ASSIGNMENTS

1. Daily read over this material and read or sing the song.

2. Place the scripture where you will see it each day.

3. Think of ways you can glorify God and bring more meaning to your life and the lives of others.

4. Write down one way that you can better fulfill your purpose in life.

5. Plan to tell about a time you struggled with the meaning of your life.

DAILY BIBLE VERSES AND PRAYER THOUGHTS

MONDAY - VERSES: 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7; 5:15-18	PRAYER THOUGHT: Father, help me to understand that I am special to you and that you want me to live up to my full potential.

TUESDAY - VERSES: Daniel 1:8; Acts 11:23 PRAYER THOUGHT: Master, thank you for having work for me to do and goals to strive for, help me to give my full self into working for you.

WEDNESDAY - VERSES: Acts 6:1-4; 1 Corinthians 1:1 PRAYER THOUGHT: Almighty King, help me to find the place I best fit in your kingdom and work diligently to help the kingdom grow.

THURSDAY - VERSES: Isaiah 14:24-27	PRAYER THOUGHT: Great God, may I always remember that you do not create anything without a purpose and that you have both a general and a specific purpose for my life.

FRIDAY - VERSES: Romans 9:15-24 PRAYER THOUGHT: Just Judge, help me never forget that I will give an account to you for the way I have used the gifts and talents you have entrusted to me, and to use them wisely.

SATURDAY - VERSES: Ephesians 1:9-14	PRAYER THOUGHT: Savior of All, help me to share with others the joy of having a purpose in life.

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"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder--a waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life, and, having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you. - Thomas Carlyle.

SPIRITUAL HEALTH REGIMEN - WEEK 106

MEANING OF LIFE - 8-24-14 TO 8-30-14

SCRIPTURE - 1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

COMMENT - Our bodies and our spirits belong to God, were created by Him and for Him, and were bought with the price of His own blood. Everything we do with them should be to please Him and bring glory to Him.

SONG - A BEAUTIFUL LIFE

1) Each day I'll do a golden deed, by helping those who are in need; my life on earth is but a span, and so I'll do the best I can, (the best I can.)

2) To be a child of God each day, my light must shine along the way; I'll sing his praise while ages roll and strive to help some troubled soul, (some troubled soul.)

3) The only life that will endure, is one that's kind and good and pure;

and so for God I'll take my stand, each day I will lend a helping hand, (helping hand.)

4) I'll help someone in time of need, and journey on with rapid speed; I'll help the sick and poor and weak, and words of kindness to them speak, (kind words I'll speak.)

5) While going down life's weary road, I'll try to lift some travelers load; I'll try to turn the night today, make flowers bloom along the way, (the lonely way.)

CHORUS: Life's evening sun is sinking low, a few more days and I must go to meet the deeds that I have done, where there will be no setting sun.

THOUGHTS

John D. Rockefeller Sr. was strong and husky when small. He early determined to earn money and drove himself to the limit. At age 33, he earned his first million dollars. At age 43, he controlled the biggest company in the world. At age 53, he was the richest man on earth and the world's only billionaire.

Then he developed a sickness called "alopecia," where the hair of his head dropped off, his eyelashes and eyebrows disappeared, and he was shrunken like a mummy. His weekly income was $1 million, but he digested only milk and crackers. He was so hated in Pennsylvania that he had to have bodyguards day and night. He could not sleep, stopped smiling, and enjoyed nothing in life.

The doctors predicted he would not live over one year. The newspaper had gleefully written his obituary in advance – for convenience. Those sleepless nights set him thinking. He realized with a new light that he could not take one dime into the next world. Money was not everything.

The next morning found him a new man. He began to help people with his amassed wealth; the poor and needy were not overlooked. He established the Rockefeller Foundation whose funding of medical researches led to the discovery of penicillin and other wonder drugs. Rockefeller began to sleep well, eat and enjoy life, though his hair never grew back.

The doctors had predicted he would not live over age 54. He lived up to 98.

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"The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

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Bertrand Russell was born into a religious home and taught to believe in God, but he rejected his training and became an outspoken atheist. His daughter, Katherine Tait, said of him, "I believe myself that his whole life was a search for God, or, for those who prefer less personal terms, for absolute certainty…Somewhere at the back of my father's mind, at the bottom of his heart, in the depths of his soul, there was an empty space that had once been filled by God, and he never found anything else to put in it…" - http://www.apologeticsreview.com/2012/02/18/lessons-from-bertrand-
russell-by-way-of-his-daughter/

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There was a rich man who had given up on life and found it meaningless. Finally, one day while riding in the back of his limo he said to his driver, " I don't want to live anymore. Pull onto the tracks in front of that train."

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Chasing happiness will only catch emptiness, but chasing righteousness will bring happiness along for the trip.

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To give life meaning, one must have a purpose larger than one's self.

Will Durant.

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John W. Gardner, founding chairman of Common Cause, tells of a cheerful old man who asked the same question of just about every new acquaintance he fell into conversation with: "What have you done that you believe in and you are proud of?"

He never asked conventional questions such as "What do you do for a living?" It was always, "What have you done that you believe in and are proud of?"

It was an unsettling question for people who had built their self-esteem on their wealth or their family name or their exalted job title.

Not that the old man was a fierce interrogator. He was delighted by a woman who answered, "I'm doing a good job raising three children;" and by a cabinetmaker who said, "I believe in good workmanship and practice it;" and by a woman who said, "I started a bookstore and it's the best bookstore for miles around."

"I don't really care how they answer," said the old man. "I just want to put the thought into their minds.

"They should live their lives in such a way that they can have a good answer. Not a good answer for me, but for themselves. That's what' s important." - Dr. Dale E. Turner, MSC Health Action News, July, 1993, p. 7.

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3 QUESTIONS TO ASK ________________

INTRODUCTION - 1 CORINTHIANS 6:20

I. ______ARE YOU HERE? - ECCLESIASTES 12:13-14; MICAH 6:8

II. WHY ARE ______ HERE? - ROMANS 9:17-21; EXODUS 9:14-17 ; PHILIP. 1:20; 1 PETER 4:14; DANIEL 3:26-29; ACTS 7:55-59; 22:19-21; 1 CORINTHIANS 10:31; PHILIP. 1:9-11

III. WHY ARE YOU_______? - ROMANS 12:1; HEBREWS 13:15-16; ESTHER 4:13-16

CONCLUSION

3 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

INTRODUCTION:

A. WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?

B. THE QUESTION OF "WHY?" HAS TROUBLED MEN

SINCE THE BEGINNING.

C. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

I. WHY ARE YOU HERE?

A. ECCLESIASTES 12:13-14 "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. {14} For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

B. MICAH 6:8 "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

II. WHY ARE YOU HERE?

A. THIS IS NOT TO ASK WHAT THE GRAND OVERARCHING PURPOSE OF ALL HUMAN LIFE IS, BUT RATHER WHAT ROLE YOU ARE TO PLAY.

B. WHAT SPECIFIC PURPOSE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUR LIFE?

C. PHARAOH WAS TO BRING GOD GLORY BE BEING REBELLIOUS AND BEING DESTROYED - ROMANS 9:17-21 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. 19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

EXODUS 9:14-17 For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. 16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. 17 As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?

D. JOB, DANIEL, PAUL, ETC. BROUGHT GLORY TO GOD BY SUFFERING. - PHILIPPIANS 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

1 PETER 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

DANIEL 3:26-29 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. 27 And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. 28 Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.

E. STEPHEN, JAMES, ABEL, ETC. BROUGHT GLORY TO GOD BY DYING. - ACTS 7:55-59 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

ACTS 22:19-21 And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: 20 And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. 21 And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.

F. WE SHOULD BE BRINGING GOD GLORY BY OUR LIVES - 1 CORINTHIANS 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

PHILIPPIANS 1:9-11 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; 10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; 11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

III. WHY ARE YOU HERE?

A. WHY ARE YOU IN THIS BUILDING TODAY?

B. WHAT REASON IS THERE FOR BEING HERE AND

NOT SOMEWHERE ELSE DOING SOMETHING ELSE

C. ROMANS 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

D. HEBREWS 13:15-16 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. 16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

E. ESTHER 4:13-16 Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. 14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? 15 Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, 16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

CONCLUSION:

A. SUMMARY

B. INVITATION

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 C orinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.