Finding a Purpose in Life

1. Finding a Purpose in Life One Man’s Successful Search

2. The Need for a Purpose in Life • Everything has a purposeEcclesiastes 3:1-11

3. The Need for a Purpose in Life • Everything has a purpose Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 • Need a goalEcclesiastes 9:10

4. Ecclesiastes 9:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.”

5. The Need for a Purpose in Life • Everything has a purpose Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 • Need a goal Ecclesiastes 9:10 • Need a plan to reach the goal

6. The Need for a Purpose in Life • Everything has a purpose Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 • Need a goal Ecclesiastes 9:10 • Need a plan to reach the goal • Need order in our lives

7. The Need for a Purpose in Life • Everything has a purpose Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 • Need a goal Ecclesiastes 9:10 • Need a plan to reach the goal • Need order in our lives • Need meaning for our lives

8. The Need for a Purpose in Life • Everything has a purpose Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 • Need a goal Ecclesiastes 9:10 • Need a plan to reach the goal • Need order in our lives • Need meaning for our lives • Need a reference point for interaction with others

9. The Need for the Right Purpose • We may have chosen a specific path

10. The Need for the Right Purpose • We may have chosen a specific path • However, we may not have chosen its destinationMatthew 7:13-14

11. Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

12. The Need for the Right Purpose • We may have chosen a specific path • However, we may not have chosen its destination Matthew 7:13-14 • What if we spend all our energy, time, etc. for an undesired result?

13. The Need for the Right Purpose • We may have chosen a specific path • However, we may not have chosen its destination Matthew 7:13-14 • What if we spend all our energy, time, etc. for an undesired result? • The regret would be unbearable

14. The Need for the Right Purpose • We may have chosen a specific path • However, we may not have chosen its destination Matthew 7:13-14 • What if we spend all our energy, time, etc. for an undesired result? • The regret would be unbearable • The regret would be too late to help us

15. The Need for the Right Purpose • We may have chosen a specific path • However, we may not have chosen its destination Matthew 7:13-14 • What if we spend all our energy, time, etc. for an undesired result? • The regret would be unbearable • The regret would be too late to help us • The regret will be eternal

16. Work • Most people are defined by their jobs • How many last names originated: Smith, Baker, Miller, Tanner, Cooper, • Work is a responsibility God gives us • Genesis 2:15

17. Genesis 2:15 “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”

18. Work • Most people are defined by their jobs • How many last names originated: Smith, Baker, Miller, Tanner, Cooper, • Work is a responsibility God gives us • Genesis 2:15 • Ecclesiastes 1:3

19. Ecclesiastes 1:3 “What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?”

20. Work • Most people are defined by their jobs • How many last names originated: Smith, Baker, Miller, Tanner, Cooper, • Work is a responsibility God gives us • Genesis 2:15 • Ecclesiastes 1:3 • What happens at retirement?

21. Work • Most people are defined by their jobs • How many last names originated: Smith, Baker, Miller, Tanner, Cooper, • Work is a responsibility God gives us • Genesis 2:15 • Ecclesiastes 1:3 • What happens at retirement? • What happens if laid off work?

22. Possessions • Luke 12:15 “And He said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’"

23. Possessions • Luke 12:15 • Ecclesiastes 5:10-12

24. Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. “When goods increase, they increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes? “The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.

25. Power • Ecclesiastes 8:8-9

26. Ecclesiastes 8:8-9 “No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, And no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it. “All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.”

27. Power • Ecclesiastes 8:8-9 • Ecclesiastes 10:5-7

28. Ecclesiastes 10:5-7 “There is an evil I have seen under the sun, As an error proceeding from the ruler: “Folly is set in great dignity, While the rich sit in a lowly place. “I have seen servants on horses, While princes walk on the ground like servants.”

29. Pleasures • Ecclesiastes 2:1-3

30. Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 “I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure"; but surely, this also was vanity. I said of laughter -- "Madness!"; and of mirth, "What does itaccomplish?" I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.”

31. Pleasures • Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 • Ecclesiastes 7:1-6

32. Pleasures • Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 • Ecclesiastes 7:1-6 • Hebrews 11:24-26

33. Hebrews 11:24-26 “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.”

34. Mere Survival • Ecclesiastes 5:16-17

35. Ecclesiastes 5:16-17 “And this also is a severe evil -- Just exactly as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he who has labored for the wind? “All his days he also eats in darkness, And he has much sorrow and sickness and anger.”

36. Mere Survival • Ecclesiastes 5:16-17 • Ecclesiastes 6:3-6

37. Ecclesiastes 6:3-6 “If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he -- for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, even if he lives a thousand years twice -- but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one place?”

38. Fame and Popularity • Fame is fleeting Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

39. Ecclesiastes 4:13-16 “Better a poor and wise youth Than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more. “For he comes out of prison to be king, Although he was born poor in his kingdom. “I saw all the living who walk under the sun; They were with the second youth who stands in his place. “There was no end of all the people over whom he was made king; Yet those who come afterward will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and grasping for the wind.”

40. Fame and Popularity • Fame is fleeting Ecclesiastes 4:13-16 • Fame is fickle Ecclesiastes 9:13-18

41. Ecclesiastes 9:13-18 “This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. “Then I said: ‘Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, And his words are not heard. Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.’"

42. Worldly Wisdom • It does not bring happiness1:12-18

43. Worldly Wisdom • It does not bring happiness 1:12-18 • More you know, the more you don’t know1 Cor 8:1-3

44. 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 “We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.”

45. Worldly Wisdom • It does not bring happiness 1:12-18 • More you know, the more you don’t know 1 Cor 8:1-3 • Worldly wisdom eludes meaning

46. Worldly Wisdom • It does not bring happiness 1:12-18 • More you know, the more you don’t know 1 Cor 8:1-3 • Worldly wisdom eludes meaning • In the day of judgment, it won’t be what you know but Who you know and Who knows you. Matthew 7:21-23

47. Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me,'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!‘”

48. Worldly Wisdom • It does not bring happiness 1:12-18 • More you know, the more you don’t know 1 Cor 8:1-3 • Worldly wisdom eludes meaning • In the day of judgment, it won’t be what you know but Who you know and Who knows you. Matthew 7:21-23 • Do you have a good lawyer?1 John 2:1-2

49. 1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

50. Fear God and Obey HimEcclesiastes 12:13-14