Worship: Making Your Father Smile
Roger Thomas
Ephesians 1:3-14
February 13, 2005
Introduction: One of golf's most interesting moments came in the 1870's when a Scotchman came to America to promote the new game. To publicize the effort, his company arranged a demonstration with President Ulysses S. Grant. Grant watched curiously as the golfer carefully placing the ball on the tee. The Scotchman wanted to impress the president so he took an extra hard swing. Not a good idea!
The club hit the turf. Dirt flew everywhere. Every thing, including President Grant's beard, was covered with tuffs of grass. When the dust cleared, the ball remained on the tee, totally unmoved. Again the Scotchman swung his club. Again he missed. The President waited patiently through six tries. Finally, Grant gave a sigh and then quietly stated, "There does seem to be a fair amount of exercise in the game, but I fail to see the purpose of the ball."
Unfortunately that also describes a lot of people's lives-a lot of action but no purpose! For many, life is a merry-go-round. The same old-same old day after day! Sometimes we feel like hamsters racing around and around in our whirly-gig wheels but still in the same old cage. Is there a better way? Can life, real life, have direction and purpose as well as busy-ness? That's what our Forty Days of Purpose are about. For the next six weeks we are exploring the Bible's answer to the question "What on earth am I here for?" We are looking at five biblical purposes outlined in the Creator's Handbook for Life, the Bible. We will be using the terminology coined by author Rick Warren in this bestselling book, The Purpose Driven Life. The wording is Warren's but the principles are the Bible's. Here are those five purposes: 1) we were planned for God's pleasure, 2) formed for God's family, 3) created for Christ's likeness, 4) shaped for God's service, and 5) made for God's mission.
Let's explore that first purpose tod ...
Roger Thomas
Ephesians 1:3-14
February 13, 2005
Introduction: One of golf's most interesting moments came in the 1870's when a Scotchman came to America to promote the new game. To publicize the effort, his company arranged a demonstration with President Ulysses S. Grant. Grant watched curiously as the golfer carefully placing the ball on the tee. The Scotchman wanted to impress the president so he took an extra hard swing. Not a good idea!
The club hit the turf. Dirt flew everywhere. Every thing, including President Grant's beard, was covered with tuffs of grass. When the dust cleared, the ball remained on the tee, totally unmoved. Again the Scotchman swung his club. Again he missed. The President waited patiently through six tries. Finally, Grant gave a sigh and then quietly stated, "There does seem to be a fair amount of exercise in the game, but I fail to see the purpose of the ball."
Unfortunately that also describes a lot of people's lives-a lot of action but no purpose! For many, life is a merry-go-round. The same old-same old day after day! Sometimes we feel like hamsters racing around and around in our whirly-gig wheels but still in the same old cage. Is there a better way? Can life, real life, have direction and purpose as well as busy-ness? That's what our Forty Days of Purpose are about. For the next six weeks we are exploring the Bible's answer to the question "What on earth am I here for?" We are looking at five biblical purposes outlined in the Creator's Handbook for Life, the Bible. We will be using the terminology coined by author Rick Warren in this bestselling book, The Purpose Driven Life. The wording is Warren's but the principles are the Bible's. Here are those five purposes: 1) we were planned for God's pleasure, 2) formed for God's family, 3) created for Christ's likeness, 4) shaped for God's service, and 5) made for God's mission.
Let's explore that first purpose tod ...
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