For This I Was Born: Aligning Your Vision to God's Cause

By Brian Houston

At some point, everyone contemplates the "meaning of life." All over the world, people are on a quest to find answers as they search for someone or something to believe in.

In Brian Houston's book, For This I Was Born, he says that to know the Cause of Christ is to understand why you were born, to know what you are living for, and to decide what you are prepared to die for.

If you do not know the meaning of life, he says, you will never live a life of meaning. Houston desires that each of his readers come to know the cause of Christ. His Cause, he says, is the key that opens us to new places of vision, passion, strength, and reason for living.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jun 25, 2009
• ISBN: 9781418537463

Brian Houston

Brian Houston y su esposa Bobbie son pastores principales de las congregación más graded de Australia, la Iglesia Hillsong, en Sidney, duya comunidad de más de 21,000 peronas sigue creciendo. Además, spervisan otros ministerios, entre los que están: Hillsong Music Australia, Hillsong Confrency y Hillsong International Leadership Collete. Hillsong Television transmite en más de 180 naciones.

Book preview

FOR THIS

I WAS BORN

FOR THIS

I WAS BORN

Brian Houston

9780849919138_ePDF_0004_004

THOMAS NELSON

Since 1798

NASHVILLE DALLAS MEXICO CITY RIO DE JANEIRO BEIJING

© 2008 by Brian Houston

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [e-mail].

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are from THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE: OLD TESTAMENT. ©1962, 1964 by Zondervan (used by permission); and from THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE: NEW TESTAMENT. © 1958 by the Lockman Foundation (used by permission).

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are from Holy Bible, New Living Translation. © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Houston, Brian.

   For this I was born / Brian Houston.

      p. cm.

   Includes bibliographical references and index.

   ISBN 978-0-8499-1913-8    

1. Life—Religious aspects—Christianity. I. Title.

  BT696.H68 2008

  248.4—dc22

2008003185

Printed in the United States of America

08 09 10 11 12 RDD 5 4 3 2 1

To all those past and present who have made the

choice to live for the cause of Jesus Christ and put

the kingdom first in everything they do.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Section 1: For This Cause I Was Born

Chapter 1 You Were Born for the Cause of Christ

Chapter 2 Championing the Cause of the Local Church

Section 2: The Cause and Vision

Chapter 3 Your Vision, His Cause

Chapter 4 United Around the Cause

Chapter 5 An Eternal Vision

Section 3: The Cause and Calling

Chapter 6 Saved and Called

Chapter 7 Use What Is in Your Hand

Chapter 8 The Blessing of Hard Work

Section 4: The Cause and Purpose

Chapter 9 Living on Purpose

Chapter 10 Time for Every Purpose

Chapter 11 Prosperity on Purpose

Section 5: The Cause and the Price

Chapter 12 A Heart Surrendered

Chapter 13 Living with Conviction

Chapter 14 Living Committed

Chapter 15 Blessed to Blessing

Notes

Acknowledgments

I HAVE A LOT OF VALUABLE PEOPLE IN MY LIFE who share my passion for Jesus and his church. Primary among them is Bobbie, my beautiful wife, and each of our adult children who share my passion for Christ’s cause. I love them.

Thank you to Maria Ieroianni, for her belief in this project and her commitment to seeing it become a reality, and to the other wonderful staff who helped review and edit this book over many months.

And to our whole team, whose selfless commitment to the cause enables Hillsong Church to be and to bless others.

Prologue

EACH MORNING WHEN I WAKE UP, ALTHOUGH I may agonize over whether to go for a run, I do not wonder what I should do with my life. That was determined when I was a young boy. I grew up the son of a minister, and from about the age of five, I developed a real sense that I was born for something bigger than myself—I wanted to be a leader and build the church—to do something for the kingdom of God that made a difference.

Don’t get me wrong; I had no real clue what being a leader and building the church was going to entail, nor did I realize the opportunities and challenges that would come along the way, but through all of life’s journey thus far, that desire has resonated in my spirit.

Nevertheless, more than half a century of life and more than thirty years of ministry have taught me that my experience is not everyone else’s experience. Perhaps you have struggled with the questions of why you are alive, what life is all about, and the part you play in it. Maybe you have pursued material things, unhealthy relationships, or found solace in alcohol and drugs in the hope of finding fulfillment, only to realize that there must be more to life.

I am here to tell you that there is! You have a Father in heaven who has marked you for his purpose and plan. You were born for a cause that embraces humanity but resonates from heaven. It is a cause that bridges history and alters eternity.

Your life is not a result of powerless fate. It is attached to a predetermined purpose that originated in the mind of the Father. For some this is a totally foreign concept, while for others this revelation already burns in your heart. Whatever has compelled you to pick up this book, my hope is that the God-truths, wisdom, and personal lessons contained within its pages will help propel you to a greater understanding of the cause of the King and the kingdom and the unique part you play.

Jesus himself taught us to seek first the kingdom of God. The kingdom is not a mystical place in the heavens; it is everything in the realm of Christ. Having kingdom purpose involves bringing the will of heaven to earth. Kingdom purpose is a revelation that will change your life and has the power to impact the life of everyone you encounter.

Time and again I have seen how the cause of Christ has taken the hopeless and filled them with hope, and grabbed hold of the purposeless and infused them with purpose. And suddenly their lives make sense. My prayer is that you also can say with conviction, For this cause, I was born!

SECTION 1

FOR THIS CAUSE

I WAS BORN

Chapter 1

You Were Born

for the Cause of Christ

TIME IS TICKING. EACH OF US WILL WALK THE planet for a certain number of days; we all have a specific number of breaths and heartbeats to expend. The question is: what will you do with the years, months, weeks, days, and minutes God has given you?

What cause, if any, will define your life? How will you be remembered? What legacy will you leave for your family and the generations to come? The answers rest with you.

In the midst of a society often defined by skepticism and cynicism, everyone contemplates and searches for answers and something to believe in. There are no limits to causes, both positive and negative, that vie for our commitment, passion, money, and time. We have our families, our mortgages, our work. And then there are the global causes of injustice, inequity, the fight against terrorism, climate change, the list is endless.

I wholeheartedly believe there is one cause that is greater than any other, a cause that when lived to fulfillment impacts every area of our lives. It gives meaning, direction, and purpose to every day; it influences your choices and decisions; it sets your children up to win; and it has the potential to affect all who cross your path.

I wholeheartedly

believe there is

one cause that is

greater than

any other

It is the cause of Jesus Christ. There is no greater cause on the planet.

To understand the power of this cause, we have to look to the life of Jesus himself. Some two thousand years ago, he—an innocent man—stood in front of a judge and faced a barrage of questions that would determine whether he lived or died a horrible death. His is perhaps the most notorious trial in recorded history. To this day it sparks controversy and is the subject of many books and movies. Jesus did not have a vast legal team advising him on what to say or how to plead; in fact, he refused to defend himself against the injustice he suffered. Instead, he declared a truth so absolute that it confounded all who were present.

A weak Roman governor, desperate to appease the blood-thirsty crowd, asked a probing question of Jesus: Are you a king then? And he received a powerful, definitive answer:

You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world. ( John 18:37, emphasis added)

For this cause is a statement of certainty and conviction. Jesus Christ knew exactly who he was, and the purpose for which he was alive was unmistakable. His was a cause so vital that he would willingly die for it.

Speaking of his impending death on a cross, Jesus declared, For this cause, I came unto this hour ( John 12:27 KJV). His entire life was encapsulated in that one powerful phrase—for this cause.

Do you have such boldness and certainty when it comes to life’s big questions? Why were you born? Why are you on the planet at this time in history?

It has been said, Everyone who is born dies, but not everyone who dies has truly lived. God does not want you and me to die full of potential. He wants you to live for something worth dying for. When Christ’s cause truly underpins your life, you will discover meaning and purpose, and