1. For His pleasure
2. To be part of His family
3. To become more and more like His Son, Jesus
4. To equip you for service.  To be workers together with Him.
5. On a mission, doing the thing God wants.

There are different kinds of people in the world, with different personalities.  There are movers and shakers, those who are mild-mannered, stable and steadfast, the life of the party, Mr. Sociable, and the perfectionist who is driven to have everything exactly right.  No matter what your type or style is, you fit perfectly in the plans and purposes of God and the purpose for God's life fits you like a glove, exactly like it was made for you and your personality type.  God is not going to ask someone who is meek and mild to be a loud mouth, flamboyant witness.  He will work with you as you work with Him and the plan, you will see, works out very nicely for your lifestyle.

I often hear people say, "Oh, I can't do that!"  So they discount themselves and cross themselves off, never giving thought to the fact just maybe God would enable them to do that.  I also hear people say, "Oh, that's not my personal preference at all. As a matter of fact, I don't even make room for that kind of stuff in my life.  It's just not like me."  When you do that, you are discounting the fact that God can mold, make and shape you to fit right in and do those things in your lifestyle.  All of those answers are perhaps the way you want to look at things in your life, but may not be the way God wants you to look at things in your life.  I want you to understand that we need to take a look at ourselves and say, "You know what? I've been limiting and handcuffing God.  God has needed someone and I have said that's not my thing, that's just not part of me, but maybe it could be, if I give God a chance to design the thing and work the thing out that fits into my lifestyle and then use me in that way, and don't just cancel it out by saying that's just not me."

Timid Christians are those who have not yet entered into a walk with God where they not only claim something, but do it.  There are many people who find it easy to make the claims of Christianity, but not easy to back up those claims with action and productivity.  It is easy for us to make the claims, but to live out the scripture that says, "I can do all things through Christ, Who is the strength of my life," some haven't arrived there yet.  They are still saying, "I can't do that.  That's not me or my lifestyle."

God is the one who put all the pieces together that are you and He knows what your lifestyle is supposed to be better than you do.  He was there while you were being molded and shaped and formed.  We can believe Jesus for our never dying soul, but we have trouble believing Him for the test that I am going through today.  I can entrust to His care my never dying soul that will spend eternity somewhere, but I have trouble proving Him to be adequate for my test right now.  We can ask Him for and believe Him for healing, but not for health.  "I need your help right now Lord; I am facing a Jericho wall and desperately need your help", but if we are in pain, we have no problem coming up with the prayer of faith for healing.  I can believe Him for comfort, but I can't believe Him for courage.  Someone needs to do something in this situation, but it's not my area and surely God has got someone around who can do that.  Why do you suppose He brought it to your attention, if He needed someone else to do it?  We don't pray for the courage to be what God needs right now in a given situation.  We pray for strength of character, but we seldom pray for strength of purpose.  "Give me a purpose bigger than myself.  Give me a purpose driven life that is bigger than me.  Give me an opportunity that is so big that when it is done everyone will know it had to be God, because it is not like me.  It has to be God to do that because I would never do that."

We can become everything He wants us to be, but that means daring to take the risk.  Daring to take the chance of failure.  It also takes the risk of succeeding.  Some people are so afraid of becoming a success that they can't stand it, so they don't even try.  "I won't even go there, because if I go there and do it and it seems to be something I can handle, then they will ask me to do it again and again and I don't want to do that."  There is a risk of failure and also a risk of success.  The determination also to get back up, if you have ever been knocked down, a depth of character that has no "quit" in it.  The problem with many Christians today is they look to God primarily for personal fulfillment.  They pray, but it's always "for me", they ask God to do something, but it is usually for them.  Instead of praying, "Oh, God, what do you want done in this situation?" they pray, "Oh, God, find someone to do something in this situation."  They are saved, but the problem is, they are self-centered.  They love to attend Christian activities, they love to attend Christian meals and they love to attend Christian fellowship and fun times, but you will never see them in a prayer meeting and seldom see them in a Bible study.  Those are not areas of interest for them.  It has been said if you want a big crowd at church, put on a meal.  When these Christians pray the focus is on what I need right now.  I need more money, more of your blessings in my life, I need more joy in my life, I need more happiness in my life.  It's all me first.   The Bible says, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness," but a lot of Christianity is me, mine, and ours, a very dangerous trinity.

How can I get God to make my life more the way He wants it, rather than the way it is?  It has been said there are two kinds of Christians; there is a worldly Christian and there is a world class Christian.  Worldly, or self-centered, me first, my interests, what I want, my fulfillment, my satisfaction and so on.  World class Christians know why God brought them to this place.  They know why God lifted them out of the miry clay.  They know why God has sustained them, watched over them, protected them, cared for them, provided for them, met their every need along the way, brought them through every trial of their faith and saw to it everything they needed was supplied.  World class Christians know why they are still here and not just cumbering the earth.  Not just here as a number or to be some church's blip on a screen called a member.  They are eager to learn and eager to go and eager to do and they are excited about the possibilities and privilege of being used today for God.  They are the most fulfilled and alive people on the entire earth.  Their joy and confidence is absolutely contagious because they know that with God, they are making a difference.  Someone's life is better today because God was able to use them in a small way.  Someone's load was lightened today because God saw fit to use me to say some little thing and do something for them.  They get up every morning expecting God to work through them in fresh new ways.  What type of Christian are you?  "Well, Pastor Len, if I'm the first kind of Christian you described rather than the last, how in the world do I change?  How do I get from where I am to where I want to be or need to be?"

(1) Shift away from self-centeredness to others.  This world isn't all about you.  God doesn't ask you first thing in the morning, "Shall I send the sun a-blazing in the sky," or the last thing at night, "Shall I put the moon out?"  God doesn't ask you, "Shall it rain today or be bright and sunny?"  The world does not revolve around you.  Listen to what the Bible says, "My friends, stop thinking like children and begin to think like mature people."  Children always think of themselves first.  My toys, my food, mine, mine, mine.  So He says in the scripture, stop thinking like a child thinks and begin to think like an adult.  How can I help or assist someone?  Grown-ups think about other people.  This is the first step in becoming world class, instead of worldly.  The commands of God are these, "Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in the welfare of others."  In a natural sense we are self absorbed and the entire advertising world, whether print, TV, radio, or internet, continues to encourage that kind of thinking.  The only way we can change what is, is by a moment by moment dependency on God.  "I don't want to be like that, that's worldly."  The good news is this, He doesn't leave us to struggle in that area all by ourselves.  He says, "If you want to move from worldly to world class, I'm right here to help you every step of the way.  If you want to move from self-centeredness and childishness into mature and grown-up adult thinking and action, I'm right here to assist you in making that move."  God has given us His Spirit and as a result, we do not have to think the way the people around us think.

(2) Shift away from singular thinking.  God is a great big God and He cares about the whole world.  "For God so loved the world."  Red, yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight and He wants us to see them and understand that God's plans and purposes for their lives equal God's plans and purposes for our lives.  What He has done for you, He wants to do for them.  The way He has blessed you, He wants to bless them.  The way He lifted you out of the miry clay, He wants to lift them.  The way He has turned on the spigots of His blessing and poured out upon your life more than you can contain, He wants to do the same for them.  In order for that to happen, you have to get the "Big Picture."  Many people are so focused on themselves, their needs, problems, difficulties, what they don't have, what they think they ought to have.  Their total focus is inward, singular, and the shift has to be to global.  Everyone you meet needs God and the goodness of God in their lives.  The world doesn't revolve around you, I am not the center of things, but God wants us to see the masses and understand that He loves them, too, just like He loves you.  Don't leave anyone out.  It is easy for us to do that.  We read about someone whose actions have been despicable and we say, "The world would be a better place if someone would just get rid of him."  All of these are people for whom Christ died.  Give God a chance to do something in their lives that will be transforming and miraculous.  They have that privilege just as surely as you and I.  He wants to bind up their wounds and heal their broken hearts and put back together their shattered dreams.  He wants to be good to them just like He has been good to you.

Do you realize there are more Christians in the earth today than ever before in history?  Therefore, the impact for Christianity ought to be more profoundly felt and experienced in the lives of people.  The apostle Paul tells us, "This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world and changing lives everywhere just as it changed yours."  Prayer is the most important and most effective tool you have for your mission.  Why is that?  People may refuse your love, and they may reject your message, but they are totally defenseless when it comes to your prayer.  They can't do anything about that.  When you hold them up in prayer and believe God for them and ask God to involve Himself with them and ask the Holy Spirit, affectionately called the Hound of Heaven, to get on their trail like a bloodhound, He is going to go after them.  Why?  Not because we are mean, but because we want them to experience the goodness and grace of God and they won't unless the Holy Spirit is able to get hold of them and cause their thinking to change.  Like an intercontinental missile, you can aim your prayer right at a person's heart, whether they are ten feet from you or ten thousand miles.  Not only ought we to be praying for those out there who are still in need, but we need to pray one for another and the mission we are on.  Those who are in mission work and laboring under difficult and dangerous situations especially need our prayers.  Paul told his prayer partners these words in II Corinthians 1:11, "You are also joining to help us when you pray for us."  My work is effective because you pray.  I stand up here to do the thing God has asked me to do, but you pray that I might be used effectively.

(3) Shift from temporal to eternal thinking.  Shift from temporary, material accumulation of things to eternal values.  To make the most of your time on earth you must maintain an eternal perspective.  What I am doing is not only for now, and I may never see the result of the now, but there is coming a day in eternity when the books will be opened and someone will be standing there saying, "I am here because of you.  I responded because you prayed.  I believed and I'm here."  This will keep you from majoring in minors.  You need to be careful that you do that, because the enemy can get you so upset about something that is immediate that you forget entirely about that which is eternal.  You think you have to get over this particular trial or else, when God is saying, "Wait a minute. That is not the issue at all. The issue is eternal."  This will help you to distinguish between what is urgent and what is ultimate.  The enemy keeps us on the run, if we are not careful, with those things we consider urgent.  He will wear you out worrying about those things.  In II Corinthians 4:18 Paul tells us, "Fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for the thing that is seen is only temporary but that which is unseen, is eternal."  We waste so much time and so much energy and often times so much of our finances, on things that even a month or two months from now will not make one bit of difference, much less in eternity.  It won't matter.  Don't trade your life and its purposes for temporary things.  One of the prophecies concerning the last days is that the enemy will wear out the saints.  He will wear out the saints running after, clamoring after, going after, and driven to take care of things that we consider to be of ultimate importance and urgency, and they are not.

Whatever you are allowing to stand in your way of fulfilling God's purposes for your life and keep you from being world class, whatever it is, let it go.  The Bible says, "Lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us, and run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith."  Another translation puts it this way, "Strip yourself of anything that would slow you down or hold you back from finishing the race."  Shift your thinking of excuses to thinking of positive ways you can fulfill your mission.  "God, I realize I am on a mission, I realize that You have me here for a purpose, I understand that my life today is in Your hands. How can I be more useful, and to whom?"  There are certain personality styles that come up immediately with reasons why we ought not to do something, so you need to shift your thinking away from why we ought not to do things to the reasons why and how God would have us do things to fulfill our mission.  It is "how we can" not "why we can't."  I believe everyone here wants to be a better believer.  Let's be a better believer and a lousy excuse maker.  If you are willing, God will make you world class.  If you want to take that trip, God will help you in doing that.

Let's read from scripture today from I Timothy 4:12, "Let no man despise thy youth, but be an example of the believer in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.  Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.  Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the elders.  Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be seen or evident to all.  Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine; continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you."  Continue in, stay absolutely and entirely committed, do not let anyone else deter, distract or pull you away.  Don't let the enemy, or the enemy through someone else, get you chasing after things you consider to be urgent when the thing that is necessary and ultimate is right in front of you.  I hope all of us today will say in our hearts, "I want to be world class.  I don't want to be worldly and self centered."