How To Stay Out Of Trouble

Luke 4:43-44 - “But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose." So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”  NASB

• Have A Purpose 

I believe this is why I got into so much trouble as a youth. I never really had a purpose.
 
Some people have set goals for themselves and anything they do has to help them accomplish their goals or they won't waste their time being involved with something that will not help them achieve this.
 
When you look at athletes who set their goals on becoming the best at whatever sport they are involved with it is easy to see why they say, "No, to drugs and alcohol." They understand drugs and alcohol are not going to help them achieve their goals. So they stay away from them.
 
I was very close to spending a lot of years in prison over drug charges back in the 1970's. In the first trial, which ended in a hung jury, 10 people said, "Guilty" and 2 people said, "Not Guilty."
 
Wow! Not having a purpose in my life was almost a very expensive mistake. Two people kept me from going to prison for a very long time. 

• What's Your Purpose? 

As we can see from the text today, Jesus' purpose was to preach about the Kingdom of God and He was not going to stop preaching because this was His purpose.
 
In fact, His purpose would ultimately lead to people killing Him.
 
He preached about the Kingdom of God and certain people didn't want to hear what He was saying. They hated His message so much they killed Him to try and quiet Him, but we know this didn't quiet Him, except for three days.
 
Then He resurrected and empowered His disciples to preach and preach they did. On the day of Pentecost, they baptized 3,000 people (Acts 2). Hopefully, you have been baptized or immersed into Christ. If not please let me know and I will help you.
 
So, do you want to stay out of trouble? Set a Goal or another way of saying it is "Have a Purpose." 

• Purpose and Long Life 

I believe if you want to live longer then you should have a purpose in your life. I can't prove this but in my mind, the two go hand in hand. If I have a purpose I want to get up in the morning and get started on accomplishing my established purpose(s).
 
In fact, one of my nightly exercises in bed is to say to myself "Okay, what do you want to accomplish tomorrow?" Then I go to sleep happy because I know there is something that awaits me the next day.
 
Think About These:
 
Some people dream of worthy accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them.
 
A genius shoots at something no one else sees and hits it.

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago
 
Minister of God's Word
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