Student Message on 9/3/06 Scott Downing - Living Life with Passion My message today is not super-spiritual, but is just a simple truth that has challenged me over the years, and I hope it will challenge you too. The topic I will be discussing today is “living life with passion”. Too often, I hear stories of people drifting through life with no real focus or plan. Living with passion involves having a purpose for your life and setting goals and reaching dreams in your life that you never thought could be possible. -Expectation The first aspect to living life with a purpose is expecting that good things will happen to you. If you go through life expecting that you will lose and get beat up all the time, you will probably lose and get beat up all the time. God desires to prosper his children, and you should understand that and live by that promise. Jeremiah 29:11 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. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. I don’t know why it is so hard for some Christians to understand this. People lament and ask themselves “how can I ever do this” while they should be asking themselves “why can’t I do this?” With Christ on our side, who can be against us? So, go for that job you think might be too far out of your range. Take up a challenge that you think it too hard to accomplish. -Use what you already have So that is the first step to living with purpose…having positive expectations. Next, you have to take inventory of what God can use you to do. You may think that you can never accomplish anything significant in your life because you do not think you are as talented as the next person. But, God has given each one of us unique gifts and talents that no one else has. If you don’t know where to begin, start with the thing that you are comfortable with or something that comes easy for you. Example…if you have been in Edi Phi for any length of time, you have probably heard Ryan tell the same story countless times about putting up posters at his high school bible club. He found something he could do, and he did it. He wasn’t comfortable with a leadership or speaking role yet, but he began with something he could do. That’s one of the reasons why we have the Power Hour program at Edi Phi. We are trying to get all of you involved using each of your unique talents. You may think that this group is led by Pastor Blythe and Ryan, but the ultimate success and direction of the group depends on all of you. I have been in this group for a long time, even back when we had 3-5 people attending. If we wanted to have a worship service back then, it would have been Ryan popping in a 3rd Day CDs. This group really started to take off when individual members decided to step up and use their unique gifts to benefit the ministry. -Effort Ok, so we have talked about having positive expectations and using what you have. So, once you expect something good to happen, you have to act. Like Ryan spoke on a few weeks ago, there is “power in the first step.” Just because God desires to prosper you does not mean that you can just sit back and enjoy all the blessings. You must be willing to put forth the effort. But having a strong work ethic seems to go against the norm today. This country was founded by people willing to work hard for what they had. Now, many people want the glitzy results, but don’t want to put in the effort. “Lose 20 pounds in 1 week by taking this pill”. “Buy this CD and be rich the rest of your life.” “Pay $19.99 for a lifetime subscription to freesermons.com.” Let’s turn to Luke 12:47. I want Ryan to come up so I can emphasize this next scripture. Luke 12:47 "That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. -Commitment So after we start working hard and passionately on a dream, we must stay committed. Once you decide that you are going to do something, do it and stay with it! A couple weeks ago, I was at my grandma’s house reading a program back from when they dedicated the church sanctuary back in 1985. You may be asking yourself, “why would Scott still have a program from 1985?” but that is a whole other issue. On a side note, the program told of all the features of the new building like a “state of the art sound system” and a “youth building”. Anyway, they also had a section that said future buildings/projects. Among these items was the “prayer chapel”. So, Pastor Barnett is not pulling your leg when he said this has been on his heart for awhile. If he would have given up on this dream, it would have never came to pass. Here we are 20 years from when the church opened, and his dream is finally happening. -Enthusiasm Lastly, I wanted to talk about enthusiasm. One thing that I have noticed about living with passion is that it is contagious. Have you ever noticed how a whole group can be energized just by one person getting excited? I have been a part of Edi Phi for awhile, but looking back, the times that the group has shown growth is when all off the members act passionately, and show interest. Take the men’s group for example. Do you think the group would have lasted if it didn’t have enthusiastic leaders like Nick and Dan? Every Wednesday and Sunday, they give out a cheer when their announcement comes on. People recognize this enthusiasm. This group has become a great resource for many of the new guys in the group who wanted to get plugged in and meet new people. Many of you know that I graduated a few months ago from ASU with my Masters in Accounting and I have been taking my CPA tests over the summer. I remember I went to a dinner party 6-8 months ago with some of the people from the place I will be working. I was talking with a guy that was a few years older than me about the strategy he used to pass the exams. If you don’t know about the CPA exams, they can be pretty challenging. There are four parts to the test, and about 60% of the people taking it will fail. Also, only about 1 in 5 people will pass all four parts on their first attempt. So, I was pretty intimidated at first. I had heard horror stories of people who had taken it multiple times, or people who had barely passed. So, I was talking with this guy at dinner. To my amazement, he was scoring in the high 80s and mid 90s on all the tests. I thought to myself, “Wow, that guy is amazing. I couldn’t imagine anyone doing that good.” I didn’t think much about that conversation for awhile. I went along studying over the summer and taking some of the tests. Last Wednesday, I was sitting at home sinning (because I was not at Edi Phi that night)…well actually I was studying for my 3rd CPA test that was the next day. I went and checked the mail and I noticed there were 2 letters addressed to me from the CPA board. I wasn’t expecting my test results for at least another month, so this was quite a surprise. I opened the letters, and to my amazement, I saw scores of 97 and 98. Immediately, I thought back to all the nights that I asked God for wisdom and clarity in my studying. I also thought of the times during the tests when I couldn’t figure something out, and asked God to bring something to my attention. I gave God thanks, knowing that I did not accomplish this on my own. A few minutes later, I thought back to the conversation I had from the guy at work. Back then, I thought scores in the 90s would be impossible to attain. But I not only achieved that, I even exceeded it. Eph 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us So, I want to challenge all of you today to live your life with passion. First and foremost, your passion should be to seek God. Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. And in every other area of your life, I challenge you to use what you have, expect good things, put forth the effort, commit to the plan, and be contagious. Do these things, and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.