THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

"Purpose Driven Life " author and pastor Rick Warren...

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity.

This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life.

The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,'which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know = You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.

That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

JESUS IS GOING TO BATHURST!

The Jesus Racing team – which has established a strong following in the Yokohama V8 Ute series- will field a car in the Bathurst V8 Supercar Fujitsu round on October 11, 2008.

Wollongong Performance Racing (WPR) will run Jesus Racing’s Andrew Fisher in the ex Paul Morris Motorsports Supercar, which will boast the eyecatching “Jesus. All about life.” livery.
WPR currently run the Jesus Racing’s V8 Ute in the Yokohama V8 Ute series.

Driver Andrew Fisher also drove for the team last year, winning ‘Rookie of the Year’ and finishing 4th in the championship. “The opportunity for Jesus Racing to move into the Fujitsu series is significant for our team,” says Jesus Racing coordinator Steve Peach. “Jesus Racing spends much of the week visiting schools, introducing motorsport and the ‘Jesus. All about life.’ campaign. Having Andrew involved in the Supercar series makes this work even more appealing and effective. When it came to racing at Bathurst, it was important Jesus Racing chose the
right team to work with as we wanted both professionalism and to be competitive. WPR was the obvious choice,” says Steve.

“We have a great relationship with the WPR team and they have great confidence in Andrew’s ability to meet the challenge.”

Bible Society NSW (which runs the ‘Jesus. All about life.’ program around Australia) is standing alongside Jesus Racing in this bold initiative. Motor Sport is not where you would expect the Bible Society to focus its efforts, however the organisation recognizes the tremendous opportunities in using Andrew’s profile in motor sport to connect teenagers with Jesus. So why Bathurst in a Supercar?

“The answer is simple”, says Steve. “Bathurst is the most prominent race circuit in the country and the V8 Super cars is our premier category. This is the perfect place to participate as a professional race team, as well as present the name of Jesus to an audience that wouldn’t normally see it in this environment. We are hugely excited about the opportunity, not only by the racing, but because of the opportunities off the circuit.”

Bathurst weekend will be busy for the team, doing double duty in both the Ute’s and the Supercars, as well as taking the Ute and the ‘Jesus. All about life.’ to surrounding schools in the weeks close to the Bathurst round.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PHOTOS OR INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES,
PLEASE CONTACT LINDSAY FISHER on 0413 02 02 61.
FOR MINISTRY INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
STEVE PEACH ON 0419 564 050.
OR GO TO WWW.JESUSRACING.COM.AU

JESUS SURVIVES HEAD ON CRASH!

A good Christian friend of mine who builds race engines - and has a lot of trophies in his cabinet - told me that a certain Lotus racing car with the prominent "Jesus" sticker across the bonnet (which you will find elsewhere on this blogsite) was involved in a head-on crash at the weekend. It blew its engine and spun off the circuit into the sand trap. A Ferrari travelling at something like 280 km/h hit the same oil slick and flew off the track straight into the stationery Lotus. Because both cars are made of fibreglass their bodies disintegrated into thousands of tiny particles. Both cars were written off. The Jesus driver got out unharmed and the Ferrari driver suffered a broken leg. Apparently, the only intact piece of 'glass left on the Lotus was the piece with the word Jesus on it!!!

MANZONE'S COLIN CROME TO SPEAK AT COWRA (SEPT 5)

DATE: Friday Sept 5

VENUE: Cowra Function Centre, Chardonnay Road, Cowra

FORMAT: Dinner

COST: $25.00 per head, pay at the door

TIME: 7PM

RSVP: to Craig (0407 054 483, craighingston@gmail.com) before end of August

SPEAKER: Colin Crome is Associate Pastor and Worship Pastor of Abundant Life Church Blayney, and has been a member of the NSW Police Force for over 20 years. A motivating and thought provoking speaker.

HILLSONG MENS CONFERENCE

Imagine over 3500 men in an auditorium together listening to the wisdom of international speakers on subjects just for men...about manhood, fatherhood, relationships, etc.

For just $35.00 you can be there!

Simply go to www2.hillsong.com/conferences/mens2008/ to fill out the form. Put me down - Craig Hingston - as group leader.

We have secured double rooms at the nearby Formule 1 motel at Wentworthville. Double rooms are $79.00 each.

We'll be travelling down on the Friday afternoon. The Conference starts 6PM on Friday night. Back at the venue for a 9AM kick off. Sessions through to mid afternoon when we drive back home.

We'll be car pooling to help keep costs down so let me know (0407 054 483) you are coming. Don't leave it too long because once the venue is full...that's it.

BOOK NOW! OCT 31-NOV 1 2008

BLEDISLOE ON THE BIG SCREEN

In July and August we hosted two BLACK & GOLD NIGHTS where we watched the Wallabies v All Blacks on the big screen at church.

Game 1 we ate meat pies and drank soft drink just like at a real match.

Game 2 it was more civilised with a BBQ dinner.

Expect more footy nights in front of the big screen in the future. Lots of atmosphere, noise, cameraderie, wear your team's colours with pride, good food, and no yobbos throwing cans or swearing obscenities. Bring the kids!!!