Pastor Alex Pacheco
July 30, 2006 - W0631

“Today you will hear from a friend of mine, Pastor Alex Pacheco who is a fisherman turned pastor. His life has been transformed by Jesus Christ as he heard his call to ministry. He now pastors New Hope Christian Fellowship in Hilo, Hawaii – a vibrant church, a healthy group of people that love Christ and love Hawaii. Open you hearts and listen to what he has to say because his words will not just come from a piece of paper. It will come from a heart that has been transformed by God.” Pastor Wayne Cordeiro

When I was saved 19 years ago, I thought life would be smooth sailing. I had a fishing business at the time and thought God would provide me with a lot of fish. Instead, everything started to dwindle. I had to start selling my boats just to pay the bills. Soon there was nothing left. In fact, it got to the point that I didn’t know where our next meal would come from. Then out of desperation, my wife and I got down on our knees and cried out to the Lord. We had nothing else to give the Lord and I prayed that He would just take us from this life. Then at that very instant there was a knock at our door – it was a friend of mine with a box of laulau. He didn’t know it, but it was our meal for that night. And ever since that moment of surrender, God began to build our lives up again.

The point is that we think that when we accept Jesus into our lives, we expect God to do things according to our timetable and our plans. But that way of thinking can lead to misunderstanding as it did with me. I have learned that it would have saved me from a lot of grief if I’d given my life over to Him to begin with. What I understand is that God loves me and everyone in this world. After all He is the creator of it all and for everything and for everyone, there is a purpose. The Big Island is home to Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa and we are awed by this wonder of His creation. My wife and I recently watched the stars one night and just marveled at their beauty. 

So what is the purpose of life? There are many, but “It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for … part of the overall purpose He is working out in everything and everyone.” Eph. 1:11Mes). The Bible also says, “Everything, absolutely everything … got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.” (Col. 1:16 Mes). Think about that! We are made by God and for God. In other words, He loves us so much that He allowed His son, Jesus to become the ultimate sacrifice for us so that we would have eternal life with Him. Something in our life changes when we fully understand that.

We were designed to last forever. Sure, one day our hearts will stop, but that won’t be the end of us. We are promised eternal life with God our Father. How then should we live our lives on earth, what is our purpose, and what is the meaning of life? Well, life is our preparation for eternity. Our purpose is to prepare for our future in Heaven. In other words, God wants us to practice for life in Heaven while we are here on earth. So here are three points to help us. The first is to understand and accept that …

1.     GOD PLANNED ME FOR HIS PLEASURE.

“You God created everything, and it is for Your pleasure that they exist and were created!” (Rev. 4:11b NLT). Everything and everyone was created for God’s purpose. “The Lord takes pleasure in His people.” (Ps. 149:4 GN).

I have a six-year-old granddaughter and I love watching her. She doesn’t have to do anything special, I just enjoy her. There is nothing she can do that will stop me from loving her. It is the same way with the Lord. He simply loves us for who we are. Some people do not understand this. They think God only loves them when they’re doing something good or spiritual. The fact is that God gets pleasure from watching us be ourselves because He created us for His pleasure.

“Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, God had us in mind, and settled on us as the focus of His love.” (Eph. 1:4 Mes). We were created to be loved by God and we live because God loves us. We won’t see animals pray before they eat because they were not made in His image. But we were made in His image and have the capacity to know Him and to love Him in return. That’s what makes us unique. In fact, the Bible says:“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”(Matt. 22:37-38 NIV).

As God said, “I don’t want your sacrifices – I want your love! I don’t want your offerings – I want you to know Me!” (Hos. 6:6 LB). That is the most important thing in life. That is why …

THE 1^ST PURPOSE OF LIFE IS: TO KNOW GOD AND TO LOVE GOD.

“Some people have missed the most important thing in life – they don’t know God.” (1Tim. 6:21 LB).  I thought I knew God all my life. The truth was that like many, I knew about God, but didn’t know Him personally. So how do we know whether or not we know about Him or we are connected to Him in a personal relationship? “People who don’t know God are always worrying.” (Matt.6: 32a CEV). The fact is that everyone needs the Lord. The problem is that when we think we’re on our own and try so hard to fill our hearts with everything else but God, we wonder why we feel empty inside. When we understand that we were created by and for God, we will realize that He is the only one who can fill that emptiness. Why did God design us that way? It’s because…

2.     GOD FORMED ME FOR HIS FAMILY.

He wants us to become part of His family forever. “God’s unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great pleasure.” (Eph. 1:5 NLT). Who is God’s family? “That family is the church of the living God, the support and foundation of the truth.” (1Tim. 3:15 NCV). The church is not an institution or an organization. It’s not about rules, regulations, rituals, or religion. It’s about relationships. God’s family is the support and foundation of the truth. And because we will all experience personal earthquakes or struggles in life whether it is financial, relational, or emotional all have a potential to devastate. That’s why our spiritual family becomes so important and essentially our lifeline to rely on for support and truth because we cannot fulfill God’s purposes all by ourselves.

So “Love your spiritual family.” (1Pet. 2:17 Mes). Why is this important? When we get to Heaven, two things are going to happen. The first is that we will love God. And that’s easy to do since He loves us. And the next thing for us to learn is…

THE 2^ND PURPOSE OF LIFE IS: LEARN TO LOVE OTHERS.

It’s easy to love God, but often difficult to love others. But God wants us to be just like Him and learn to love real people, not just ideal people. He wants us to love everyone. Therefore, He intentionally places people in our lives that may be difficult to love because He wants us to practice loving others as He loves us. “We belong to each other and each of us needs all the others.” (Rom. 12:5 NLT)

So the first purpose is that God planned us for His pleasure and therefore, we must get to know and love God. The second is that God formed us for His family and we must learn to love others as He loves us. And the third purpose is …

3.     GOD “DESIGNED” ME TO SERVE HIM.

“You shaped me first inside, then out; You formed me in my mother’s womb.” (Ps. 139:13 Mes). In other words, we are uniquely made. Therefore, He doesn’t want us to live up to the expectations of others. We were designed for God’s purposes and the contributions He wanted us to make with our life. We were not created to just take up space. We are to serve Him by the design He gave us. And if we don’t, the world is cheated. It’s like a part missing from a jigsaw puzzle. “God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessings.” (1 Peter 4:10 LB). This means that our talents are not for our own benefits, it’s for the benefit of helping other people. God wired all of us to need one another and nobody has it altogether and it’s all a part of His plan.

Some may have a misconception of what Heaven will be like. Listen, we won’t be sitting on a cloud in a white robe playing a harp! Boring! Heaven will be a blast with all kinds of fun and good things to do. So we need to practice during our lifetime here on earth to serve God. And lastly, we need to practice…

THE 3^RD PURPOSE OF LIFE IS: TO SERVE GOD BY SERVING OTHERS.

You see it is impossible to serve God directly here on earth. So the only way we can serve Him is by serving His people. Sometimes we come to the conclusion that our church is so big that we’re not needed. That is a false assumption. The reality is that we are all part of the body. And if we fail to get involved, it is like a piece of a puzzle missing – a piece of life. It would be like buying a ticket for Disneyland but just walking around and not riding anything. Thank God that He already bought us our tickets through His sacrifice on the Cross. The point is that we are saved yet many of us sit it out. God created us to do great things. He wants us to get in the game and get on the ride!

Remember, “Those who embrace My ways are most blessed.” (Pr. 8:32 Mes). God doesn’t want us drifting through life. He wants us to live a life of purpose, power, significance, and meaning. This means we need to follow God’s plan because following our own plans often cause stress and tension. Thus, “Jesus included everyone in His death so everyone could be included in His life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.” (2Cor. 5:15 Mes). So many more people need to be reached by God through us. And He promises and offers each of us not just a good life but a better life. We matter to God. He planned us before He made the foundations of the world. He knows everything about us - all our secrets – and He still loves us. So let us embrace His plan for our life. “It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from – if you want God and are ready to do as He says, the door is open.” (Acts 10:35 Mes).

God is offering life not religion, rules, and restrictions, but a relationship with Him. It doesn’t matter what we’ve done or where we’ve come from. The only thing that matters is whether or not we have a relationship with our Lord and Savior. Remember, we were created for His pleasure so that we would know and love Him in return. He places us in His family so that we will learn to love others as He has loved us. And He designed us to serve Him that we might learn to serve others and thus fulfill His purposes for our lives. Therefore, our life on earth is preparation for eternity and God wants us to practice by living out the purposes He’s planned for each of us. 

Study Questions.

1.      Do you feel God was selfish when he planned us for His pleasure?

2.      Why is it that being saved does not shield us from life’s struggles?

3.      Do you understand God’s purpose for your life?

4.      How have you yielded to His call on your life and how has God blessed your obedience?

5.      What sacrifice have you made to follow God’s purpose?

6.      After being saved, what have you learned or are learning from your experiences?

Summarized by: Leighton Loo

Sermon Notes Team: Debbie Chang, Robin Hart, Leighton Loo, Doreen Rabaino,

                                    Jay Tsukayama, Rhonda Pang