What is your goal?

1
What is your goal?

• The Kingdom of God and its implications for
  Christians

2
The Gospel of Success?

• What is a true measure of success?

• Every athlete wants to be successful.
• Every businessman wants to be successful.
• Every soldier/servant of Jesus Christ wants to be
  successful.
• How is success measured in the kingdom of God?

3
How will you measure you lifes achievements?

• By the worlds standards?
• Wealth, power and fame?

• By the standard Christ taught in the gospels
  about the Kingdom of God?
• At the end of your life, will you hear those
  words well done thou good and faithful servant
  from the lips of the Master?

4
How does God measure success?

• Genesis 1 verses 1- 31 The record of Creation.

• Lets look at what He did to see how He measured
  His success.
• After the sixth day God saw all that He had made
  and said it is very good.

5

• So what did God do that made Him successful in
  His acts
• of Creation?

6
God created something beautiful from dust?

• Psalm 103 verse 14
• He himself knows our frame, He is mindful that
  we are but dust.
• - Genesis 2 verse 7 The Lord God formed man of
  dust from the ground, and breathed into his
  nostrils the breath of life, and man became a
  living being.

7

• Gods pleasure and success was measured in His
  ability to transform the rejected, the despised,
  the
• insignificant and
• make them
• something of beauty
• and value.

8
We despise dirt and dust..

• As humans we despise dirtiness and dust.
• God took that which was despised by mankind and
  made it into the climax of His creation.
• His superb genius was in the act of making dust
  a living human spirit.

9
God speaks from a different perspective in the
Bible

• Proverbs 17 verse 5
• He who mocks or despises the poor reproaches his
  Maker
• Luke 6 verse 35
• Jesus says Love your enemies and do good, and
  lend, and expect nothing in return, and your
  reward will be great, and you will be the sons
  of the Most High for He himself is kind to
  ungrateful and evil men.

10
What can God do with you and that which you
despise?

• God does not reject, he loves, accepts and
  transformseverything into something new.
• As His servants He wants us to love the unlovely
  and see them transformed.
• What or who is your dust?
• How can you cooperate with God to transform your
  dust, that which you despise, into something
  beautiful for His glory?

11
God requires a deep and radical degree of change
in our lives

• To experience the unconditional love of God for
  the despised requires a deep interaction (called
  incarnation) with the despised, feeling their
  pain, bearing their shame, suffering their
  experience of injustice.
• Jesus showed this act of incarnation in His
  ministry preparation in the wilderness, His life
  on earth, and finally in His death on the cross.

12
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit

• Luke 4 verse 1
• Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit (agape,
  unconditional love) returned from the Jordan and
  was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness
• For forty days he faced the temptations of the
  devil. He overcame them in the power of the
  Spirit, using the authority of the Word of God,
  and thru prayer and fasting.

13
Jesus was tempted with all that the world offers
us....

• Wealth
• The devil offered Him bread from
• stones Luke 4 verses 3-4
• Fame
• The devil offered Him Lordship over the
  earth Luke 4 verses 6-8
• Power
• The devil offered Him the power to save
  Himself from death Luke 4 verses 9-12

14
Jesus ministered in the power of the Spirit

• Luke 4 verses 16-20
• Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the
  Spirit, and entering His hometown synagogue in
  Nazareth, and he opened the scriptures at Isaiah
  61 verses 1-2

15
Anointed to preach to the poor

• Isaiah 61 vs 1-2 (Luke 4 vs 18 -20)
• The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He
  has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor
  (the despised), He has sent me to proclaim
  release to the captives (the despised), and
  economic recovery to the blind (the despised), to
  set free those who are downtrodden (the
  despised), to proclaim the favourable
  (successful) year of the Lord.

16
This was Jesus announcing His mission
statement....

• Jesus makes it clear what He will focus on in the
  next three years of His ministry He will reach
  out to
• The poor, the blind, the demon possessed, and
  the unjustly treated people of His nation and of
  the Gentile nations neighbouring Israel
• He then sets off to minister to the despised
  Samaritans in Capernaum in Galilee

17
What did Jesus despiseand what did he do to
transform those things?

• He despised the Jewish legal system for its
  concern with the law and not with justice
• He transformed it into the law of love, mercy
  and grace.
• He despised the cross and its shame and
  transformed death into eternal life for all who
  believe. Hebrews 122

18
Jesus showed the standard of justice in the
kingdom of God

• Justice is not justice if it does not deliver
  justice to the unjustly treated in our society.
• Jesus was grieved at the injustice of the Jewish
  (godly) society and their indifference to the
  poor and despised

19
Jesus full of the Spirit was moved with compassion

• Matthew 9 verse 36
• Seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for
  them because they were distressed and downcast
  like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to
  his disciples, The harvest is plenteous, but the
  workers are few, Pray therefore to the Lord of
  the harvest to thrust forth labourers into the
  harvest force.

20
Jesus focussed on ministering to the
despisedtransforming them

• Matthew the tax collector
• The 12 lepers
• Mary Magdalene the prostitute
• The children rejected by His disciples
• The demon possessed
• The Roman Centurion
• Peter the lowly fisherman

21
Sadly there were those Jesus could not transform

• The rich young ruler who would not sell what He
  had and give it to the poor
• The proud Jewish Governor Herod
• The self-righteous Pharisees
• The unrepentant thief
• Judas the lover of money

22
The measure of great people down thru the ages
has been in their understanding of Gods concern
for the poor (the despised)

• King David
• King Solomon
• The Apostle Paul
• Mother Teresa of Calcutta
• -Nobel Peace Prize
• Pope John Paul II
• Rabindranath Tagore
• -Bengali Poet
• James D. Wolfensohn a former President of the
  World Bank

23
A Psalm of King David..

• Psalm 41 verse 1
• How blessed is he who considers the poor, the
  Lord will deliver Him in a day of trouble, The
  Lord will protect him and keep him alive, and He
  shall be called blessed in the earth.

24
The Psalm of King Solomon

• The wisest and richest King of Israel prophesied
  in Psalm 72 verses 12-14
• The Righteous King will deliver the needy
  when he cries for help, the afflicted also, and
  him who has no helper. He will have compassion on
  the poor and needy, and the lives of the needy he
  will save. He will rescue their lives from
  oppression and violence and their blood will be
  precious in their sight.

25
The Apostle Paul wrote

• On what it means to follow Christ he reminded us
• though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became
  poor, so that by His poverty you may become rich
  2 Cor 89.

26
Mother Teresa of the Missionary Sisters of
Charity in Calcutta said

• I see Jesus in the face of the poor.
• I see the broken body of my Lord (Christ) in the
  destitute and dying on the streets of Calcutta.

27
Pope John Paul II said..

• October 27th, 1999
• The love of Christ moves us above all towards
  the poorest of the poor.as Christ was invited to
  give the good news to the poorso the Church
  surrounds itself with affectionate care for those
  afflicted by human weakness..

28
Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote a
Gitanjali as a song offering.

• God loves the humble and lives among them. Those
  who want to meet God should look for him among
  the poor and lowly. Loving service to them is the
  best form of worship of God.

29
James D. Wolfensohn former President of the World
Bank said

• Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers are a critical
  element in the wider effort to enhance
  opportunity for which the poor cry out, and the
  social and economic justice that they deserve.
• Voices of the poor showed us that the groups
  most trusted in poor communities are the faith
  communities.

30
What is the goal of your life?

• To make money?
• To have a great career?
• To gain a high education?
• To marry a beautiful person and have a beautiful
  family?
• Where does Gods purpose for your life fit into
  your plans?

31
Are your goals self-centred or other people
centred or God Centred?

• If your goals are self-centred the only persons
  who will be blessed by your life will be yourself
  and your immediate family.
• Gods intention is that our lives will bless
  countless numbers of other people. He wants us to
  be fruitful, and bless us so we can be a
  blessing.

32
What does God require of you?

• What does the Lord require of you?
• to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
  humbly with your God
• Micah 68

33
To proclaim by word and action the gospel of the
Kingdom of God.

• The gospel of the kingdom of God is a holistic
  gospel of transformation for the whole person
• - directed first to the poor
• - moves from the least to the greatest
• - ushers in the will of God on earth
• - is found in righteousness, peace and joy in
  the Holy Spirit

34
What is your response to the call of God on your
life?

• You belong to Him Christ purchased you with His
  precious blood
• You are called to imitate Christ not only in your
  character but also in the way you live
• He wants you to be full of compassion and mercy
  for the poor and the despised
• Your life is yielded in His hands
• He wants to make you a blessing to the poor in
  all nations

35
Abraham understood Gods call and expressed it in
a covenant with God

• Genesis 12 verses 1-3
• Go forth from your country, from your relatives,
  to a land God will show you, and He will make you
  a great nation, He will bless you, make your name
  great, so you will be a blessing, and in you all
  the families of the earth will be blessed.

36
Gods measure of success in Abrahams life..

• He was from a pagan idol worshipping family
• He became a tent dwelling nomad
• He was to express incredibly generous hospitality
  to all races He met
• By His faith he was blessed in His relationship
  with God and then knew how to bless others
• He became wealthy to be able to bless the nations
• His posterity would touch all the nations of the
  earth.

37
Where will this life lead you?

• To minister to the despised, poor and destitute?
• To transform dust into glory.
• To the goal of the prize of the high calling that
  is in Christ Jesus.
• There is no fear in this call because faithful
  is He who has called you to accomplish this goal
  until the end.

38
Will you do something meaningful with your life???

• King Solomon who had everything said All is
  vanity, it is futile
• What will be a meaningful way to use your life?
• What did God create you for?
• Where will your life lead you?

39
Has God spoken to you in this message?

• Let us pray for those who want to be successful
  in blessing the poor, the despised, the sufferers
  of injustice.
• We will pray that Gods grace which is His
  unmerited favour and His enabling power will
  come upon us and empower us to turn the despised
  into vessels for His glory.