July 4, 2025 • 26 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi guys, I'm Beth Jones and welcome to the Basics
with Beth, where learning God's Word is a joy. In
every message, we will do our best to teach you
the Bible basics in such a way that it strengthens
your faith foundation. In addition, I want to empower and
equip you so that you have confidence to share these
(00:24):
Bible basics with others. So lean in and listen with
your heart. If you'd like to know more about our ministry,
just go to the Basics with Beth dot com and
get all the scoop. With all of that said, now
let's jump into today's message. Welcome to this brand new series,
(00:45):
the Inspired Life, and our tagline is living the life
you love because that's what the Lord wants for each
and every one of us. How many of you know
you have a divinely implanted sense of purpose. You have
a sense of a God given purpose or potential. And
what we're going to do in this series is, with
the Lord's help, kind of process through it together to
(01:07):
see what the Lord pulls out from what He's already
planted within number of years ago, the Lord put it
in my heart to take all of the stuff that
We have been teaching for years and years and years
on the basics, including much of what we're going to
talk about in this from a little different angle, to
put all of that into a digitized version, to make
it have the ability to ultimately to get to a
(01:29):
cell phone, to be online and all those things, and
to make it such that people could access it twenty
four to seven on demand anywhere in the world. And
so we set up this Basics University in an online
learning place, and the very first course we are launching
is this one, the Inspired Life. Here's what I'm believing
for and praying for you all is that the Lord
(01:51):
helps us to prayer fully a hear his voice, really
listen to the Lord's speaking to you personally. He's already
deposited so many things in each and every one of us,
and it doesn't matter how old you are.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Sometimes people think, oh, that's a great series for people
in their twenties. No, this is a great series for
everybody breathing, because if you're still breathing, you still have purpose.
If you're on the planet, you still have a divine purpose.
And there's something that you can be and do that
no one else can be. In do so, don't dismiss
yourself and don't count yourself out. This is for every
(02:25):
single person, from the youngest to the oldest. God has
something for you, and it's gonna answer these questions. So
when we talk about purpose, we're answering the question or
filling in this blank, completing this phrase I was created,
filling the blank. Well, I know those are big rhetorical
questions that people ask all the time. Why am I here?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
What's my purpose?
Speaker 1 (02:46):
What difference does my life make, what's God's plan for
my life? What's my potential? All of those things. But
sometimes people have those questions and then they just assume
it's too difficult to get the answers, or they don't
have any tools or resources ways to begin to process
through it, to secrets, key steps, whatever you want to
say to begin to get revelation on what those things are.
(03:08):
So purpose answers the quest, the big overarching question. I
was created, and we're gonna see four things today concerning
purpose that we were created for. What I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna take you guys inside the Inspired Life course.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
We're gonna actually.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Watch the video in module one less than one. It's
twelve minutes long. We're gonna watch it and then a
panel's gonna come up here on stage and we're gonna
have some back and forth dialogue and some discussions. So
give your attention to the screens for just a minute
and we'll be back. Okay, here we are. You are
in the Inspired Life Course. We are in module number one,
(03:45):
how to live smack dab in the center of your
God given purpose. And this is less than one, less
than one. We're gonna talk about your purpose, four ways
to clarify and to get clear on your purpose. All right,
so let me give you a cup full of introductory
thoughts as we get into this. Number one thing to
be thinking about is we're gonna look at the thirty
(04:06):
thousand foot view in this lesson, all right, we're gonna
get up real high, take a big picture look at purpose,
and so we're gonna ask them specific questions here in
just a moment. But by way of introduction, I just
want to mention this. You know, you were made for more.
You were and oftentimes we are asking those questions, aren't we.
You know, many times we're asking questions like why am
(04:26):
I here? What is my purpose? Does my life even matter.
You know, how can my life? How can little O
one me? How can I make a difference? And all
of those rhetorical you know, why am I here kinds
of questions, and the goodness is there are answers. God
has you here for a reason because you have a purpose.
All right, So be encouraged as we go through this.
(04:49):
Our job, your job, it's not to invent your purpose.
And I really want to clarify that. You don't have
to come up with something like, oh, I've got to
come up with a purpose.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
You don't have to do that at all. So just
rest relax.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
All we're going to do is discover our purpose. We're
going to discover our God given purpose. And there's great
rest in that, isn't there. God has his hand on
you with purpose. Okay, So let's look at it from
two ways. Let's look at purpose from the telescopic and
then from the microscopic. And I think this is really
(05:23):
important because when we look at God's purpose for our
life from that telescopic, you know view, it's kind of
our default. We tend to look at it like, okay,
from the telescopic view, what kind of impact, what kind
of footprint, what kind of legacy do I want my.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Life to make?
Speaker 1 (05:42):
What kind of what kind of legacy do I want
to leave? What do I want? What? You know? What
kind of things do I want my life to do? Okay,
that's that's what I'm getting to. What does my life do?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
What am I supposed to do?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
And we spend a lot of time thinking about the doing,
and that's okay, We're going to get into that. That's
the telescopic you. What is my purpose? What is my impact?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
What do I do with my life?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
But the microscopic view is really important, and I think
we overlooked this one. The microscopic view is you. It
is boiling it right down to you the person, and
it's not so much about what you do concerning your purpose.
It's about who you are being, who you are becoming?
Who you be?
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Who are you?
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And that's a huge part of your purpose. And we're
going to look at both of those. Who are you
being and becoming? And then what are you doing? Okay,
So now let's talk about four specific things we can
look at for specific angles views ways to look at
your purpose. So the first thing, number one is we
need to know and you need to know your purpose
(06:44):
is eternal. All right, you have an eternal purpose. And
I want to share this verse with you. It's from
Ecclesiastes three, verse eleven, from the Amplified Bible.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
It says something to this effect.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
It says that every one of us has a purpose,
and that God has played within us a divinely implanted
sense of purpose which nothing under the sun can satisfy,
but God alone. God is the only one that can
satisfy the divinely implanted sense of purpose because He put
(07:16):
it there. So there is this eternal purpose. And in
your hand out, in your worksheet, I want you to look.
We're going to have you go through this process of
beginning to answer some questions about the microscopic you.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Who are you being? And when you look back at
your life.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
You know, years and years and years from now, when
you look back and you say, huh, did I fulfill
my purpose? You're going to ask the question what kind
of a person have I become?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Who am I? Who did I become?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
And then secondly you're going to look back and ask
the question and what did I do?
Speaker 3 (07:45):
What did I do with my life?
Speaker 1 (07:47):
How did I invest my life into something that was
bigger than me? And those are the questions you're going
to ask as you look back, So it gives some
thought to that now. But then I also want to
share an illustration with you, some of you that have
perhaps heard this before, but it's so good and it
so fits this and this is what helped me. Honestly,
this is what has helped me so much to live
out I believe to the best of my ability, with
(08:08):
God's help. And you know, all of us are work
in progress, so you know I get that and you
get that too. None of us have this done perfectly.
But this has helped me. This dot line analogy. Okay,
so let me talk to you about that. There's this analogy.
It's sort of called the dot line analogy, and in essence,
it's this. Our lives can be looked at as a
line with a dot on it. This line represents eternity.
(08:32):
It's the fact that we're gonna live for eternity once
we leave, you know, planet Earth, live our lives here
and go to be with the Lord. There is this
eternal life we're going to live. But while we're here
on the Earth, we have a dot on this line,
and that dot represents our lives. And so the big
question is what are we doing with the dot? And
we can just focus all of our tension on the dot,
(08:53):
the temporary things of the dot, or we can focus
on the line, that greater purpose, and then invest our
dot into that eternal purpose that is the line. And
so I want you to give some thought to those
kinds of things as you answer the questions in your worksheet.
And then now let's talk about number two. What is
the second thing concerning purpose? Okay, number two concerning purposes?
(09:18):
You were made to be loved. And I know this
is a biggie for some of us because so many
times we think, no, no, I was made to love. Well,
that's true, that's number three. We're going to get to
that in a minute. But actually, you were made to
be loved when it comes to your purpose. The Bible
says this in First John chapter four. It says that
(09:39):
we love God because He loved us.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
First.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
There's another verse in First John. In fact, first John
chapter four. I really want to encourage you to pull
out your Bibles and read First John chapter four because
there's so many little nuggets in that chapter about being loved.
And I don't know about you, but for me, I
you know, all of us. I think we just we
spend so much time, you know, doing and being a mom,
being a wife, being an employer or an employee, taking
(10:07):
care of things, you know, accomplishing things. We sometimes forget
that the being part of our lives is to be
loved by the Lord. And so in First Time chapter four,
it says things like this, it's not that we loved God,
but it's that He loved us. I mean, that is
a huge, massive revelation. Again in that chapter it says,
and we know and believe the love God has for us.
(10:32):
You know, so many times we're the ones singing songs
about how much we love the Lord. And that's good
and we should. But honestly, part of your purpose is
to be loved, and there's great rest in that and
it gets things in the right order.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
It's not that we love God, but that it's He
loved us. Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
So to get a hold of that one process through
that with your worksheet, answer some of the questions we've
asked there. And I really think this is going to help.
It's really gonna help you. Number three is that we
were made to love. Of course, you knew that we're
made to love others. And you know, the Bible says again,
I'm giving you lots of scriptures because I want you
just to see that so much of our purpose is
(11:10):
rooted and grounded in God's word and what God says
about us. So the Bible says this, knowing that we're loved,
then frees us up to love one another.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Beloved.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
If God so loved us, we ought to love one another.
And so when it comes to relationships, let me encourage
you in that one. You're going to find if you haven't already,
the older you get, you find that, you know what
it is all about relationships. It's not about what we
do that's important, but it is really about who we
are being and then who we're connecting with relationally. And
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part of our purpose is to connect and to love others.
And so Billy Graham was asked many years ago, you know,
but some of his regrets in his life, or if
he had had the chance to do things over, what
would he do?
Speaker 3 (11:51):
And you know, I thought it was so interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Of course, as a young person having heard his quote,
I thought, well, you know, that's great for Billy Graham.
But I'm just focused on, you know, compltating these things
and taking care of business. And you know, my husband
and I were building a church at the time, raising
four kids, and.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Boy had so much to do.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
But Billy Graham said this, He said, you know, if
I had it to do over, I would do a
couple of things. He said, I would speak less, I
would study more, and I would spend more time with
my family.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
And then he in other.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Interviews, talked about just the importance of investing in relationships.
That we can get so busy, busy, busy, busy, we're
not loving one another and we're not really connecting relationally.
And I'm I know I've been guilty of that. I've
been guilty of being so busy just with our lives
that sometimes we don't take the time to love others
the way we should. And we're going to have a
whole module on relationships. I don't miss that one here
(12:43):
coming up. And then last, but not least, number four.
What's the fourth thing or to give some attention to
when it comes to purpose?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
All right?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Number four is this we are purposed to glorify God.
You know, in Collostionans it says whatever you do, whether
you you eat or drink, whatever you do do everything
to the glory of God. And you know, that's a
great overarching theme for our lives. It's like, what do
you do with the purpose of your life? I just
live to glorify God. What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I know?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
For me, when I first heard those kind of things,
I thought, I don't get that.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Like, is God a narcissist? Is he an ego driven?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
You know, God who just needs us to glorify him
and to praise and to worship him. And the answer
is no, of course he's not narsis narcisstic, And of
course he's not ego driven. But he is the Master,
he is the Creator. He is the most tied God,
and above him there is no other. And here's the
beautiful thing to me, here's the beautiful thing about glorifying
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God and about honoring God. He gets all the honor,
he gets all the glory, he gets all the credit.
Our lives are here to reflect his greatness.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
But you know what we get. We get the benefit.
We get all the benefits of.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
A relationship with the Lord, of a relationship with others
being loved, Oh by God loving others. We get the
benefit of enjoying His creation. We get the benefit of
fulfilling our purpose, that eternal purpose we're talking about, that
sense of satisfaction that nothing under the sun can satisfy
but God alone. So I hope these thoughts they have
(14:17):
got your wheels spinning, your thinking, and you're like, Okay,
this is.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
The thirty thousand foot view.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
This is really taking a big look at my life
and then answering the question, I was created fill in
the blank. Now, let me wrap up by giving you
my own personal story here. I began to think these thoughts,
and have thought these thoughts for many, many years, and
I answered that I was created sentence in four ways.
Using the four things we talked about, I came to
(14:43):
the conclusion that I was created with an eternal purpose,
and I had a God given potential and I wanted
to fulfill it. I was created with an eternal purpose
and a God given potential. Number two I eventually figured
out and came to the conclusion.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I was created.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Literally, I was created and so were you, to be
loved by God. It's not that I loved him, it's
that he loved me.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Number three, I was created to love others and that's
a huge part of you, your purpose, of my purpose.
I was created to love. I'm not even fulfilled if
I'm not loving others. And then number four, I was
created to glorify God, to please God, to honor God,
to glorify the Lord in whatever I do. And you
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know what those four things for me? Of course, I
want you to fill out the worksheets and come up
with your own, but those four things then end up
becoming the guiding compass for the whole rest of my life.
There you have it, a sample of the inspired life.
I've got these guys up on stage. They're gonna be
kind of a discussion group, a group of co workers,
a group of neighbors, whatever the case, okay, and we're
(15:54):
gonna ask them questions just to process through all of this.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
So let's start.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I want to get you, guess warmed up. We're gonna
have you answer this question. In the video, we talked
about this whole idea and it brings a lot of
rest that you don't have to invent your purpose. You
have to discover it. There is a God given purpose
and we don't have to invent it. So I want
you guys to talk about that. What does that do
for you? And even think those thoughts you have to
discover and not invent.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Yeah, I absolutely love that idea, and instantly Jeremiah twenty
nine eleven comes to mind, where it's I know the
thoughts I have for you, declares the Lord plans to
prosper you and all of that, And so I think
of the first line, I know the plans.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Ah.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
That brings so much joy to me. Because He's got
the plans, I don't have to invent them and to
try to create this purpose. But just really, if I
can partner with God and really get to know his
thoughts his dreams for me, it just takes the pressure off.
But it also gives me a vision to strive towards
as well as that I've got to discover like you
were saying passed about discover the purpose. And she also
(16:53):
mentioned that eternity is placed in our hearts and so
is purpose. Purpose is placed in our hearts. And so
I just think the joy is that me, as a
man God, I can purpose myself in partner with God
to find out what that inspired life actually looks like
practically for me. And it's not on my own strength,
it's on him.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Right.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
Yeah, you get to find what's you get to find
and reveal the treasure that's within you. And I think
that's that's like a sense of relief that I don't
have to go and try to create my purpose, but
I can. I can discover my purpose. You know, for
me at my agent at forty five, that's where you
feigned disbelief. Thank you at forty five. And I've had
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a couple of careers, and you know, this is the
time usually when I have the midlife crisis, or by
the world standards, I should have the midlife crisis. I mean,
People Magazine tells me I should go out and have
an affair, and I should go buy a sports car.
And I'm open to the sports car think. But the
whole fact is I don't have to shape anything of
my purpose and what I do by the world standards.
(17:53):
But I can. I can discover. I can discover the
treasure that God's embedded in me, the purpose that He's
embedded in me.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Very good, fantastic, eternal purpose. Let's talk about that one.
The first thing as it relates to purpose on your worksheet.
We we're going to talk about four things. The first
is to recognize, to be aware in the being that
we have an eternal purpose, and they've alluded to it
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
God has the plan.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
God knows the plan, and so in Ecclesiastes three to
eleven it says that God has planted within us there
is a divinely implanted sense of purpose which nothing under
the sun but God alone can satisfy. And there's something
about mulling those words over that nothing under the sun
can fulfill us except fulfilling that divinely implanted sense of purpose.
(18:37):
And then we talked about the dot line analogy, which
you guys have heard us talk about here many times probably,
but if you've never heard it, now you have this
idea of the line of eternity that our dot, our
temporary life, can invest in and then really have this
legacy and this lasting impact. So let's talk about both
of those things. Okay, when it comes to eternal purpose,
(18:58):
the dot line, and then specifically, what the decisions do
you make like in real life. It's great theory on
a video screen, but in real life, how do you
make decisions to invest your dot into the line of
eternal purpose?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Okay, go ahead, Okay, So I think.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
Practical real life, how do we invest our life into
eternal things instead of just temporal things. I think Luke
will allude to this later, but a lot of it
is about people. It's about recognizing those around you, investing
in those who are in your season, and knowing that
as I invest in Luke, and as I try to
bring out God's best in Luke, that God is going
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to bring out the best in me in the process.
God loves people. He created us with relationship in mind,
relationship with Him, in relationship with each other. And so
I kind it wonderful in a joy to be able
to invest in God's creation in that way to bring
out the best in them. It's a beautiful partnership. And
I also think just practically decisions we make, motivation is huge.
(19:59):
Why am I doing this? Is it to benefit me?
Or is it to benefit the kingdom? Why am I
involved in this group? Why am I saying what I'm saying?
Is it to make me look good? Or is it
to glorify the Lord and to bring honor to his
people and who he is? And so I think motivation
has a lot to do with practical.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Decisions that we make.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, okay, let's talk about being loved. That's the second
part of the four purposes, Be mindful, be aware that
you have an eternal purpose and nothing else will satisfy.
And number two is to be loved. And this is
a big revelation. It's a big paradigm shift sometimes for
people because we're so focused and we all know we're
(20:39):
to love others and we know we're to love God.
We all know that. However, sometimes we miss the first step,
which is we love him because key were because He
first loved us, and then to rest in his love.
So just a couple thoughts on that. The reason that
this I think is just so important is because we
get performance driven and works oriented and our approval comes
(21:03):
from us loving. But I want these guys to talk
about the maybe the moment, the transformational moment, when the
revelation hit or when they just became aware of the
fact that they could rest in being loved. All right,
So guys, go ahead and start talking about that. I
may interrupt you along the way and we'll drill down deeper.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
God has been talking to me about just his love
in the last month or two. Just the level of
his love for us is immeasurable. It's unconditional, and like
Pastor Beth mentioned, we know it, but do you believe it?
I realize that I operate out of the depth of
the revelation that I have for God's love for me,
and I respond to him out of that revelation. So
(21:41):
I can only really love God back to the degree
that I have been revealed to see his love for me,
and it can continue to grow because He's immeasurable. His
love for me is a measurable So it's those deeper wells.
I can go deeper, I can go higher because his
love for me is the measurable and all I have
to do is have that revelation knowledge of his love.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Awesome, Awesome.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
Sure, I had this moment too a couple of weeks ago.
It's funny, God did something beautiful in both of us
kind of within the same time period. But I had
this moment where I realized, you know, God actually wants
what's best for me, not because I'm great or i'm good,
or I've done anything to deserve it, but actually because
he's just so good that he wants what's best for
(22:29):
all of us. And it's not because of selfish ambition
that we should agree with that, and it's not because
we have selfish hearts but it's actually just agreeing with
God's best, agreeing with who he is, agreeing with his love.
And it was a moment that I remember just looking
at look and being like I get it finally, Like
he he is so good, he is so love that
he wants what's the absolute best for our lives. And
(22:51):
I think that's what this whole inspired life is about.
Finding our purpose is realizing God has the best intentions
in mind. But it's because He loves us so much,
so immeasurably, like Nicole said, so yeah, awesome.
Speaker 7 (23:03):
You know, it's just like the love of God covers
a multitude of sense. You know, we all blow it,
we all miss the mark. And yet for my life,
a lot of it was always trying to measure up.
Like Nichole said that I was going to work my
way into heaven, that I was going to be good.
I was going to be this person that was going
to do everything and check it off. I did this,
I did this, and then he would love me. But no,
he loves me unconditionally, and through those mistakes that I've made,
(23:27):
I find that he loves me more. And in those
mistakes you make, he shows you and teaches you and
grows you, grows you into this person that He's called
you to be. And so it's safe just to be
in those moments and know that God always turns everything,
causes it for my good, my benefit, even when I
can't see, even when I can't know the outcome, He
(23:51):
causes it so I can for good for me, so
I can trust him so good.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Our purpose is to glorify God, and the Bible says,
whatever you do, whether you eat or whether you drink,
do everything to the glory of God. So in practical terms,
I want them to wrap up and just tell us
how do they, in practical ways glorify God? And then
what benefit in God's goodness does he give them as
they do that?
Speaker 7 (24:16):
Great?
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Okay, So I'm a wife, and I'm a student, and
I serve at a church, and so first and foremost
as a wife, I just glorify God obviously by loving
my husband as with all my heart, and by honoring
him and respecting him and praying for him. And the
benefit of that is our marriage grows as I put
him first. It may seem like, oh, you got to
(24:38):
put somebody else first in your life? How is that
going to work? It's such a oxymoron to give your
life and then find it. But you know, I give
my life as a wife to my husband in full
trust that God has God us both. The benefit is
our marriage is thriving and growing and flourishing. And then
as a student, how do you put God first? As
a student, Well, you just be the best student you
(25:00):
can be. It's not too complicated. You show up to class,
you're there on time, you give your all, you learn
all that you can, and you trust that God is
imparting to you what he needs to impart to you
in that season. But it's real practical. Just show up
and be all the way there. I think that glorifies
God so awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
So I hope you guys enjoyed the uh just the
interactive vibe. Our time is up and so I hope
you got something to think about and live the inspired life. Hey, guys,
thank you so much for joining me for today's message.
If you'd like to access more of our teaching, online
courses and other resources, I want to invite you to
(25:39):
download our brand new Basics with Beth app from the
Apple Store and then go to the Basicswithbeth dot com
to select the plan you'd like, and you'll receive your
login credentials. The app is the central headquarters, the hub
for all of our teachings, and you'll have everything at
(26:03):
your fingertips. If you like what you're receiving through the
Basics with Beth and want to help us reach more people,
I invite you to partner with us because it's your
financial donations and generosity that enable us to take the
Gospel Basics to the world. Thanks again for joining me today.
God bless you, and I'll see you next time right
(26:25):
here on the Basics with Beth
Hi guys, I'm Beth Jones and welcome to the Basics
with Beth, where learning God's Word is a joy. In
every message, we will do our best to teach you
the Bible basics in such a way that it strengthens
your faith foundation. In addition, I want to empower and
equip you so that you have confidence to share these
(00:24):
Bible basics with others. So lean in and listen with
your heart. If you'd like to know more about our ministry,
just go to the Basics with Beth dot com and
get all the scoop. With all of that said, now
let's jump into today's message. Welcome to this brand new series,
(00:45):
the Inspired Life, and our tagline is living the life
you love because that's what the Lord wants for each
and every one of us. How many of you know
you have a divinely implanted sense of purpose. You have
a sense of a God given purpose or potential. And
what we're going to do in this series is, with
the Lord's help, kind of process through it together to
(01:07):
see what the Lord pulls out from what He's already
planted within number of years ago, the Lord put it
in my heart to take all of the stuff that
We have been teaching for years and years and years
on the basics, including much of what we're going to
talk about in this from a little different angle, to
put all of that into a digitized version, to make
it have the ability to ultimately to get to a
(01:29):
cell phone, to be online and all those things, and
to make it such that people could access it twenty
four to seven on demand anywhere in the world. And
so we set up this Basics University in an online
learning place, and the very first course we are launching
is this one, the Inspired Life. Here's what I'm believing
for and praying for you all is that the Lord
(01:51):
helps us to prayer fully a hear his voice, really
listen to the Lord's speaking to you personally. He's already
deposited so many things in each and every one of us,
and it doesn't matter how old you are.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Sometimes people think, oh, that's a great series for people
in their twenties. No, this is a great series for
everybody breathing, because if you're still breathing, you still have purpose.
If you're on the planet, you still have a divine purpose.
And there's something that you can be and do that
no one else can be. In do so, don't dismiss
yourself and don't count yourself out. This is for every
(02:25):
single person, from the youngest to the oldest. God has
something for you, and it's gonna answer these questions. So
when we talk about purpose, we're answering the question or
filling in this blank, completing this phrase I was created,
filling the blank. Well, I know those are big rhetorical
questions that people ask all the time. Why am I here?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
What's my purpose?
Speaker 1 (02:46):
What difference does my life make, what's God's plan for
my life? What's my potential? All of those things. But
sometimes people have those questions and then they just assume
it's too difficult to get the answers, or they don't
have any tools or resources ways to begin to process
through it, to secrets, key steps, whatever you want to
say to begin to get revelation on what those things are.
(03:08):
So purpose answers the quest, the big overarching question. I
was created, and we're gonna see four things today concerning
purpose that we were created for. What I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna take you guys inside the Inspired Life course.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
We're gonna actually.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Watch the video in module one less than one. It's
twelve minutes long. We're gonna watch it and then a
panel's gonna come up here on stage and we're gonna
have some back and forth dialogue and some discussions. So
give your attention to the screens for just a minute
and we'll be back. Okay, here we are. You are
in the Inspired Life Course. We are in module number one,
(03:45):
how to live smack dab in the center of your
God given purpose. And this is less than one, less
than one. We're gonna talk about your purpose, four ways
to clarify and to get clear on your purpose. All right,
so let me give you a cup full of introductory
thoughts as we get into this. Number one thing to
be thinking about is we're gonna look at the thirty
(04:06):
thousand foot view in this lesson, all right, we're gonna
get up real high, take a big picture look at purpose,
and so we're gonna ask them specific questions here in
just a moment. But by way of introduction, I just
want to mention this. You know, you were made for more.
You were and oftentimes we are asking those questions, aren't we.
You know, many times we're asking questions like why am
(04:26):
I here? What is my purpose? Does my life even matter.
You know, how can my life? How can little O
one me? How can I make a difference? And all
of those rhetorical you know, why am I here kinds
of questions, and the goodness is there are answers. God
has you here for a reason because you have a purpose.
All right, So be encouraged as we go through this.
(04:49):
Our job, your job, it's not to invent your purpose.
And I really want to clarify that. You don't have
to come up with something like, oh, I've got to
come up with a purpose.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
You don't have to do that at all. So just
rest relax.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
All we're going to do is discover our purpose. We're
going to discover our God given purpose. And there's great
rest in that, isn't there. God has his hand on
you with purpose. Okay, So let's look at it from
two ways. Let's look at purpose from the telescopic and
then from the microscopic. And I think this is really
(05:23):
important because when we look at God's purpose for our
life from that telescopic, you know view, it's kind of
our default. We tend to look at it like, okay,
from the telescopic view, what kind of impact, what kind
of footprint, what kind of legacy do I want my.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Life to make?
Speaker 1 (05:42):
What kind of what kind of legacy do I want
to leave? What do I want? What? You know? What
kind of things do I want my life to do? Okay,
that's that's what I'm getting to. What does my life do?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
What am I supposed to do?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
And we spend a lot of time thinking about the doing,
and that's okay, We're going to get into that. That's
the telescopic you. What is my purpose? What is my impact?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
What do I do with my life?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
But the microscopic view is really important, and I think
we overlooked this one. The microscopic view is you. It
is boiling it right down to you the person, and
it's not so much about what you do concerning your purpose.
It's about who you are being, who you are becoming?
Who you be?
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Who are you?
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And that's a huge part of your purpose. And we're
going to look at both of those. Who are you
being and becoming? And then what are you doing? Okay,
So now let's talk about four specific things we can
look at for specific angles views ways to look at
your purpose. So the first thing, number one is we
need to know and you need to know your purpose
(06:44):
is eternal. All right, you have an eternal purpose. And
I want to share this verse with you. It's from
Ecclesiastes three, verse eleven, from the Amplified Bible.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
It says something to this effect.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
It says that every one of us has a purpose,
and that God has played within us a divinely implanted
sense of purpose which nothing under the sun can satisfy,
but God alone. God is the only one that can
satisfy the divinely implanted sense of purpose because He put
(07:16):
it there. So there is this eternal purpose. And in
your hand out, in your worksheet, I want you to look.
We're going to have you go through this process of
beginning to answer some questions about the microscopic you.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Who are you being? And when you look back at
your life.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
You know, years and years and years from now, when
you look back and you say, huh, did I fulfill
my purpose? You're going to ask the question what kind
of a person have I become?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Who am I? Who did I become?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
And then secondly you're going to look back and ask
the question and what did I do?
Speaker 3 (07:45):
What did I do with my life?
Speaker 1 (07:47):
How did I invest my life into something that was
bigger than me? And those are the questions you're going
to ask as you look back, So it gives some
thought to that now. But then I also want to
share an illustration with you, some of you that have
perhaps heard this before, but it's so good and it
so fits this and this is what helped me. Honestly,
this is what has helped me so much to live
out I believe to the best of my ability, with
(08:08):
God's help. And you know, all of us are work
in progress, so you know I get that and you
get that too. None of us have this done perfectly.
But this has helped me. This dot line analogy. Okay,
so let me talk to you about that. There's this analogy.
It's sort of called the dot line analogy, and in essence,
it's this. Our lives can be looked at as a
line with a dot on it. This line represents eternity.
(08:32):
It's the fact that we're gonna live for eternity once
we leave, you know, planet Earth, live our lives here
and go to be with the Lord. There is this
eternal life we're going to live. But while we're here
on the Earth, we have a dot on this line,
and that dot represents our lives. And so the big
question is what are we doing with the dot? And
we can just focus all of our tension on the dot,
(08:53):
the temporary things of the dot, or we can focus
on the line, that greater purpose, and then invest our
dot into that eternal purpose that is the line. And
so I want you to give some thought to those
kinds of things as you answer the questions in your worksheet.
And then now let's talk about number two. What is
the second thing concerning purpose? Okay, number two concerning purposes?
(09:18):
You were made to be loved. And I know this
is a biggie for some of us because so many
times we think, no, no, I was made to love. Well,
that's true, that's number three. We're going to get to
that in a minute. But actually, you were made to
be loved when it comes to your purpose. The Bible
says this in First John chapter four. It says that
(09:39):
we love God because He loved us.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
First.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
There's another verse in First John. In fact, first John
chapter four. I really want to encourage you to pull
out your Bibles and read First John chapter four because
there's so many little nuggets in that chapter about being loved.
And I don't know about you, but for me, I
you know, all of us. I think we just we
spend so much time, you know, doing and being a mom,
being a wife, being an employer or an employee, taking
(10:07):
care of things, you know, accomplishing things. We sometimes forget
that the being part of our lives is to be
loved by the Lord. And so in First Time chapter four,
it says things like this, it's not that we loved God,
but it's that He loved us. I mean, that is
a huge, massive revelation. Again in that chapter it says,
and we know and believe the love God has for us.
(10:32):
You know, so many times we're the ones singing songs
about how much we love the Lord. And that's good
and we should. But honestly, part of your purpose is
to be loved, and there's great rest in that and
it gets things in the right order.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
It's not that we love God, but that it's He
loved us. Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
So to get a hold of that one process through
that with your worksheet, answer some of the questions we've
asked there. And I really think this is going to help.
It's really gonna help you. Number three is that we
were made to love. Of course, you knew that we're
made to love others. And you know, the Bible says again,
I'm giving you lots of scriptures because I want you
just to see that so much of our purpose is
(11:10):
rooted and grounded in God's word and what God says
about us. So the Bible says this, knowing that we're loved,
then frees us up to love one another.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Beloved.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
If God so loved us, we ought to love one another.
And so when it comes to relationships, let me encourage
you in that one. You're going to find if you haven't already,
the older you get, you find that, you know what
it is all about relationships. It's not about what we
do that's important, but it is really about who we
are being and then who we're connecting with relationally. And
(11:39):
part of our purpose is to connect and to love others.
And so Billy Graham was asked many years ago, you know,
but some of his regrets in his life, or if
he had had the chance to do things over, what
would he do?
Speaker 3 (11:51):
And you know, I thought it was so interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Of course, as a young person having heard his quote,
I thought, well, you know, that's great for Billy Graham.
But I'm just focused on, you know, compltating these things
and taking care of business. And you know, my husband
and I were building a church at the time, raising
four kids, and.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Boy had so much to do.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
But Billy Graham said this, He said, you know, if
I had it to do over, I would do a
couple of things. He said, I would speak less, I
would study more, and I would spend more time with
my family.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
And then he in other.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Interviews, talked about just the importance of investing in relationships.
That we can get so busy, busy, busy, busy, we're
not loving one another and we're not really connecting relationally.
And I'm I know I've been guilty of that. I've
been guilty of being so busy just with our lives
that sometimes we don't take the time to love others
the way we should. And we're going to have a
whole module on relationships. I don't miss that one here
(12:43):
coming up. And then last, but not least, number four.
What's the fourth thing or to give some attention to
when it comes to purpose?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
All right?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Number four is this we are purposed to glorify God.
You know, in Collostionans it says whatever you do, whether
you you eat or drink, whatever you do do everything
to the glory of God. And you know, that's a
great overarching theme for our lives. It's like, what do
you do with the purpose of your life? I just
live to glorify God. What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I know?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
For me, when I first heard those kind of things,
I thought, I don't get that.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Like, is God a narcissist? Is he an ego driven?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
You know, God who just needs us to glorify him
and to praise and to worship him. And the answer
is no, of course he's not narsis narcisstic, And of
course he's not ego driven. But he is the Master,
he is the Creator. He is the most tied God,
and above him there is no other. And here's the
beautiful thing to me, here's the beautiful thing about glorifying
(13:43):
God and about honoring God. He gets all the honor,
he gets all the glory, he gets all the credit.
Our lives are here to reflect his greatness.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
But you know what we get. We get the benefit.
We get all the benefits of.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
A relationship with the Lord, of a relationship with others
being loved, Oh by God loving others. We get the
benefit of enjoying His creation. We get the benefit of
fulfilling our purpose, that eternal purpose we're talking about, that
sense of satisfaction that nothing under the sun can satisfy
but God alone. So I hope these thoughts they have
(14:17):
got your wheels spinning, your thinking, and you're like, Okay,
this is.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
The thirty thousand foot view.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
This is really taking a big look at my life
and then answering the question, I was created fill in
the blank. Now, let me wrap up by giving you
my own personal story here. I began to think these thoughts,
and have thought these thoughts for many, many years, and
I answered that I was created sentence in four ways.
Using the four things we talked about, I came to
(14:43):
the conclusion that I was created with an eternal purpose,
and I had a God given potential and I wanted
to fulfill it. I was created with an eternal purpose
and a God given potential. Number two I eventually figured
out and came to the conclusion.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I was created.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Literally, I was created and so were you, to be
loved by God. It's not that I loved him, it's
that he loved me.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Number three, I was created to love others and that's
a huge part of you, your purpose, of my purpose.
I was created to love. I'm not even fulfilled if
I'm not loving others. And then number four, I was
created to glorify God, to please God, to honor God,
to glorify the Lord in whatever I do. And you
(15:34):
know what those four things for me? Of course, I
want you to fill out the worksheets and come up
with your own, but those four things then end up
becoming the guiding compass for the whole rest of my life.
There you have it, a sample of the inspired life.
I've got these guys up on stage. They're gonna be
kind of a discussion group, a group of co workers,
a group of neighbors, whatever the case, okay, and we're
(15:54):
gonna ask them questions just to process through all of this.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
So let's start.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I want to get you, guess warmed up. We're gonna
have you answer this question. In the video, we talked
about this whole idea and it brings a lot of
rest that you don't have to invent your purpose. You
have to discover it. There is a God given purpose
and we don't have to invent it. So I want
you guys to talk about that. What does that do
for you? And even think those thoughts you have to
discover and not invent.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Yeah, I absolutely love that idea, and instantly Jeremiah twenty
nine eleven comes to mind, where it's I know the
thoughts I have for you, declares the Lord plans to
prosper you and all of that, And so I think
of the first line, I know the plans.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Ah.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
That brings so much joy to me. Because He's got
the plans, I don't have to invent them and to
try to create this purpose. But just really, if I
can partner with God and really get to know his
thoughts his dreams for me, it just takes the pressure off.
But it also gives me a vision to strive towards
as well as that I've got to discover like you
were saying passed about discover the purpose. And she also
(16:53):
mentioned that eternity is placed in our hearts and so
is purpose. Purpose is placed in our hearts. And so
I just think the joy is that me, as a
man God, I can purpose myself in partner with God
to find out what that inspired life actually looks like
practically for me. And it's not on my own strength,
it's on him.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Right.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
Yeah, you get to find what's you get to find
and reveal the treasure that's within you. And I think
that's that's like a sense of relief that I don't
have to go and try to create my purpose, but
I can. I can discover my purpose. You know, for
me at my agent at forty five, that's where you
feigned disbelief. Thank you at forty five. And I've had
(17:31):
a couple of careers, and you know, this is the
time usually when I have the midlife crisis, or by
the world standards, I should have the midlife crisis. I mean,
People Magazine tells me I should go out and have
an affair, and I should go buy a sports car.
And I'm open to the sports car think. But the
whole fact is I don't have to shape anything of
my purpose and what I do by the world standards.
(17:53):
But I can. I can discover. I can discover the
treasure that God's embedded in me, the purpose that He's
embedded in me.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Very good, fantastic, eternal purpose. Let's talk about that one.
The first thing as it relates to purpose on your worksheet.
We we're going to talk about four things. The first
is to recognize, to be aware in the being that
we have an eternal purpose, and they've alluded to it
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
God has the plan.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
God knows the plan, and so in Ecclesiastes three to
eleven it says that God has planted within us there
is a divinely implanted sense of purpose which nothing under
the sun but God alone can satisfy. And there's something
about mulling those words over that nothing under the sun
can fulfill us except fulfilling that divinely implanted sense of purpose.
(18:37):
And then we talked about the dot line analogy, which
you guys have heard us talk about here many times probably,
but if you've never heard it, now you have this
idea of the line of eternity that our dot, our
temporary life, can invest in and then really have this
legacy and this lasting impact. So let's talk about both
of those things. Okay, when it comes to eternal purpose,
(18:58):
the dot line, and then specifically, what the decisions do
you make like in real life. It's great theory on
a video screen, but in real life, how do you
make decisions to invest your dot into the line of
eternal purpose?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Okay, go ahead, Okay, So I think.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
Practical real life, how do we invest our life into
eternal things instead of just temporal things. I think Luke
will allude to this later, but a lot of it
is about people. It's about recognizing those around you, investing
in those who are in your season, and knowing that
as I invest in Luke, and as I try to
bring out God's best in Luke, that God is going
(19:36):
to bring out the best in me in the process.
God loves people. He created us with relationship in mind,
relationship with Him, in relationship with each other. And so
I kind it wonderful in a joy to be able
to invest in God's creation in that way to bring
out the best in them. It's a beautiful partnership. And
I also think just practically decisions we make, motivation is huge.
(19:59):
Why am I doing this? Is it to benefit me?
Or is it to benefit the kingdom? Why am I
involved in this group? Why am I saying what I'm saying?
Is it to make me look good? Or is it
to glorify the Lord and to bring honor to his
people and who he is? And so I think motivation
has a lot to do with practical.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Decisions that we make.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, okay, let's talk about being loved. That's the second
part of the four purposes, Be mindful, be aware that
you have an eternal purpose and nothing else will satisfy.
And number two is to be loved. And this is
a big revelation. It's a big paradigm shift sometimes for
people because we're so focused and we all know we're
(20:39):
to love others and we know we're to love God.
We all know that. However, sometimes we miss the first step,
which is we love him because key were because He
first loved us, and then to rest in his love.
So just a couple thoughts on that. The reason that
this I think is just so important is because we
get performance driven and works oriented and our approval comes
(21:03):
from us loving. But I want these guys to talk
about the maybe the moment, the transformational moment, when the
revelation hit or when they just became aware of the
fact that they could rest in being loved. All right,
So guys, go ahead and start talking about that. I
may interrupt you along the way and we'll drill down deeper.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
God has been talking to me about just his love
in the last month or two. Just the level of
his love for us is immeasurable. It's unconditional, and like
Pastor Beth mentioned, we know it, but do you believe it?
I realize that I operate out of the depth of
the revelation that I have for God's love for me,
and I respond to him out of that revelation. So
(21:41):
I can only really love God back to the degree
that I have been revealed to see his love for me,
and it can continue to grow because He's immeasurable. His
love for me is a measurable So it's those deeper wells.
I can go deeper, I can go higher because his
love for me is the measurable and all I have
to do is have that revelation knowledge of his love.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Awesome, Awesome.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
Sure, I had this moment too a couple of weeks ago.
It's funny, God did something beautiful in both of us
kind of within the same time period. But I had
this moment where I realized, you know, God actually wants
what's best for me, not because I'm great or i'm good,
or I've done anything to deserve it, but actually because
he's just so good that he wants what's best for
(22:29):
all of us. And it's not because of selfish ambition
that we should agree with that, and it's not because
we have selfish hearts but it's actually just agreeing with
God's best, agreeing with who he is, agreeing with his love.
And it was a moment that I remember just looking
at look and being like I get it finally, Like
he he is so good, he is so love that
he wants what's the absolute best for our lives. And
(22:51):
I think that's what this whole inspired life is about.
Finding our purpose is realizing God has the best intentions
in mind. But it's because He loves us so much,
so immeasurably, like Nicole said, so yeah, awesome.
Speaker 7 (23:03):
You know, it's just like the love of God covers
a multitude of sense. You know, we all blow it,
we all miss the mark. And yet for my life,
a lot of it was always trying to measure up.
Like Nichole said that I was going to work my
way into heaven, that I was going to be good.
I was going to be this person that was going
to do everything and check it off. I did this,
I did this, and then he would love me. But no,
he loves me unconditionally, and through those mistakes that I've made,
(23:27):
I find that he loves me more. And in those
mistakes you make, he shows you and teaches you and
grows you, grows you into this person that He's called
you to be. And so it's safe just to be
in those moments and know that God always turns everything,
causes it for my good, my benefit, even when I
can't see, even when I can't know the outcome, He
(23:51):
causes it so I can for good for me, so
I can trust him so good.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Our purpose is to glorify God, and the Bible says,
whatever you do, whether you eat or whether you drink,
do everything to the glory of God. So in practical terms,
I want them to wrap up and just tell us
how do they, in practical ways glorify God? And then
what benefit in God's goodness does he give them as
they do that?
Speaker 7 (24:16):
Great?
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Okay, So I'm a wife, and I'm a student, and
I serve at a church, and so first and foremost
as a wife, I just glorify God obviously by loving
my husband as with all my heart, and by honoring
him and respecting him and praying for him. And the
benefit of that is our marriage grows as I put
him first. It may seem like, oh, you got to
(24:38):
put somebody else first in your life? How is that
going to work? It's such a oxymoron to give your
life and then find it. But you know, I give
my life as a wife to my husband in full
trust that God has God us both. The benefit is
our marriage is thriving and growing and flourishing. And then
as a student, how do you put God first? As
a student, Well, you just be the best student you
(25:00):
can be. It's not too complicated. You show up to class,
you're there on time, you give your all, you learn
all that you can, and you trust that God is
imparting to you what he needs to impart to you
in that season. But it's real practical. Just show up
and be all the way there. I think that glorifies
God so awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
So I hope you guys enjoyed the uh just the
interactive vibe. Our time is up and so I hope
you got something to think about and live the inspired life. Hey, guys,
thank you so much for joining me for today's message.
If you'd like to access more of our teaching, online
courses and other resources, I want to invite you to
(25:39):
download our brand new Basics with Beth app from the
Apple Store and then go to the Basicswithbeth dot com
to select the plan you'd like, and you'll receive your
login credentials. The app is the central headquarters, the hub
for all of our teachings, and you'll have everything at
(26:03):
your fingertips. If you like what you're receiving through the
Basics with Beth and want to help us reach more people,
I invite you to partner with us because it's your
financial donations and generosity that enable us to take the
Gospel Basics to the world. Thanks again for joining me today.
God bless you, and I'll see you next time right
(26:25):
here on the Basics with Beth
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