One of the most important questions we can answer is why we are here? What is our purpose?

1. Why Am I
Here?

3. Scripture Reading:
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

4. Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
1 The words of the Preacher,
the son of David, king in
Jerusalem.
2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the
Preacher; “Vanity of vanities,
all is vanity.”

5. Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
3 What profit has a man from
all his labor in which he toils
under the sun?
4 One generation passes away,
and another generation
comes; but the earth abides
forever.

6. Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
5 The sun also rises, and the sun
goes down, and hastens to the
place where it arose.
6 The wind goes toward the
south, and turns around to the
north; the wind whirls about
continually, and comes again on
its circuit.

7. Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
7 All the rivers run into the
sea, yet the sea is not full; to
the place from which the
rivers come, there they return
again.

8. Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
8 All things are full of labor;
man cannot express it. the
eye is not satisfied with
seeing, nor the ear filled with
hearing.

9. Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
9 That which has been is what
will be, that which is done is
what will be done, and there
is nothing new under the sun.

10. Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
10 Is there anything of which it
may be said, “See, this is
new”? It has already been in
ancient times before us.

11. Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
11 There is no remembrance of
former things, nor will there
be any remembrance of
things that are to come by
those who will come after.

13. “The two most important
days in your life is the day
you are born and the day
you find out why.”
~ Mark Twain

14. Why Am I Here?
 Not to accumulate “things”

15. Mark 8:36,37
36 For what will it profit a
man if he gains the whole
world, and loses his own
soul? 37 Or what will a man
give in exchange for his
soul?

16. Luke 12:16-21
16 Then He spoke a parable to
them, saying: “The ground of
a certain rich man yielded
plentifully. 17 And he thought
within himself, saying, ‘What
shall I do, since I have no
room to store my crops?’

17. Luke 12:16-21
18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I
will pull down my barns and
build greater, and there I will
store all my crops and my
goods.

18. Luke 12:16-21
19 And I will say to my soul,
“Soul, you have many goods
laid up for many years; take
your ease; eat, drink, and be
merry.”’

19. Luke 12:16-21
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool!
This night your soul will be
required of you; then whose
will those things be which you
have provided?’

20. Luke 12:16-21
21 “So is he who lays up
treasure for himself, and is
not rich toward God.”

21. Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Do not lay up for
yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy
and where thieves break in
and steal;

22. Matthew 6:19-21
20 but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust destroys
and where thieves do not break
in and steal. 21 For where your
treasure is, there your heart
will be also.

23. Why Am I Here?
 Not to accumulate “things”
 Not to have a vaulted
reputation

24. Luke 22:24-27
24 Now there was also a
dispute among them, as to
which of them should be
considered the greatest.

25. Luke 22:24-27
25 And He said to them, “The
kings of the Gentiles exercise
lordship over them, and those
who exercise authority over
them are called ‘benefactors.’

26. Luke 22:24-27
26 But not so among you; on
the contrary, he who is
greatest among you, let him
be as the younger, and he
who governs as he who
serves.

27. Luke 22:24-27
27 For who is greater, he who
sits at the table, or he who
serves? Is it not he who sits at
the table? Yet I am among you
as the One who serves.

28. John 13:13-15
13 You call Me Teacher and Lord,
and you say well, for so I am. 14 If
I then, your Lord and Teacher,
have washed your feet, you also
ought to wash one another’s
feet. 15 For I have given you an
example, that you should do as I
have done to you.

29. Why Am I Here?
 Not to accumulate “things”
 Not to have a vaulted
reputation
 Not to preserve life above all
else

30. John 12:24,25
24 Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls
into the ground and dies, it
remains alone; but if it dies, it
produces much grain. 25 He who
loves his life will lose it, and he
who hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life.

31. Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with
Christ; it is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me; and the
life which I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself
for me.

32. 2Timothy 4:6
For I am already being
poured out as a drink
offering, and the time of my
departure is at hand.

33. Why Am I Here?
 Not to accumulate “things”
 Not to have a vaulted
reputation
 Not to preserve life above all
else
 Life is about transformation

34. Romans 12:1,2
1 I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of
God, that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is
your reasonable service.

35. Romans 12:1,2
2 And do not be conformed to
this world, but be
transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that you may
prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of
God.

36. 2Peter 1:5-8
5 But also for this very reason,
giving all diligence, add to your
faith virtue, to virtue
knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-
control, to self-control
perseverance, to perseverance
godliness,

37. 2Peter 1:5-8
7 to godliness brotherly
kindness, and to brotherly
kindness love. 8 For if these
things are yours and abound,
you will be neither barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ.

38. Why Am I Here?
 Not to accumulate “things”
 Not to have a vaulted
reputation
 Not to preserve life above all
else
 Life is about transformation

39. Ecclesiastes 12:13,14
13 Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter: fear God and
keep His commandments,
for this is man’s all. 14 For God
will bring every work into
judgment, including every
secret thing, whether good or
evil.