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Reset | Purpose and Work · Bayside Davis Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Beside Babies Podcast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: You are now listening to our current teaching series.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Every person longs to live a life of purpose.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And when you don't live a life of purpose, you feel like in your soul there's some part of you that is missing.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's a great writer, he was actually a Catholic theologian, and he wrote these words.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Everyone who breathes, high and low, educated and non-educated, young and old, man and woman has a mission, has a work.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: We are not sent into this world for nothing.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: We are not born at random.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: We are not here that we may go to bed at night and get up in the morning, toil for our bread, eat and drink, laugh and joke, sin when we have a mind and reform when we are tired of sinning, rear a family and die.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: God sees every one of us.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: He creates every soul for a purpose.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: What amazing words.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: That defines so much of our longings as human beings.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Purpose is one of the puzzle pieces of human flourishing.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's wired into the very nature and essence of the creation story as God creates a world that is brimming with goodness and purpose, and every part of his creation is functioning just as he intended it in Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: The problem when we talk about purpose is when you talk about purpose and you're younger, you feel like, I'm not ready yet for purpose.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And when you talk about the subject of purpose and you're a little older, you think, I've already put in my time.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Or I'm past my prime.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the truth: if you're young or old or in between, there is no I'm not ready yet in the kingdom of God.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: There is no I put in my time in the kingdom of God.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: There is no I'm past my prime in the kingdom of God.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you have breath, you have a purpose every single day that you're alive.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: There shouldn't be a day that you wake up in the morning and get out of bed and brush your teeth and wash your face.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you brush your teeth and wash your face before you come to church or work.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And not feel a sense of calling and purpose for your life.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that blinds us from our purpose is the reality of the commonplace of life, the mundane, the monotony, the everyday life that we live, that we forget that we are created by God Himself for a purpose in this world.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: You have a purpose that matters to God, and you have a purpose that matters to this world.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd like to take more than a few minutes to unpack this reality this morning.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: I want to look at two verses from the book of Genesis, which I believe build the building blocks, the foundational layers of purpose as humans in God's creation story.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is Genesis 1, verse 28, and we're going to start in verse 27.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody look at your Bible.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: So God created mankind in his own image.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: In the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then, verse 28.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number, populate the earth, have babies, fill it.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then notice what he says, and subdue it.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then rule over the fish of the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice something in verse 28.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's two terms that are so foundational for purpose and calling in the human story from the biblical narrative.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Two words, write these down.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, the term subdue, and number two, the term rule.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: God says, subdue.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is a beautiful Hebrew idea.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: It means the idea behind it is to tame something that is wild.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: The idea here is that you take all the raw materials of creation.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: God is saying to the first human beings, I want you to take all the raw materials of creation.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: The natural resources of creation, the animal kingdom in creation.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to domesticate the animals, I want you to utilize the natural resources, and I want you to harness the earth's energy for the good of humanity.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Tao preach in the city of David.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or, as God says in chapter 2, verse 5 and verse 15, I want you to take all the materials of creation and I want you to cultivate the world that I have created for the good of humanity.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's all of the substance and materials, the things that you study in all of your different degrees that UC Davis, or you've studied and you already have a degree from whatever university.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Take all the raw materials and creation and create a beautiful world and culture out of that.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's what God is saying here.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: The second term, not only subdue, but rule.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Another beautiful Hebrew word, radda, it means it means to exercise authority that has already been granted.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: God is saying to human beings that I am granting you authority, and your job is to steward that authority, to exercise that authority that has already been granted to you.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is a term that's used of priests and administrators serving in their role in the Old Testament.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's used of supervisors over workers, so like bosses and employees, managers, employees.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's used of kings over their kingdom, it's used of shepherds exercising authority over their sheep.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: The picture is what Psalm chapter 8, verse 6 says: you have made them rulers over the work of your hands.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: God looked at me and you.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, I am making you rulers over the work of my very hands.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is royal language.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: I knew some of you wanted to be kings and queens someday.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: We call uh Bernice Queen Bee, Queen Bernice.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: And there's this idea that God is saying, You are my kings and queens.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: You are ruling under the uppercase king.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is royal language.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: You're my representative, stewarding the world and human history.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: This was God's intention.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: This was God's design.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: That we would be ruling on behalf of God.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: That in our rule on behalf of God, we would be reflecting who He is and treating everything as God the Creator would treat it.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the problem: we don't do that, do we?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: We don't reflect God in every part of our leadership and rule over creation that He has granted us in our stewardship.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't treat everything as God the Creator would treat it.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we have to have recycling bins all over the city of Davis, compost bins, because we just throw everything in the trash and we're like, who cares what happens to it?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm like, thank the Lord in the city of Davis, they fine people for doing that.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great thing.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: The city of Davis is like, be stewards, care for the world and creation.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good thing.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, that was a joke, but I'm really glad that they do have fines.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a great thing.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: With this mandate to rule, because we no longer live in the perfect harmony of God's creative design, we've walked away from God, we've sinned against God.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: With this mandate to rule, we have the potential to do good, and we have the potential to do evil.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's why leadership is so fragile.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes when we're ruling, we do good, and sometimes when we're ruling, we don't do so good.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And there's no perfect leader, no perfect steward.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: But the more we follow Jesus, the more we should be sanctified and changed and challenged to become more like him in the work of our hands.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Summing up this incredible verse, verse 28 of Genesis chapter 1, Dr.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Henry Morris wrote these words, and I read them when I was in grad school, and I've never forgotten them.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: They're such beautiful summary words around what God is saying here.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: The culture of mandate, as some have called it, is clearly a very expressive figure of speech for first, intense study of earth with all of its intricate processes and complex systems.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then utilization of this knowledge for the benefit of the earth's inhabitants, both animal and human.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Here, the commission to man authorizing both science and technology as man's basic enterprises relative to the earth.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Science is man's disciplined study and understanding of the phenomena of this world.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Technology is the implementation of this knowledge in the effective ordering and development of the earth and all of its resources for the greater good of all of the earth's inhabitants, including such fields as human service as engineering, agriculture, medicine, and a host of other practical technologies.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: This twofold commission to subdue and have dominion, to conquer and rule, embrace all productive human activities, science and technology, research and development, theory and application, study and practice and so forth are various ways of expressing these two concepts.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot to think about, huh?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: But also that's a connection between what God meant and intended for this world and what you're doing in this world.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we disconnect, we detach what we're doing in this world from God.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this morning the most important thing that God can do in your heart and life is attach what you're doing in this world and what God wants to do through you in this world.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says in Genesis 2.15, building on that, he continues to develop this idea of calling and purpose.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 15.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: To swim in the ocean, to do hobbies all day.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: No, to work.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: You see that, man?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord God put him in the Garden of Eden to work and to take care of it.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is so important.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Some people are like, well, I don't like to work because work is the curse of Genesis chapter 3.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, work is the design of Genesis chapter 2.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Prior to the fall, we were meant, we were designed, we were created to work because work gives us purpose.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Work is foundational to human life, it's foundational to the order and design of God because God wants you and I to have a purpose.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Men and women were created to be stewards and caretakers and creators within God's own creation.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: And within our work, we have opportunity to reflect God and do good in this world.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I started working at 15 years old and I haven't stopped.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: 15 years old, I got my first job.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: I was like a waiter at a retirement home.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I loved it.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: I did dishes and then I served and it was great.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: I had some great conversations.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: There was a German woman that every time I said, What do you want for a drink this morning?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Orange juice, milk, apple juice, prune juice.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: And every Saturday morning she said, I don't want any of that, Wesley.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I want whiskey.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't have got that unless I was working at 15.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then I started serving God at 17.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Mom said, if you want to drive, you want to get a car, get a job.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I started working.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then at 17, when God began to change my life and I started going to church every week, I started a Bible study on my high school campus.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: I started serving God at 17 years old.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now is the time for you to start living with purpose.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you're young, you're like, I'm not prepared yet.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Neither was Jeremiah, who started as one of the greatest prophets in Israel's history as a young man.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're too old, you're like, I possibly'm insecure, I can't be used, I'm past my prime, no, nobody values what I do.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Moses was 80 years old when he started his calling.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: God is calling you for purpose.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: I did some research for the book that I'm writing that it's I turned it in this week, but it comes out in May.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that work is and purpose are such a huge building block in mental health that I wrote an entire section on it and I did all this research on how much of our lives, full-time workers, how much of our lives we work total.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the stat is for a full-time adult worker, you spend 90,000 hours at work over an entire lifetime.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine just doing that and like it being meaningless?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Those 90,000 hours should count for something.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: You could put it this way the average global worker works one third of their lifetime.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: 90,000 hours.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: One third of your lifetime, or you could put it this way 10 to 13 continuous years of your life will be spent working.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: 10 to 13 continuous years of your life.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then I thought, you know, moms are pretty important.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Would you agree?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Moms are pretty important.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: The average mom spends roughly 40 to 50,000 hours investing in each child.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: 40 to 50,000 hours from from you know little baby to little adult baby.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: 40 to 50,000 hours investing in their kids, that is work with a purpose.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Come on now.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: The question is looking at this Genesis theology and how God constructed and designed the world in verse 28, and looking at chapter 2, verse 15, that God put us in the garden to work and take care of it, that we are stewards and caretakers and creators within God's creation.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: The problem, the gap, the disconnect for most of us is how do we figure this out in our own life?
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: The theology is inspiring, and we might feel a tug in our heart, we might feel just something happening, stirring in our soul, but like how do we get from like that theology, how God intended the world to be, to actually living this out in our everyday life?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: I have found now, as a pastor for almost 19 years, as a lead pastor, I have found that so many people struggle to find a pathway to their purpose and calling.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how do we make this pragmatic?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what would be a road that I can lead you on to help you get from the calling and the feeling like you want to live your life with intentionality and purpose to actually living your life with intentionality and purpose.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm glad you need that.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because I have the answer today.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Seven key aspects to a pathway to discovering your purpose.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Say amen if you're ready.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, this is so important.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I share this verse, because I want you, if you're feeling a disconnect in your life, I want you to identify this disconnect.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because it will lead to a lost connection for you.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, life without purpose leads to human struggle.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: You may feel lost, you may feel empty, you may feel depressed, you may feel unable to understand who you are if you are detached from your purpose in life.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's a great book that was written by a journalist in London, England, one of the great journalists in our world today, and uh he wrote a book, a very thick book on uh mental health.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's called Lost Connection.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a phenomenally researched book.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: He basically uh went and spent time with the 300 like top-tier experts in mental health around the world, the the best of the best.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he realized the reason that there's so many mental health struggles in our world is because there's there's aspects of our humanity that we're designed to live into that are missing in our life.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: And one of those lost connections that creates so many mental health challenges is purpose.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have purpose, you're gonna feel depression, you're gonna feel insecurity, you're gonna feel lostness, you're gonna feel discouragement, you're gonna feel like there's a piece of your soul missing.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's a piece that was designed for you by God Himself.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it's okay that if you're here this morning and you feel like there's a lost connection.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like this is so important for you to identify because this is the moment to reconnect to your purpose.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or this is the moment that you begin to pursue an understanding of your purpose so that part of your life feels whole and well and connected to God again.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: So life without purpose leads to human struggle.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, your purpose flows out of your identity, your purpose flows out of your identity.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is really important because when you understand that you were made in the image of God and you are called to be a steward of God's creation, you are gonna reconnect your identity to your purpose.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: And some people are like, what am I supposed to do in life, but they don't know who they are?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to understand who you are so that you can understand what you're supposed to do.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's why God in Genesis 1:26 and 27 says, Let us make mankind in our image in our likeness.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female, he created them.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is your identity.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: That you are a child of the living God created in the image of God Himself.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing else in creation story is created in the image of God, only human beings, which gives you a God-given identity.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: The more confident uh in your purpose, pardon me, you will be more confident in your purpose when you understand your identity and your value from God Himself.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many people lost with purpose in life because they don't understand who they are in life.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: You are a child of God.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: You have been creating the image and likeness of God.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: That means you have so much value, you have so much worth.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you have so many intrinsic gifts that God has given you to reflect Him in His creation.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Every single one of you.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Identity asks the question, who am I?
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Purpose asks the question, What am I here for?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Identity is what makes you a unique human, and purpose is your contribution to human flourishing.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Both of these are connected.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: They need to be in harmony.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a child of God creating his image and likeness.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, I have value to do something in this world that's going to make a difference.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you want to live a life that makes a difference?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: When you're 20, you want to look back and you want to say, I've been living a life that makes a difference.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: When you're 60, you want to be look back and say, I've been living a life that makes a difference.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: When you're 90, anybody 90 in here?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you are, you're amazing.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: You want to look back and say, I lived a life that made a difference.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that comes from God.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, your purpose is connected to God's design.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Your purpose is connected to God's design.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: You were created by God for God with purpose from God to be a steward over God's creation.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the reality: you cannot disconnect your purpose from God and flourish.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's what's called detachment.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can't be detached from God and flourish.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can't be detached from God's identity for you or purpose for you and flourish.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: And conversely, you cannot make your purpose your God and flourish.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's idolatry.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: You can't be detached from God's design for you and purpose for you and flourish.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you can't make your purpose and calling your God and flourish.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be miserable.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's placing something above God.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's giving something that you might enjoy or you might be successful at.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's giving something that God has given you and putting on it, putting it on an altar of worship over your life and then demoting God.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: That cannot create flourishing in your life.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: It will make you miserable.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Most of us in a city like this, our temptation is not detachment, our temptation is idolatry.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: We begin to worship how good we are at whatever we do, or we begin to worship how intelligent we are at the thing that God gave us intelligence around, and that we've put so much study and effort into understanding.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: We wear it as like, look at me, look how great I am.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, this thing that is meant to be a puzzle to our flourishing ends up being a piece that leads to our misery and downfall because anything that takes the place of God will only make you less connected to God's flourishing for your life.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: So you can't worship your calling, you can't worship your purpose.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: I love what my friend John Mark Comer wrote in his book on calling and purpose.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: He says, we are image bearers, created to rule, to partner with God and pushing and pulling the creation project forward, to work it, to draw out the earth's potential and unleash it for human flourishing.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: To cooperate with God and building a civilization where his people can thrive in his presence.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: And in this cosmic agenda, each of us has a vocation, a calling from God, a way that God has wired us, something to be and something to do.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because the two merge in perfect symmetry.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: We are called for a specific kind of work to make a garden-like work where image bearers can flourish and thrive, where people can experience and enjoy God's generous love.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: A kingdom where God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven, where the glass wall between earth and heaven is so thin and clear and translucent that you don't even remember it's there.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of world we're called to make.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: After all, we're just supposed to continue what God started in the beginning.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: What a line.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever God has gifted you in, you're bringing heaven to earth, and you're just supposed to continue what God already started in the beginning.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: The great author Tim Keller, whose book on work, Every Good Endeavor, is one of the greatest ever written, he said this work and lots of it is an indispensable component in a meaningful human life.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: It is a supreme gift from God, and one of the main things that God gives our lives purpose.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: But it must play its proper role, subservient to God.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: A great temptation with a bunch of gifted people like you, not me, but you that we always put work in its proper place.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then you will feel alive, then you will do good, then you will make a difference in life.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: And you could also put sports and athletics in that component.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's a gift from God.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, you should understand the building blocks of purpose.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: What are the building blocks?
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: How do I discover or put together the piece of like my purpose and calling, which is a such a good question, and so many people ask that.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: And let me give you my best attempt to answer that question.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Your purpose includes five things.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, your personality.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: Who are you?
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: I was listening to Pastor Ray, the founding pastor of Bayside, his teaching last night on this topic.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was listening to it this morning, and as I was listening to it, I'm like, man, he is such a gifted teacher.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because here's why.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: When Ray teaches, he inspires people.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you feel like, when he's teaching, you feel like he's not just teaching you the Bible, you feel like he's drawing you into a life that God has called you to that you didn't see before.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's a gift from God.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: He has a personality to inspire and woo and draw people in and make people feel like they're important and their life matters.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was just thinking about his personality and how important that is.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna send him a text, but I didn't have time.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do it later today.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Your personality is such an important component.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: We've got a personality spectrum test.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you ever want to take the test, we'll send it to you.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Just email us uh Bayside Online.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: What is our email?
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's Davis.baside.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: What is it?
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone know?
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Bernice, tell us.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Stand up, Bernice.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us what our email is.
• 29:33
  unknown: Davis at BaysideOnline.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Davis at Base Online.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, great job, Bernice.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: Great job.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Coming, coming through.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: For the man that should know this but doesn't know much.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Davis at BasideOnline.com, email us and we'll send you a personality like test.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's an amazing thing.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, your talents.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: What are you talented at?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: What are you good at?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Draw out those talents, discover those talents.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is a major part of your definition, your building blocks to find your purpose.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, your experiences.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: What you have gone through in life will shape your purpose.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: Every part of your story can shape your purpose.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: The good things shape your purpose.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: The hard things shape your purpose.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: They shape how you can touch and help the world around you.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, your passions.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: What are you passionate about?
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's a reason that you have those passions in your soul, your personality, your talents, your experience, your passions, and then number five, your education.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Don't diminish your education.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is an important part of what's going to make you you.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you studied science and you become a lawyer, even if you studied law and you became just a manager or leader or whatever, or you know, a newscaster or whatever.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: Every part of your life is a building block to develop you.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, it's when your personality, your talents, your experiences, your passions, and your education, it's when all of these come together, coalesce to meet real human needs and do good in this world that you find your purpose.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: All of those things coming together, and you begin to meet human needs and do good in this world.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you can take all of those things and do evil.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: You can take all of those things and live a selfish life.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can take all of those things and lead a greedy life, and you're not going to do good, and you're not going to meet real human needs.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: But this is what God is calling us out of.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: Out of a life where we have a detachment or an idolatry of our purpose, and into a life where every day your life is going to count for eternity.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: Every day your life can count for eternity.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: You should understand the building blocks of purpose.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, your purpose is twofold as a follower of Jesus.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the two aspects of your purpose that you need to nail down in your life.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, your vocational calling, and number two, your spiritual calling.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: Your vocational calling is discovering your purpose for work.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna spend a lot of your life doing work.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: We told you the stats a few minutes ago.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: And your spiritual calling is discovering your purpose for the Christian life.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Both of those are essential.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yesterday, by the way, if there's men in here, come to our men's community once a month.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yesterday we had our men's community and we're all sitting outside at Kurt's house.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's this beautiful Mediterranean courtyard in the front yard of his house, and we're all sitting and almost every chair is taken up, and we're talking about the Lord.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: And Tristan, who's younger, he shares a testimony of what God's doing in his life.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: And man, he's living with purpose in this world.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then Doug, who has a lot more experience in life than Tristan, Doug shares this brilliant devotion on love and the fruit of the Spirit and how God is calling us as men to be people of love in this world, reflecting Jesus.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was brilliant.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm thinking like, here's a young man and here's an older man, and they're both doing what we're talking about today.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Living their life with purpose.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: Both incredibly gifted.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: They could be doing anything else on a Saturday morning, and yet they're encouraging a group of men to a higher calling, a higher plane, and they're living out what they're encouraging all of us to do.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was awesome sitting there.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, our next meeting, men, our next meeting, write it in your calendar right now, September 19th, 10 a.m.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be awesome.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: Don't miss it.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: So they're living this out, and it's just so cool.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is why we have Romans 12.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is why we have 1 Corinthians 12.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is why the New Testament spends so many, so much, so much space and chapter and verse on the fact that you have a calling from God, and then God says, but you need to live it out.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Don't bury it, don't detach yourself from it, don't idolize it.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: Use it as God intended for you to use it.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: You've got a spiritual calling, you've got to use it.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: That means you need to be with Jesus and become like Jesus.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's your spiritual calling.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: That means you need to serve Jesus and his people.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's your spiritual calling.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: Every one of us are called to this.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: That means you need to tell the world about Jesus and make disciples.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's your spiritual calling.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: That means you need to be an active member of a local church, Bayside Davis, hopefully.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's your spiritual calling.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: That means you need to figure out your spiritual gifts and use them to build up God's church and God's people in unity with the people of God.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's your spiritual calling.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: God does not want you to be on the bench.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: God does not want you to be on the sidelines.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: God wants you to get in the game and make your life meaningful.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: All of you.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: No matter where you're at in following Jesus, all of you, no matter what age you are or stage in life, all of you are called to this higher purpose.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Number six, I gotta pick up the pace.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: Number six, your purpose is something to be discovered.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: Which means you should intentionally pursue it.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: Again, in his incredible book, Garden City on Calling and Purpose, John Mark writes, calling isn't something you choose.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't you get that?
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like who you marry or what house you buy or what car you buy.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's something you unearth.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: You excavate it, you dig it out, and you discover what your purpose is from God.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's something you need to dig.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: So start digging today.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: Start excavating today.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: Start applying yourself with intentionality to figure out what your purpose is from God.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: That means you should be discovering who you are.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: That means you should be developing your talents.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: That means you should be stewarding every opportunity that God gives you.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: That means you should be stewarding your education.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: That means you should be pursuing purpose that is aligned with God's design for creation and human flourishing.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: That means you should be aware of how your life story and experiences have shaped your life.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: That means you should be faithful in the small things, not just the big things.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes the small things are the greatest discovery points in understanding your purpose.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: That means you should have vision to meet real human needs in this world, and that means you should have vision to do good in this world.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: All of those are a part of the discovery process of intentionally pursuing understanding your purpose.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, number seven, your purpose is something to be cultivated.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: Not only do you pursue it intentionally, but you develop it intentionally.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: There are far too many people in this world that one day the like aha moment comes, it's like the light bulb moment of their life, and they're like, now I know what I'm good at.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: And they rely on their potential and never develop it to its ultimate goal so that you can really make a difference in this world.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: Don't rely on the potential that you have, develop it so you can maximize the life that God has given you.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's like if you plant a tree or you plant a plant or you plant a cacti or a succulent or whatever.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you can't just leave it there to exist.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: It needs water, light, pruning.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's intentional effort so it can grow and flourish.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: Your life needs water, light, and pruning.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just be like, oh, I get what I'm called to do in this world and then do nothing.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: No, you discover it and then you develop it with the entirety of your being.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I was thinking, well, how do you do that?
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Before I teach, I'm asking every question I think you might ask so that I can answer it.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: How do you cultivate it?
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: How do you develop it so you maximize it so you can live a life with the ultimate potential that God has given you?
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing you do to develop is you pray and depend on God as you cultivate your purpose.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: You talk to him about it, you ask him for his power, you ask him to grow you and develop you so that you can have a maturity in what he has called you to do.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: You also use the talents that God gave you in your vocational calling.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: You don't disconnect your vocational calling from your purpose, you align how you were designed by God to most fully do good and create flourishing in this world.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then, how do you develop it?
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: You got to use it, right?
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: You use your talents for your vocational calling and you use your spiritual gifts for your spiritual calling.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: You exercise your gifts, you identify those gifts.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: Tonight at 5 p.m., Pastor Ray, free at Bayside Granite Bay.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is your opportunity.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get a 25-page book he wrote on spiritual gifts.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: Go tonight.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: Learn about your spiritual gifts and use them to serve God and his people.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then you take the opportunities that will help you grow.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: Reps help you grow.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: Around Bayside, we've got what many have said is one of the deepest and most gifted teaching team of lead pastors in America.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't say that.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying this.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so interesting to me that we'll have like a 19 or a 20-year-old, and they'll be like, I want to be on stage preaching at Bayside Granite Bay or Bayside Blue Oaks.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I should be up there.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: And some of us will be in a conversation with this 19 and 20-year-old, and we'll say, It took us 20 years to be up there.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to take every rep possible.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to take every Bible study, every first through fifth grade teaching, every middle school teaching, every home, small group, community teaching, you take every opportunity to get better at what you do.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: That will give you a platform when God's ready to give you the platform.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: But people want to jump from like from like A to Z immediately.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: But you can't do that and be effective and also be healthy in that particular position.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because guess what happened to us?
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: God humbled us a bunch along the way.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: And by the time you're like, by the time you hit like your late 30s and 40s, you're like, I'm actually not very great.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: I actually don't deserve any of this.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's the greatest place to be because that's when God can really use you.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: But you take opportunities, you you take the opportunities in front of you and the new opportunities that come before you and do things you've never done because that will help you grow too.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then you get better at what you do.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: You practice it, you refine it, you develop it, you you keep getting better, you make small improvements every time so that in the long run it becomes immensely measurable in your gifting because you've made those small improvements and you keep learning and growing.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's a sad thing when somebody was good at something and they just quit learning and growing.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: You keep reading books, you keep studying, you keep engaging with resources that are gonna stretch you and help you to grow.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: I I feel so blessed and encouraged that I get to sit around the room with world-class leaders every week.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't take that for granted.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: I am a very observant person.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: People might think I used to be blonde until I lost all my hair when I planted my first church.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: But people think I'm just like, uh, you know, just this like blonde guy that, you know, I say dumb things sometimes.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm actually very, very observant.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm watching all these great leaders and I'm picking things up from them.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not wasting my time around such amazing people that God has blessed me to be around.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always trying to learn from everybody in the room.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then you seek mentors in your field, people that are gonna help you to develop.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna speak into your life through conversation and observation and mentoring and blind spots and all those things.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: Mentors will help you to become great at what you're called to do.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: And in the middle and and at the front end, the middle, and the back end of all of that, you're always becoming more like Jesus and how you live out your purpose and calling.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then can I tack on one more?
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: You got good if I tack on one more?
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: This reset series, there's a lot to talk about.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: You ask for feedback.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the time in a busy organization, uh, nobody's gonna give you feedback unless you ask for it.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to invite that into your life.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna be like, hey, Tristan, let me give you 10 points like for your teaching.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: He comes to me and says, Hey, can you give me feedback?
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: I really want to grow.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Yes, let's do this.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is amazing.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: You ask for feedback.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: You ask for somebody to help you to grow.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: God will use that.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because somebody that somebody that's good at feedback is also good at encouragement.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody wants the the the first time you ask somebody for feedback and it's all just business and harsh will be the last time you get feedback from that person because you'll never ask them again.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: But if you ask for feedback and somebody gives you really good pointers and it's constructive and they're also encouraging, they'll keep coming back to you for feedback.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're asking for feedback, identify the right person.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're giving feedback, be the right person to help people grow.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody grows holistically overnight.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: We all grow piece by piece and step by step.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: So you might be here, but they're here, so you have to help them step by step to get here.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: You guys get what I'm saying?
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: I say all of this to say God has created you for a purpose.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: And God brought you here today, not just to hear another teaching, not just to learn more of the Bible.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: That is true.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: God brought you here today to call you to a higher level in your life, to live your life with God given purpose.