Lesson #3. GOD’S PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE + ILLUSTRATION.

KEY TRUTH: A tool to underscore God’s underlying ‘Purpose for Living’ and the steps to help you achieve His plan.

1. WHEN TO USE THIS ILLUSTRATION:
   1. To reduce the lofty goal of pleasing God to more simple practical steps.
   2. To help convict people that they are not practicing what they preach.
   3. To turn a person’s focus on the failures of others onto their own.
2. WHY USE THIS ILLUSTRATION WITH OTHERS:
   1. To reinforce the purpose God has for the life of all Christian believers.
   2. To help believers committed to the Great Commission.
   3. To provide motivation to live a life that is pleasing to God.
3. EXPLAINING THE ILLUSTRATION:
   1. WHAT is God’s purpose for your life? = TO GLORIFY GOD

      … Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor.10:31).

   2. Has any One ever totally glorified God? = ONLY ONE – JESUS

      I have glorified You on the earth by completing the work that You gave Me to do (Jn.17:4).

   3. HOW then can a person glorify God? = By BECOMING LIKE JESUS

      For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn and most honoured among many believers (Rom.8:29).

   4. HOW can we become like Jesus? = By having FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM

      God is faithful, and through Him you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor.1:9).

   5. WHAT steps are needed to have fellowship with God? =

      1. By studying GOD’S WORD
         * This will be more fully explained in the lesson on the Word-Hand illustration.
         Study to present yourself to God approved as a workman who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth (2 Tim.2:15).

      2. Through PRAYER
         * This will be more fully explained in the lesson on the Prayer-Hand illustration.
         Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your requests known to God (Phil.4:6).

      3. With an attitude of OBEDIENCE
         3. This is how we know that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments. 4. Whoever says, “I have come to know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 Jn.2:3-4).

   6. By spending TIME ALONE WITH GOD each day
      Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went out to a secluded place, and was praying there (Mk.1:35).

      Jesus had a ‘Quiet Time’!

The Punchline:

1. Review ‘Time alone with God’ upwards through the illustration POSITIVELY
2. Review ‘Time alone with God’ upwards through the illustration NEGATIVELY
3. REMEMBER: What you gain from Church attendance and in your Small Group cannot compare with growing your own personal relationship with God.

GROUP DISCUSSION:

Q.1. What light does James throw on our tendency to criticise others –
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like (Jms.1:22-23)?

Q.2. Share some obstacles in growing your relationship with the Lord.

Q.3. How can being part of a Disciple-Making group help you to grow and change?