Getting Started

What/who is it all about?

What is the struggle of struggles?

It can make our

lives messy,

relationships conflictual

The one battle none of us can escape

Place or area of our lives we all need rescue

The fight God wages on our behalf to help us to remember that life is simply not about us.

It is about? God:

HIS plans

HIS Kingdom

HIS glory

Psalm 115:1–8 NLT

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness. 2 Why let the nations say, “Where is their God?” 3 Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. 4 Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. 5 They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. 6 They have ears but cannot hear, and mouths but cannot breathe. 7 They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. 8 And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.

Psalm 115:9–13 NLT

9 O Israel, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield. 10 O priests, descendants of Aaron, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield. 11 All you who fear the Lord, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield. 12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us. He will bless the people of Israel and bless the priests, the descendants of Aaron. 13 He will bless those who fear the Lord, both great and lowly.

Psalm 115:14–18 NLT

14 May the Lord richly bless both you and your children. 15 May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 16 The heavens belong to the Lord, but he has given the earth to all humanity. 17 The dead cannot sing praises to the Lord, for they have gone into the silence of the grave. 18 But we can praise the Lord both now and forever! Praise the Lord!

What are the first 4 words of the Bible?

Genesis 1:1 NLT

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

What do these words change for us?

The way you think about your identity

Your meaning

Your purpose

to the way you approach the most incidental human duties.

Brings us to realization:

Universe functions according to HIS plan and purpose.

We are not made to live independent, self-directed lives; OR to exist according to our own self oriented plans, living for our own glory.

We were created to live for Him, and to bring HIM glory.

How do we express God’s glory in our lives?

1 Corinthians 10:31 NLT

31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

With this in mind, what should our goal be?

2 Corinthians 5:9 NLT

9 So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him.

2 Corinthians 5:10 NLT

10 For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

2 Corinthians 4:8–18 NLT

8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. 11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. 12 So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you. 13 But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.” 14 We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. 16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.