How To Find Your Purpose In Life // Revd Graham Hunter

·29 min·2 clips

Who was Jean-Baptiste, the market disruptor who died at 33 after challenging powerful monopolies?

The episode is a sermon titled 'How To Find Your Purpose In Life' by Revd Graham Hunter at St John's Hoxton. It begins with an allegorical tale about an entrepreneur named Jean-Baptiste, described as a market disruptor in social integration who died at 33 after facing litigation and asset stripping from established industries; this is later revealed to be John the Baptist, whose purpose was to point to Jesus. Hunter states the sermon is part of a series on practical 'how-to' questions. He shifts the focus from secular self-help about personal purpose to a theological exploration of one's purpose within God's plans, citing Rick Warren's 'Purpose Driven Life' which opens with 'It's not about you.' The core scripture is 1 Peter chapter 2. Hunter breaks the message into three parts: why you exist in God's purposes, who you are, and how to live. First, he explains Christians exist to be a 'spiritual house' or temple where God dwells, using imagery of Jesus as a living stone and believers as living stones built together, referencing the destruction of the Jerusalem temple and its theological implications. Second, he discusses identity, contrasting biological, economic, and existential theories (homo accidentus, homo economicus, homo expressivus) with the Christian view of being a chosen people, royal priesthood, holy nation, and God's special possession, sharing a personal anecdote about his son Caleb. Third, he addresses how to live by declaring God's praises and doing good deeds among non-believers, emphasizing abstaining from sin and being 'fully alive' to God's glory, quoting Irenaeus and recommending Elizabeth Oldfield's book 'Fully Alive'. He concludes by encouraging listeners to rephrase the purpose question around God's glory and recommends Rick Warren's book in 40-day installments, ending with an invitation to build life on Jesus as the living stone.

As heard by us

A sermon on purpose that starts with Jean-Baptiste and ends with Jesus as the living stone.

Revd Graham Hunter shapes this sermon around purpose by opening with Jean-Baptiste, an entrepreneur from an obscure sector, then widening to the kind of figure who can shake up an industry.

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Why you'd press play

If your purpose feels like a bad quarterly target, this sermon has other plans.

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