Wild Horses : Know Your Purpose
To be trained we must know our purpose. Drawing from Jeremiah 1:5, the sermon highlights that each of us is known and called by God, created on purpose for a purpose. We need to seek our unique calling by identifying our passions, giftings, and God-given opportunities, and to walk confidently in our purpose, assured that God is with us every step of the way
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Small Group Curriculum: Discovering Your Purpose
Connect: Opening Activity/Discussion
1. Icebreaker Question: What is an animal that you wonder what its purpose is?
2. Discussion Starter: Reflect on a time when you felt truly alive and fulfilled. What were you doing, and why do you think it resonated with you so deeply?
Discover: Breaking Down the Sermon
1. Understanding Purpose:
- Read Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
- Question: What does it mean to you that God knew you before you were born? How does this shape your understanding of your purpose?
2. Known by God:
- Discussion: The sermon emphasized that God knows us deeply. How does this knowledge impact your relationship with Him?
- Question: How can recognizing that God knows you help you overcome feelings of inadequacy or fear? How can you fulfill your purpose of knowing him better?
3. Called by God:
- read 1 Timothy 3:16-17. What are some things we see in scripture as his general will?
- Read Jeremiah 29:11 and Ephesians 2:10
- Question: What are some specific ways you feel God might be calling you to serve or act in your current season of life?
4. Overcoming Excuses:
- Discussion: The sermon mentioned common excuses people make when called by God.
What are some excuses you’ve made, and how can you overcome them?
- Question: How can you rely on God’s strength and promises to step into your calling?
5. Finding Your Sweet Spot:
- Activity: Use the Venn diagram concept from the sermon. On a piece of paper, draw three intersecting circles labeled "Passions," "Giftings," and "God Opportunities." Spend a few minutes writing down what comes to mind for each category.
- Question: Where do you see overlap, and how might this indicate your "sweet spot" in God’s purpose for you?
Respond: Practical Steps
1. Prayerful Reflection:
- Spend a few minutes in silent prayer, asking God to reveal more about your purpose and calling. Listen for His guidance and write down any thoughts or impressions you receive.
2. Action Plan:
- Identify one specific step you can take this week to move closer to living out your purpose.
This could be volunteering, having a conversation, or starting a new habit that aligns with your calling.
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coming soon
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Well, hello, Rock Church. It's so good to see you guys. Everybody doing good tonight? Are you with me?
It's good, it's good, it's good. I'm glad you're here. Glad you're part of it. As Clay said earlier, if you're new with us, man, I'm glad you're here at happy hour. And Timmy just did introduce it for us, right?
We're in this series. We're calling it Wild Horses. We're talking about this idea of being trained, not tamed, all right? Because there are some of us who, let's just be honest, we're a little wild, okay? I confess that I'm a wild horse.
I know that some of you maybe have friends. You have kids that you say they've got a little wild streak in them. We're not trying to tame. We're trying to train. And what we learned last week is if you want to train that wild in you, that if you want God to train you, you gotta trust.
Today we're saying that you gotta know your purpose. All right? So you talked about some of those animals that you just look at. Sometimes you go, what was God thinking? Like, what's the purpose of that animal?
Platypus. I heard that. Did anybody say mosquito, right? Like, God? Come on.
Like, God, we trust you. But what in the world's the purpose of the mosquito? Somebody said a narwhal. I don't even know if a narwhal is a real creature, okay? They are.
They are. Okay, so, like, what's the purpose of a narwhal? Like, another person said, octopus. Like, that's like an alien sea creature. Like, are they even from here?
Or how about this one? Did anybody say this one? Snakes, right? Like, there's no such thing as a good snake. If there's a snake in my yard, I kill it.
And every time I do that, somebody will say, well, what kind of snake was it? It might have been a good one. There's no such thing as a good snake. It's like saying, there's a good cat. There's no such thing as a good cat, right?
Like snakes and cats, they both come from Satan.
What about different kinds of dogs, right? Like, I'm all for a dog, right? I'm not making fun of dogs, but some of the dog breeds are a little weird, aren't they? Like, what happened to the. Like, the dachshund, right?
Like, what was his name in Toy Story? I'm getting way off script right now. Slinky, right? You know what I'm saying? Like, what's the purpose of that kind of dog?
Or my dog? That we'll see how many more days and years we have. He's old, okay? But he is a combination of a Jack Russell and a Shih Tzu. Now, I don't know if I said that right either, but he's got the weirdest face in the world.
You know what I mean? Like, you look at him, you're just like, that's odd, right? But different dog breeds have different purposes, don't they? Right? Like, we know that.
Like, there's some dogs, their intelligence, their abilities to help people, to be part of fire and rescue, to be part of police academy. Like, there's some dogs that have some serious purposes. Or let's think of it this way. What about horses, right? Our theme is wild horses.
There are some horses that, if you think about it, they have some very distinct purposes. That if you think about workhorses, you're gonna think more about, like, Clydesdales, you're gonna think about shires,
you're gonna think about these big, massive animals. You think about thoroughbreds or quarter horses, they're gonna be considered like. Like racehorses or riding horses. The quarter horses, obviously, a little bit more on the rodeo side.
The thoroughbreds, like, this weekend is the Kentucky Derby. That they're designed for a purpose. You have specialty horses, like, if you've heard of a Gypsy Vanner, or if you've heard of a miniature horse, all right? And then you have wild horses, mustangs, mavericks, that horses have different purposes. And you can look at a horse, you can look at a dog, you can look at other animals, and you can go, I wonder what their purpose is?
But can we say the same thing, even about us, you know what I'm saying? Like, we could look like at us, we could look at people and you could say, well, I wonder what their purpose is. Chances are you've probably looked in the mirror, or if not in the literal mirror, at least inwardly, and said, what's my purpose? And for some of us, man, like, we grab ahold of our purpose real quick. We're like, I know my purpose.
I've got my purpose. I'm running after my purpose. Others of you are like, man, I don't. Like, I really questioned, what is my purpose? Like, what is my purpose even being on Earth?
Or even just more specifically, what is my purpose that I'm supposed to live out? This year, some of you are getting ready to graduate, right? Like, we got graduation going on locally next Weekend and then high schools after that. And you might be going, man, what's next? What's my purpose?
Or for some of you, this might be true of you, that you have felt that you knew your purpose and then something in life happened. Maybe life went sideways. Maybe life beat you up a little bit. Maybe somebody spoke something into you and it squelched the purpose that you thought God had you here for. Here's what I want you to hear this weekend.
That just like we said last weekend, if you want to be trained, that you have to trust God, that if we want to be trained, we have to know our purpose. And you. Everybody hear this. Whether you're here in Conway, whether you're at J. Rubin, whether you're at online, you were created on purpose for a purpose.
You were born with a purpose straight from God. Nobody is here by accident, and your life is not an accident. God has a purpose for you. And we see that all throughout Scripture. And what I want us to do today is I want us to look at Jeremiah.
That last week, this week, and then next week, we're gonna be looking at the book of Jeremiah. He was a prophet, okay? Which simply means he was a guy who spoke on behalf of God, that he spoke to people about the truth of God. All right? And Jeremiah, we read about his story and his learning and understanding of his purpose in Jeremiah chapter one.
And what we're gonna see from Jeremiah chapter one, if you have it, you can go there. If you've got the Church center app, you can go there. However you get there. I also have it on the screen, but I want you to see that in Jeremiah chapter one, it's gonna be verse five. That's gonna be our primary verse today.
That in verse five, what you're gonna see is that Jeremiah was known by God. He was called by God, and God was with him through it all. He was known by God, and he is called by God. That it starts with being known by God. Jeremiah, chapter 1, verse 5.
Here's what it says. Before I formed you, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And there's some depth there that I don't want us to just blow past real quick. Before I formed you, God is saying, listen, I formed you. That as God formed Jeremiah, God also formed Josh.
God also formed Keith. God also formed each and every one of us in this room. That before you were born, God knew you. And that's the reason I can say you're not here by accident. You're not here by chance.
You're not just like, I just showed up on this earth. No, God purposely placed you because he knows you guys. That's the secret or one of the secrets of horse training. Now, confession. I said it last week.
I'll say it again. I've never trained a horse. Okay, like, let's make sure we know that. I just read a good book on it, and when I read the book, I was like, that is just brilliant and so good for us to think about it through the lens of scripture. But to train a horse, a trainer has to know the horse.
A trainer has to know the story of the horse. The trainer has to know what's been going on with the horse. And what you'll see is when a trainer gets into a ring with a horse, he's trying to understand the story of the horse. Why is the horse wild? Why is the horse struggling?
Why is the horse bucking? Why is the horse cowering in fear? Did the horse. Was he abused when he was younger? Was he neglected when he was younger?
Was he overworked? Like, what is the story of the horse? And the trainer knows. The better he knows the horse, the easier it is for him to train. Here's the beauty of God.
God doesn't have to figure us out. God doesn't have to spend time with us for a while and go, okay, now I'm starting to understand who JoJo is. Now I'm starting to understand who so and so is. Like he starts. Like God starts, with full knowledge of each and every one of us.
He knows you deeply. Look at the Scriptures as we go in the book of Psalms. For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. Again, like, you're not an accident.
God knits you together. That should tell us a lot about what life inside the womb is like. Like, let's not miss just some critical verses here. That if God is knitting us together in a mother's womb, that tells us something about that child in the womb that we need to take notice of. God knit us together in the mother's womb.
Going on, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know them full well. Do you say that about your own life? Can I pause there on that verse for a second? Do you look at yourself in the mirror?
Do you look at yourself inwardly? Do you look at who you are and you say, I am fearfully and wonderfully made? You know what I'm saying? I see. I think sometimes we lose sight of that and we don't recognize the gifts that God has given you.
You don't recognize the beauty in you and who God created you to be. So God has given fearfully and wonderfully, made you works are too wonderful. Let me keep going. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eye saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Again, I gotta pause and I got us to focus on this because this verse oftentimes is taken out of context too many times. People read that verse and they'll say, well, God ordained all of your days, so he caused your last day. That's not necessarily true. I'd say oftentimes that is not true.
God. What I believe about God is he doesn't cause someone to have cancer. He doesn't cause someone to get into an auto accident. When it says, when I go back to it, when it says that, when it says that he ordained all those days, it means that he knows them. He knows each day that we're gonna be alive, that he knows when we're coming.
He knows when our last day is. And every day of your life, he knows exactly what he has for you because he knows you. So what I hope that we'll gather today is that man, we are known by God and chosen by Him. Think about this. That God, God picks you.
I don't know if you paid attention to the sports world last weekend. It was the NFL draft. Anybody happen to watch a little bit of it or read up a little bit? Okay, so a couple of you, like diehard football fans, all right, if you followed the NFL draft, there was one guy, and I'm not here to pick on the guy at all, but there was one guy who thought that he might be somewhere in the first round, get picked up, but every day he slid deeper in the draft, ended up not getting picked till the fifth round. And what most of the broadcasters and
analysts would say is the reason that he didn't get picked up is because people, when they sat in interviews with him, got to know him.
And when they got to know him, they said, I don't want to pick him.
God knows you and knows me perfectly. Yet even though he knows every little thing about us, which means he knows every good thing about us, he also knows every bad thing about us. He knows every sin habit, he knows every evil thought. He knows every action. He knows everything.
If anybody would fall out of the first Round, it should be each and every one of us. But God doesn't move us through the fifth round. God makes us a first round pick. Do you see what I'm getting at there? And it goes deeper.
I want you to catch this. God doesn't just make you a first round pick. He made a trade. To pick each and every one of us. He traded the number one pick, the best, the one and only, his son.
He traded him so that he could draft us even though he knows us.
Do you think about that depth? I know I'm camping out on this for a while, but think about that depth for a moment.
That God knows every little thing about me. But he'd still say, I choose you. Which means he does it for each and every one of us. You're not an accident. You were born with a purpose because God knows you.
But it doesn't stop there. God doesn't just know you. God calls you. He calls you. Let me go back to that verse in Jeremiah.
It says, before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to nations. Now again, God is saying this, he's directly speaking this to Jeremiah, that he's saying, jeremiah, before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you. Meaning I called you as a prophet to the nations.
He basically said, jeremiah, I have called you for a purpose. I've got a job for you to do that each and every one of us, just like Jeremiah, has been called by God that God has jobs for us. But my fear is many of us are just like Jeremiah. And when we feel a calling of God, we make excuse excuses. Because it's great that God said, jeremiah, I've got a job for you.
I want to make you profit to the nations. And in the very next verse, Jeremiah said, I'm too young. He said, I'm too young. Like nobody would listen to me. Nobody older will, I'm too young.
He made excuses. And aren't we really good at making excuses when God tells us to do something? And I think we're really good at it because we learned it from, from people in the Bible. Jeremiah making excuses, Moses, I can't speak God, don't choose me. That Esther was like, I'm afraid that the king hasn't called for me.
I can't go Gideon saying, I'm not good enough to do this. That those guys made excuses. And we make excuses also, man, Listen, the God who calls you is the God who will equip you. You don't make excuses. Just do what God calls you to Do.
And don't ever say you're too young, ever. I know there's several young adults in the crowd tonight. Don't ever think that you're too young. Don't think as a teenager you're too young. Jeremiah was a teenager when God called him king.
David was a teenager when God called him. Mary was a teenager when God called her that. The disciples were probably all teenagers when God called them that. Josiah was 8 year old when God called him to be king. Don't ever say that you're too young.
Listen, let's remember the vision of this church, that one of the things that we're all about is this gin. And if you've never heard that term before, it means anybody who's 0 to 29, that we believe if you are of that age, you're not next. You are now that you are the church of today. And we want to set you up to lead and to do what God has called you to do. Because you're not too young.
So if you're of that age, man, really investigate what's God calling you to. Now listen, if you're not of that age, maybe you're more like me. You're also not too old, right? Cause just as I went through Bible examples of people who are young, I can talk about Abraham who was 100 years old. We could talk about Moses who was 80 years old.
We can talk about guys who are older too. So you're not too young, you're not too old. God has equipped you. So just do what it is that God has called you to do. For Jeremiah, he called him to speak.
Jeremiah said, sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak. I'm too young. Then it goes on, it says this. But the Lord said to him, do not say I'm too young. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.
Then he said this to Jeremiah. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. For we are God's.
This is going off to a verse in Ephesians. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do that God is calling you, but he prepared in advance for you to do it. And Jeremiah, you gotta understand, when Jeremiah, when he's feeling this, what I love is that he grabbed ahold of what God was saying. When God said, I have plans for you, plans that are Good. And Jeremiah finally said, okay, I'm in.
So then Jeremiah started pursuing what God had for him. And then that's where we see this later on in Jeremiah's life, he said this. But I say. But if I say I'll never mention the Lord or speak in his name. His word burns in my heart like a fire.
It's like a fire in my bones. I am worn out from trying to hold it in. I can't do it. Do you see the difference? That earlier Jeremiah's going, I'm too young.
I can't speak. And now, because he's understood the Lord, and he says, I'm gonna follow in your call. Now he's at the point, he's like, got like, I gotta talk. I gotta talk. I gotta talk.
I just gotta talk about Jesus. When you understand your calling and you understand it as God who equips you to do whatever it is he calls you to do, man, then you'll run in it. And for Jeremiah, man, he found the passion to do exactly what God had called him to do. And I want to see that in your life. And I know you might be sitting here going, okay, Josh, great.
So God knows me and God's calling me. But what's he calling me to do? I can't tell you specifically. I can tell you generally he's calling you to follow him. I can tell you generally he's calling you to speak on his behalf.
But then I'd also say specifically, remember Ephesians 2:10, he has good works specifically for you. So figure them out and you might go, okay, well, how do I figure them out? Let me show you this Venn diagram. I've showed it to the church many times, but to me it's just the easiest way to try to figure out where is God calling you in life that I want you to just see it. You can look at it on the screen there.
That with these, like, three little circles, you have what I call God opportunities. You have your passions and you have your giftings that there's areas that you are just passionate about. Some of you are passionate about helping people. Some of you are passionate about serving the elderly. Some of you are passionate about communicating.
Some of you are passionate about worship. Some of you are passionate about helping kids. Some of you are passionate about veterans. Like there's passions you have in life. Some of you are passionate about art.
Some of you are passionate about studying. There's passions we have, then there's giftings we have. All right? And when you think about your giftings where has God gifted me? And look at wherever God has gifted you that.
Has God gifted you in listening? Has God gifted you in hospitality? Has God gifted you in loving people? Has God gifted you in. In communication?
Has God gifted you in worship, in arts, in music and singing or playing? Like, where has God gifted you? See, some of us have passions, but we don't have gifting. I have a passion for worship, and I love to worship. I am not a gifted singer, so you'll never hear me sing into a microphone ever.
Unless I forget to mute my mic, and then that's real embarrassing online. Somebody texted me that two weeks ago. Anyway, so we have passions, we have giftings. Then you have God opportunities. There's times God just gives you an opportunity, and you're like, man, I can do this.
And sometimes those God opportunities are in areas of gifting, and you do it even though you're not passionate about it sometimes. That you'll have passions and you'll have an opportunity and you'll get to do it, but it probably won't last very long because you're not gifted in it. Then there's other times, if I could say it this way, that God will put an opportunity in front of you that meets your passion and meets your gifting, and you'll start doing it, and the next thing you know, you'll find yourself what I call in the center of God's will, or what I could say the sweet spot. It's right there where all three intersect. And when you find yourself there, you'll be like, man, I feel like I'm just right in the center of God's will.
And I never want to leave this spot. I just want to keep doing this. And whatever that is, man, you got to walk in it. I had a friend who was sitting in my house last night. We were sitting out on my deck, and we didn't pull up this Venn diagram.
But I could tell you he's found the sweet spot. He's gifted in a lot of things. He has passion in a lot of things. He's had opportunities. He said no to some opportunities because it wasn't his passion area.
Because he figured out I know exactly where my passions, my gifting, and the opportunities that God is presenting are intersecting. And I want to live right there in that zone. And I just want to do everything I can just to follow God in that zone. And so that's what I'm challenging you to do. And you can go, okay, Josh, how do I do this?
Grab that diagram. And then just Start writing in it. Start writing your passion, start writing your gifting and start looking for God's opportunities because you are known by God and you are called by God. So then go with God, because God will never leave you like what God calls you to. He will see it through.
He's not going to leave you. Jeremiah was worried. He was upset. He was scared. And God said this to Jeremiah.
He said, do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and I will rescue you. Declares the Lord that God is making a promise to Jeremiah. Listen, if you do what I say, if you do what I'm calling you to do, I'm never going to leave you. Joshua was a assistant to Moses for 40 years. And then Moses died.
And God told Joshua lead him into the promised land. And Joshua was scared. But in Joshua 1:9, God said, Do not be discouraged, do not be afraid, for I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. Think about the disciples. They had lived three years with Jesus, and Jesus had taught them everything.
And at the end of those three years, Jesus had died. He had rose from the dead. He had walked with them for about 40 days after the resurrection. He was getting ready to ascend into heaven. And in his.
His final kind of teaching time, his final communication, he said, listen, go into all the world and make disciples. Like, go do something. Go someplace that you've never gone. Do something that you've never done. That's really what Jesus was saying to him.
He's saying, listen, I know you and I got a job for you. So I want you to go and I want you to do. I want you to teach everybody to obey everything I've commanded of you. I want you to baptize people in my name, in the Father's name, Holy Spirit's name. And then he says this.
And surely I will be with you to the very end of the age. So what I want you to know tonight is simply this, that you were born on purpose and for a purpose.
So go with God, because He knows you and he's called you. Now I want you to wrestle with that. As we go into this time of response. I want you to think through this a little bit. The first thing I want you to think through is God knows you.
But do you know Him?
And if you don't know him, if you haven't surrendered to him, then my prayer is that today will be the day that you say yes to Jesus, that you say yes to him, that you say yes to his love. Remember, you're a first Round draft pick, he knows you. He chooses you. Will you get to know him tonight? And when you say yes to him, and then will you look for where he's calling you?
Again, general. General things, those are easy to figure out. All you gotta do is open up the Bible and look, and you'll see, though this is a general will of God. I just need to do that. God says to honor my father and mother.
I just need to do that. God says to serve my spouse. I just need to do that. God says to do everything for his glory. I just need to do that.
God says to surrender my life to him. I just do that. God says, pick up my cross. I just. Those are easy.
Those are general things of God that we can see in Scripture. We do them. But then also look for the specific. What is God specifically calling you to do? Well, to know that, you got to listen, you got to observe, and you got to look for those God opportunities, those passions, that gifting, and then what you feel like God is calling you to do.
Weigh it against scripture, weigh it against godly counsel, and then walk in it. So I'm gonna invite you to do me a favor. Let's stand together, and we're gonna go back into this time of response, and it's a time to make decisions. There was communion as you came in. We invite you to take communion.
If you didn't get any, there's some in the back, but there's also plenty up front on the stage by the candles. If today's the day you're ready to pray with somebody about receiving Christ or any other thing maybe you're praying about. Man, I feel like God's called me to this. I want somebody to pray with me. Listen, we have prayer counselors.
They would absolutely love to pray with you over that. And you can go to this back connect corner or that connect corner over there where you'll see the lamp on, you'll see those prayer counselors. If tonight's a night to take a step of baptism, we're ready for you that way. And we'll help you up front as well. Pray with me, Jesus.
You know us, you love us, you choose us, and you give us a purpose. Lord, you know our purpose. Help us to know it. Help us to know how we were created, how we are wired, and help us to walk in it.
Lead us tonight, Jesus, in your name. Amen. Let's spend some time responding.