Our Great Aim Matthew 6:32-34 1 John 2:6 2 Timothy 2:14-16 Philippians 3:10-16 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 2 Corinthians 5:9 Galatians 1:10 Colossians 1:10-14 2 Corinthians 13:11 1 Pete 1:3-9 01.13.21

 

OUR GREAT AIM

BREAD

³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Matthew 6:32-34 (NIV)

 

⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.  1 John 2:6 (NIV)

 

¹⁴ Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. ¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. ¹⁶ Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.  2 Timothy 2:14-16 (NIV)

 

¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. ¹² 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. ¹³ Brothers, 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, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained.  Philippians 3:10-16 (NIV)

 

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷ No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.  1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)

 

⁹ So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 2 Corinthians 5:9 (NIV)

 

¹⁰ Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?  Or am I trying to please men?  If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.   Galatians 1:10 (NIV)

 

¹⁰ And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  Colossians 1:10-14 (NIV)

 

¹¹ Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV)

 

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.  1 Peter 1:3-9 (NIV)

 

BUTTER

“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”  CS Lewis

“We were not sent into the world to live for ourselves, but for God.  If we could make ourselves, then we could live for ourselves.  If we could be our own first cause, then we might be our own end.  But God made us for Himself, and sent us into the world for Himself.  It is not our duty to glorify God in heaven only, but also here on earth in the midst of difficulties and temptations.  No one is sent into the world to be idle, or to bring forth fruit to themselves, but God’s glory must be our chief work and aim while we are here upon earth.”   Thomas Manton

    

“What were we made for? To know God.  What aim should we set ourselves in life?  To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? Knowledge of God.  What is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, delight, and contentment, than anything else? Knowledge of God.  What, of all the states God ever sees man in, gives Him most pleasure? Knowledge of Himself.”   J.I. Packer 

 

“Our Lord should be the Alpha and Omega of our life’s end and aim. What is there worth living for but Christ? What is there in the whole earth that is worth a thought but Jesus? Well did an old writer say, ‘If God be the only Eternal, then all the rest is but a puff of smoke, and shall I live to heap up puffs of smoke, and shall I toil and strive merely to aggrandize myself with smoky treasures that the wind of death shall dissipate forever?’ No, beloved, let us live for eternal things, and what is there of eternal things that can be chosen but our Lord? O let us give him next year the Alpha of our labour. Let us begin the year by working in his vineyard, toiling in his harvest field. This year is almost over. There is another day or two left—let us serve him till the year is ended, going forward with double haste because the days are now so few. Lord, ‘teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.’ Let your time and your talents, your substance and your energies, all be given to my Master, who is worthy to be your soul’s Alpha and Omega.”   Charles H. Spurgeon

“If you love someone, will you want to make him miserable?  Will you go out of your way to punish him if he doesn’t do exactly what you tell him to?  No, of course not – not if you really love him.  The same is true with God.  God loves you, and because He loves you, He cares what happens to you.  He loves you too much to let you wander aimlessly through life, without meaning or purpose.  The Bible says, ‘You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy’ (Psalms 16:11).  Covet God’s will for your life more than anything else.  To know God’s will – and to do it – is life’s greatest joy.”   Billy Graham

 

“Since we are made to worship, we are always centering our lives on something whether we realize it or not.  It is like a fire hose that is stuck in the ‘on’ position and shooting water out endlessly with great force. We must decide where we aim the hose as the focus of our worship. The idols of our modern world are not necessarily the hand-carved statues of the ancient world.  In our autonomous self-seeking ways, people have instead come to serve or worship the self-erected idols of approval, comfort, and security.  We must ruthlessly inspect the sin in our heart for these idols… so it is vital that [we] get to the heart. As Tim Keller puts it, ‘The solution to our sin problem is not simply to change our behavior, but to reorient and center our entire heart and life on God.’  Therefore, we must go after the nature of the sin by going after its root and not just the fruit of the sin. Oftentimes people repent of sin that is simply the fruit of the idols in their hearts. We must find out the why of the behavior and not just the what”.  Tom Wood & Scott Thomas

 

“When the archer misses the mark, he turns and looks for the fault within himself. Failure to hit the bull's eye is never the fault of the target. To improve your aim -- improve yourself.” Gilbert Arland

“Work to help others, and especially strive to encourage them.  Talk cheerily to the young and anxious inquirer, lovingly try to remove obstacles out of his way.  When you find a spark of grace in the heart, kneel down and blow it into a flame.  Leave the young believer to discover the roughness of the road by degrees, but tell him of the strength which dwells in God, of the sureness of the promise, and of the charms of communion with Christ.  Aim to comfort the sorrowful, and to animate the hopeless.  Speak a word in season to him who is weary, and encourage those who are fearful to go on their way with gladness.  God encourages you by His promises; Christ encourages you as He points to the heaven He has won for you, and the Spirit encourages you as He works in you to will and to do of His own will and pleasure.  Imitate divine wisdom, and encourage others.”   Charles H. Spurgeon

“The goal for every believer is to be conforming into the image of Jesus in ever increasing glory.  He came to show us how to live and left us with the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish so great a task. We can do nothing of eternal value apart from Him.  The One that gives the power gets the glory therefore, our Christlike behavior brings forth much glory to God as well as much joy and abundance to the believer in sweet Jesus.  At His right hand are pleasures forevermore.  Nothing in life satisfies the soul like Jesus.  Nothing.”  BHY

“We should not think of Spiritual Disciplines as some dull drudgery aimed at exterminating laughter from the face of the earth.  Joy is the keynote of all the Disciplines.  The purpose of the Disciplines is liberation from the stifling slavery to self-interest and fear.  When the inner spirit is liberated from all that weighs it down, it can hardly be described as dull drudgery.  Singing, dancing, even shouting characterize the Disciplines of the spiritual life.”   Richard J. Foster

“God has given us his word that we might learn to lean on God himself. Not just generally on true ideas, concepts, and Christian slogans, but specifically on the actual words of God for us, letting all the ways God speaks to us brace us for doing good.  We humble ourselves, turn to God, open his word, and trust what he says — not what we see. We seek to readjust our hearts to his truth, not allowing the world’s appearances to steer us. We aim to lean not on our own understanding, whether self-justifying or self-doubting, but on his specific words and promises to us in the Book.”  David Mathis

“Aimlessness is akin to lifelessness. Dead leaves in the back yard may move around more than anything else — more than the dog, more than the children. The wind blows this way, they go this way. The wind blows that way, they go that way. They tumble, they bounce, they skip, they press against a fence, but they have no aim whatsoever. They are full of motion and empty of life.  God did not create humans in his image to be aimless, like lifeless leaves blown around in the backyard of life. He created us to be purposeful — to have a focus and an aim for all our days.”  John Piper

“Aim our lives toward the targets You design for us Lord.”  Ronnie Collier Stevens

HEART SAVOR

·         Our lives are to be lived purposefully not aimlessly.

·         God has a plan for each of our lives and we are the losers if we do not stand firm in it, mature and fully assured.

·         We live our lives for an audience of One.  We are to seek His pleasure in all that we say, do and think through His power for His glory.