4. FURTHER

N O L O N G E R A I M L E S S

The big struggle people have in life is the feeling that life does not matter. There is no point. No purpose. No meaning. Those who don’t struggle with this yet will eventually. It’s only a matter of time. God created life, and he has hidden the purpose of life within himself, so for those not connected to God through Jesus, they are ultimately disconnected from their purpose and meaning in life. Only by being adopted into God’s family and being empowered by his Holy Spirit can we ever really hope to fulfil our purpose in life. Many may find things in life they are passionate about, but you can only really know your purpose by knowing the one who created you. Only the artist can tell you what the colours on the canvas truly mean, everything else is just commentary. Only Jesus can tell you your purpose.

Once you’re Found, Free and Fuelled up by the Holy Spirit, you will find a natural drive within yourself to want to do something with your life that blesses God. It’s normal.

You will find such rich gratitude and excitement well up from within your now-free spirit, that you can’t help yourself! You will just want to do something that honors and serves God. This is the beginning of your pursuit of purpose. You will no longer be satisfied to wander aimlessly through life now that you have a purpose. Your purpose is to contribute to what God is doing. He invites you to work alongside him in his major project; helping lost people get found, helping enslaved people get free, helping powerless people get fuelled and helping aimless people find purpose. We might summarise all this by calling it ‘His Kingdom’.

You will find meaning and purpose start to flood your heart and soul when you turn your attention to building ‘His Kingdom’.

Using your gifts, your talents, your resources, your abilities and your energy, using everything that the Holy Spirit has put fuel in your tank for, to join your Father in his work. This is not about being God’s slave or servant, but about taking your place as his ‘son’. He wants to bring you in. He wants you to get involved in what he has been working on for thousands of years – sharing the Gospel of Jesus, loving people, using the power of the Holy Spirit to help people, heal people, bless people and to ultimately point them in the direction of ‘home’ so they, like you, can go from being lost to found.

T H E  C H U R C H 

It’s not perfect, but it’s God’s idea. The ‘Church’, mind you, is not an organisation, it’s not a facility or a building. It’s people. It’s people like you who have been Found and are still discovering how to live free and follow Jesus. While these people partner with the Holy Spirit to become more like Christ, they are aware they haven’t arrived yet, but that doesn’t stop God from giving them a place by his side, joining Him in his work. The Church are the broken people Christ has made whole. They are the addicted people Christ has made clean. They are the proud and arrogant people Christ has made humble. They are the ‘Found’ people and the ‘Free’ people who are still in the process of learning to hear God’s voice and follow the Holy Spirit. So naturally ‘the church’ makes mistakes, gets it wrong and unfortunately has to deal with fakes and frauds; so like any family, it’s not perfect. But it is a family. God’s family. And it’s being perfected more and more each day as we each allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into perfection. This requires us to give grace to one other along the journey, to bear with each other in love in the same way that Christ bears with us. 

God describes the church as a body, and just as your body is made of many parts, so too the church is made of many different parts that are each dependent on each other. All the parts have different functions – different gifts, abilities, personalities and perspectives. Not one part is more valuable than the others, all are needed. The hand can’t say to the foot, I don’t need you. In the same way, each follower of Jesus has become a ‘part’ in this ‘body’ called the Church. You have a place, you have a purpose, you have a function and you are valued. This also means that your purpose and meaning in life will always be intimately connected to the church, for in the same way an arm only has value while attached to the shoulder, a follower of Jesus can only flourish and fulfil his or her purpose in life by remaining attached and connected to other believers; the church.

The church needs you, and you need the church. A huge part of discovering the best life that God has for you is to discover your place within the body that is the church.

G I F T E D  F O R  S E R V I C E 

Each part of the body has a purpose and a function, contributing to the overall health and wellbeing of the body as a whole. Whether it’s the arms or legs taking you places and picking things up, to the internal organs keeping you alive from within, every part is important and has a job to do. Likewise, each follower of Jesus is Fuelled by the Holy Spirit to contribute something to the overall health and wellbeing of the ‘Body’. When a community of believers, called a church, seeks to use their gifts, talents and abilities to serve one another and to love and bless their surrounding community, the ‘Gospel of Jesus’ goes further. And this is what it is all about, pushing the message of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection out further and further to people who haven’t yet heard. Not everyone is a preacher on a big stage, that guy is just one part of the body, there are many unseen people, ‘internal organs’, who use what they have to help make moments like that happen. And that’s only a small part of the picture.

God wants you to use what he has gifted and fuelled you with to bless others, as you do, you carry the message of Jesus further.

The first followers of Jesus didn’t keep the news about Jesus to themselves, they took it further and went into nearby towns and cities. Those who they reached didn’t keep it to themselves either, they took it further over land and sea to other countries and nations. Those whom they reached did the same, again and again until the news of Jesus reached you! Now it’s our turn to take it further, to tell people about Jesus, to use our gifts and abilities to partner with other believers, working together as a body with many parts, to make Jesus known here, there and everywhere! Some people will literally travel overseas or to other nations, many will simply stay in their hometown, contributing to the body they have attached themselves to as they seek to follow Jesus and use what they have to help the message go further.

You are Found; so live seen, live whole, live accepted, you’re no longer lost but you’re Home!

You are Free; so shake off the chains and shake off the dust, step out of what has entangled you – you’re no longer a slave but a free Son!

You are Fuelled; you have power and strength, all of heaven’s resources are available to you so that through Christ you can do all things – you’re no longer powerless, so tap into your Fuel and take what Jesus started…. Further; Use your gifts, your talents, your skills… use your voice, your life is no longer is without meaning or purpose because now you carry the Gospel! 

Look in the mirror and say, I am Found! I am Free! I am Fuelled. I will take it Further! In Jesus Name!

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