13 is the is the verse fear God , keep his commands . Solomon is literally crying out to the world .

If you really want to understand where meaning is , you have to know who God is , you have to know him , you have to fear him and you need to obey him . So , like a general answer to , does life have purpose ? Purpose is found when you know who created you and you learn how to follow him and obey him .

Why is that so simple and yet so difficult for so many people to understand ?

Hevel in Hebrew because that's when the book was written means smoke , and what I love about that picture I remember teaching this to a bunch of youth is you can see smoke , you can absolutely see it , and he calls life , worldly life , hevel smoke . Because you can see it but you can't grab it . It's this solid thing that you can see but you can't obtain it .

It's the famous quote of Tom Brady . He's like man , I have everything , but something's still missing . Because we can see championships , we can see financial success , we can see worldly success . We can see it there .

We can even point to examples , but then when we try to pursue it , when we try to grab it , we open up our hands after we try to grab it and there's nothing . There's nothing . John 15 , 16 . John 15 , man . That's where Jesus says I'm divine . We get many famous verses from this , but maybe we don't talk about this one as much . Jesus

says to his disciples you did not choose me , but I chose you and appointed you so that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide . So whatever you ask in the father , in my name , he may give it to you . Jesus is literally saying like hey , I have a , I have a purpose for you .

We see it in Jeremiah 29 , 11 , for I know the plans I have for you , declares the Lord . Like Jesus , he created you , put you on this earth for a plan and a purpose , and it's not just something that we preach about , it's not something that we just read about . Acts 26 , 16, . Sorry , I'm reading a lot of Bible verses .

One of my favorite things to do I think this is a good thing to share on the podcast is , if you ever have a question , you can literally type in hey , what does the Bible say about ? And I've done this a few times for the youth .

In this case , I said what does the Bible say about purpose , and I'll literally print every verse that this website pulls up and I'll just read them because I think it's so important .

But Acts 26 , 16 says but rise and stand up upon your feet , for I've appeared for you for this purpose to anoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me . To anoint you as a servant , a witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you .

God has this purpose for you a purpose for you to see him and a purpose for you to go live out his gospel .

You know what am I going to do today , and we can either distract ourselves from our purpose or we can really dive deep into the purpose , like we can do one of two things . Either way , we're going to get tonight Um , you know what I mean Like and make it to bed the next night .

But , and that's the point , there's also people who wake up in the world that are literally in what we would term as an unreached area where no one's heard of Jesus , where no one's heard of anything that involves the God of the Bible . And it has to start somewhere . In the first is , you have to know , like this , god created you , that he made you .

But what you're helping us understand is that God is not satisfied with simply us just knowing that we and Ecclesiastes actually talks about this but that we're not just simply on earth and God is in heaven , and that there's like this massive divide between that , that that listen , you know that I'm God and you know that you're on earth and you're just needed to

just shut your mouth , like like the fact that God sent his son . Jesus tells us that he wants us to have an actual literal purpose that is tailored to Jake Edwards , maverick Malone and any person who attends Georgetown Baptist Church and any person who lives in history , because Jesus showed the world purpose .

He showed it in how he lived and how he walked and how he moved and then , when he ascended into heaven to sit next to his father , he gave the world a purpose . So Luke , chapter nine , I'm actually going to be there this whole summer . I'm excited about what I'm preaching now .

But if I was just , you know , if I was honest Scott Gallion says I have to always be honest , but I struggle saying that I'm excited about Luke nine , I can't wait to preach it . But in Luke 9 , 23 , he says to you know his disciples . Then he said to them all if you want to follow me , deny yourself , take up your cross daily , follow me .

Whoever wants to save his life will lose it . Whoever loses his life because of me will save it . For what does it benefit someone if he gains the whole world and then loses and forfeits himself . Whoever's ashamed of me and my words , the son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory , and that of the father and that of the holy angels .

Jesus is crying out for purpose in this passage , because where do we individually , find purpose ? This can be true of any person who lives .

The first step towards purpose , once you know that there is a God in heaven who loves you , is to deny yourself , to take the desires that you naturally have and let go of them and place them at the feet of the savior , jesus Christ , and take up his cross and follow him . In other words , what do you have in your hands today ?

Are you like me and you got a whole bunch of kids that are looking at you ? Are you willing to lay your children at his feet and let the desires you have for them become the desires of Christ , and take up his cross and let his cross develop the desires for your kids ? Do you have a job ?

Okay , are you willing to deny yourself of the benefits of that job and let your job become what Christ would call you to do in that job ? Or , or even more extreme , are you willing to make decisions that Christ would have for you in what you do for a living .

Um , if I could name something that I struggle with idolizing over Jesus , it's my marriage , because I felt like I hit the jackpot and I have to sometimes remind myself that my marriage is not above Christ . So am I willing to deny myself of letting my marriage be more important than Jesus and say no , jesus , my marriage to Tricia is at your feet .

How do you call me to honor you ? So are you looking for a specific purpose ? The purpose is written in red letters in scripture , but the same person who wrote those red letters wrote in other red letters that it's really narrow . And it goes back to one of the other questions we had .

The broad path is to just do the easiest thing , but the narrow path and here's why it's hard for us is most of us know the answer . We just don't want to do it . But the answer is deny yourself of this world and allow yourself to follow what Christ would have for you . And there is purpose out the wazoo for your life .

That's a horrible word , but there is purpose galore for you when you finally lay down your desires and want to follow Christ . And , and he tells us that if we , if we do that , we'll lose our life , and that's how we gain everything , and purpose is included in that .

The purpose for your life is found by following Jesus and um , and , and the truth is is Jesus knew that a lot of people aren't going to want to do that , but that's where it is . If you want it , you've got to deny yourself of this world . You've got to crucify your passions and allow what Jesus would call for you to become your passions .

And I promise you , brother , sister , you'll never wake up a day in your life wondering what your purpose is , if that's the decision you'll make .

Like , am I supposed to be an architect or am I supposed to serve in kids ministry or primetime or ministry ? Like ? There's almost like there has to be a choice , there has to be . Am I supposed to be the best dad in the world or the best husband in the world ? It's almost like we need a choice so that we can follow .

It's like what you're talking about . We see a goal , we go chase it , we go follow it , but that's not what God has called us to do . We do have a goal and it is specific . It's to know Him and to make Him known . It's to show people the love of Christ by loving them like Christ , and that's in everything we do .

We have to change why we do what we do . Are you taking your kids to sports because they need to go to sports and you want them to like sports , but you also want them to build character , or are you using that opportunity to lead one your kids .

Well , and lead when you're at the ball field Choosing not to yell at the ref when you want to yell at the ref .

There was a time in my life when one of the most important things in my life was to be a great pastor and it was not a healthy thing , like clearly , why would that not seem healthy ? I mean ,

you have a person who wants to share Jesus with people , but the truth is is I wasn't sharing Jesus with people because I wanted people to be saved .

I was sharing Jesus with people because I wanted to find my identity and being a pastor , I wanted everybody to know that this guy's a pastor and it became an extremely unhealthy obsession and an idol in my life . And through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ , he helped me identify that and he brought me very low for the purpose of helping me understand .

Son , your purpose is not in just being a pastor . Your purpose is waking up and knowing me personally . Now , when I send you to be a pastor , you're now going to do that from the proper foundation . In other words , brothers , sisters , like . I love being the pastor here at Georgetown , but it does not define who I am anymore .

It used to , but it doesn't anymore . What defines me is that I'm a child of God , and that's why . Why do I say that ? Because we will wake up saying , well , and we see this in church well , where am I supposed to serve ? Where's my place ? Who am I ? Those are good questions to ask .

But are you asking the deeper question Am I going into this field of children's ministry to serve because I know who God is and who he's calling me to be , and he's leading me down this path ? Or am I trying to distract myself from the fact that I don't know my purpose ?

Now , do not think that we're telling you that it's unhealthy for you to serve , but it's . It's , it's really important that you realize like we serve because we have a God who loves us , who's pointed us to his son , jesus , and and then we begin to see the sweet spots of serving Like like .

I can tell you I love being a pastor more because of the foundation Christ has in me than I did when I wanted to be the greatest pastor that ever lived , because now I can individually see what it's like to hold the hand of a person and pray with them . I can individually see what it's like to see my own children growing up in the church that I pastor .

I can individually enjoy working with other ministers and pastors , and not just because we're fellow employees , but because we , like we want to value one another , like there's so much purpose in everything .

Whenever the foundation is laid correctly and the foundation is that I'm a disciple of Jesus I wake up and I follow the master and think of what it was like for three years . The disciples woke up every day , not knowing where they were going , what they were doing . They woke up going .

We're going to follow this guy and he's going to take us where he's got us . And what should that really change ? No , like , even though Jesus is in heaven , what if we woke up every day ? I'm going to be where Jesus has me , and where Jesus is is where I want to be and I want to .

I want to behold what Jesus is going to do in me , through me , around me , and um so , purpose , purpose , purpose . It's a simple answer . It's in Jesus . But you're never going to know purpose until you walk that path and then you're going to just discover this whole life . That is just so special and significant .

Not easy , but so significant and so special and so purposeful .

Where's our heart ? What are we doing when we go to sporting games ? What are we doing when we are at home ? Is our heart invested in this ? Is our heart focused on Jesus ? Do I teach because I think I'm a good teacher , or do I teach because this is where God has called me to do and I want to be obedient to Him ?

Do we coach because it's what we love to do , or it's because we want to instill godly characteristics in young men or young girls or whatever ? Are we parenting because we want good citizens in the world or are we parenting because we want godly foundations instilled on the next generation ? God cares about the heart .

That's what our purpose is to live every waking day . Whether you're an accountant or a pastor , whether you are a coach or a student , we live every day to focus and obedient to God .

Like if a person came to me in the church and said does God love me ? I would have no problem with explaining to them all the scriptures that talk about the fact that God delights in his children . But me , I struggle oftentimes with admitting like God delights when I'm , that I'm his son .

A lot of times I want to think he puts up with me , he allows me and he does . He does allow me , puts up with me , he allows me and he does , he does allow me . But the truth is , is you have purpose when you realize that , like , your creator knows your name and he actually cares about you and he delights that you are with him ?

Uh , which that's all grace . So you know , maybe that's one of our biggest struggles is we don't understand the depth of his love for us , because he loves us .

We really care about this question and we want to instill that man , god loves you . I mean that that is the . We could say that every single day and that'd be a good lesson .

I've had a couple people tell me well last week I referred to myself as a 38 year old , and , and there's people in our church that are at this age where we we forget how old we are , and there were people that when I said they were when I was 38 , it made them question how old they think they are .

So I need to tell it , because they were like , well , if he's 38 , then maybe he's right and I'm and I'm wrong . Oh , I'm 37 years old .