Acts 26 Lesson

LIVING WITH PURPOSE

Humans have long been asking themselves the question:

• “Why am I here, and what am I supposed to do with my life?”

If we do not live our lives with a purpose, we can end up looking back on our lives unfulfilled, and more importantly, unsaved.

The average life expectancy in the world today is just over 72 years of age.  

This equates to:

• 26,000 days,
• Or 624,000 hours that the average person lives.

Approximately one-third of our lives is spent sleeping, which leaves roughly 418,000 waking hours that the average person will live.

That is not a lot of time when we compare it to the eternity that we are going to spend in either Heaven or Hell.

During our relatively short time on Earth, we want to make certain that we are living our lives in a manner that is pleasing to God and leads to eternal salvation.

As Christians, we do not need to waste our time wondering why we are here, or what we should be doing. 

The answer to both of these questions is found in the Bible and available for all of us to read.

THE APOSTLE PAUL’S PURPOSE

The Apostle Paul found out what his purpose in life was when he was converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus.  

And for the purposes of today’s study, we will divide Paul’s life into two categories:

1. His life before the road to Damascus,
2. His life after the road to Damascus.  

Before Jesus spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus, Paul had this to say about what he thought his purpose in life was:

• “So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.” – Acts 26:9-11.

However, everything changed for Paul on the road to Damascus.

Jesus came to Paul and communicated to Paul what He wanted him to do.

Luke writes about this in the following verses:

• As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from Heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” – Acts 9:3-6.

PAUL LISTENED TO JESUS

Paul responded to Jesus’ calling and went on to become on e of the most important people in the history of the world.  

Because he listened to Jesus, he lived a life that was both pleasing to God and meaningful.

So should we.

The more that we study the Bible and allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, the more we will understand what God wants us to do with our lives.

It will be different for all of us, as God’s plan is different for each one of us.

But there will be two things that all of us will have in common.

God’s plan for us will involve doing two things:

1. Glorifying God,
2. Serving others.

CONCLUSION

When we study God’s Word and allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, we learn from God what our purpose in life is, and what He wants us to do.

God has a plan for each of us, as we see in the following scripture:

• “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 hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11.

If we study the Bible and work to apply what we have learned, God will reveal His plan for us.

And when that time comes, will we be like the Apostle Paul and do what we are called to do?

If so, we will spend eternity in Heaven.

If we reject God’s plan, our lives will become meaningless, and unfulfilling, and we will eventually perish and forfeit our souls.

If we want our lives to have purpose and to be pleasing to God, we must do three things:

1. Study the Bible,
2. Apply what we have learned,
3. Allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives.

When we do these three things, God will reveal His plan for us.

We will end today’s lesson with the following two verses that talk about how we are to live our lives on Earth:

1. “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” – Ecclesiastes 12:13,  
2. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on Earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Mathew 28:18-20.