Summer Reading Week 1
Sharable notes for the July 17, 2022 message. You can post these notes on your social platform!
Scriptures used: John 15:1-17; Romans 12:1-2
Passages referenced: Genesis 37-50
As you grow more dependent on God you realize your purpose in life is bigger than you can imagine.
As we trust in God, allow him to work in us, love and live with others the way he called us to, and do the work he’s called us to do, we will see ourselves doing something with eternal significance and bringing him glory.
Make yourself at home in Christ, rest in His love. Abiding in Him is not so much about things you are to do for Him as it is resting in His thoughts about you.
God’s acceptance is given to us not as a reward for what we have done, but as a gift.
Change in your life begins not with you being told what you are supposed to do for God, but believing what God has done for you.
The expectation is not for us to earn God’s love; the expectation is for us to live in constant awareness of God’s love.
“God is more interested in how deep we grow our roots than how big we grow our branches. The quality of a tree’s fruit is more dependent on the health of its roots than the height of its limbs.” Kevin Myers
At the core of most of our sin is idolatry. We decide that something has such worth and weight that we think possessing it is the key to a happy life, and we prioritize it over knowing and obeying God.
The gospel should show you that the only one worthy of your worship, the only one you can lean your soul on and find satisfaction from, is God.
The will of God is more about having the right heart posture of worship and surrender to God than it is figuring out some specific decision in our life. The closer you get to God the better you understand his will.
Your comfort, contentment and identity should never come from anything other than Christ.
When the gospel has transformed you into the kind of person who loves what God loves, you’ll start instinctively to do what God wants.
Reflect or meet with someone to discuss:
Are you a fan of baseball or do you understand the game of baseball? Could you explain it to someone?
Do you understand enough to know that there is a specific order you run the bases in? What are some things we do out of order in our life?
Would you say you are completely dependent upon God? Why do you answer the way you did?
What step should you take to create a dependence on God in your life?
Click the image to start a new 7 day devotion in YouVersion:
A.W. Tozer was a man who walked closely with God, who prayed often and shunned distraction so he could gaze more purely upon his Creator. In these daily meditations on Scripture, Tozer urges you to do the same. He will stir you toward humility and full surrender. He will expand your faith in a God so great that words fall short to describe Him. He will nourish you with truth.