"Planning the Good Life (Pt.5)"
TEXTS: John 15:5-11; Matt. 16:26; 1 Cor. 7:26-35
TRUTHS:
1. In order to properly mature and grow spiritually, the help of others is required. If you wish to be productive and successful in your personal and practical life, it will take planning and intentional effort. We are required to bear the burdens that other believers carry in their souls, but in our practical lives, we should strive to live in such a way that we don’t become a burden to anyone else.
2. Much of the current biblical teaching that is being proclaimed focuses on the “now.” We want to hear something that will benefit us as soon as we hear it. In other words, we want practical steps that can enhance the quality of our earthly lives. But Christianity is not about having a better earthly life, it is about having eternal life.
3. God has a path planned for every believer that will eventually guide them through some difficult and tough seasons. In and through those seasons the Lord is aiming to reveal that He is truly God and that He is wholly good. Some lessons that are meant to prepare us for eternity can only be deposited in our hearts by walking through difficult seasons of life.
4. Followers of Jesus should not fret over the world if they are rightly connected to the Lord. He has promised to give us the strength and wisdom to be overcomers.
5. Love is about sacrificing. It is not about always getting what we want, but rather giving up what we want for the sake of others.
6. What should make believers anxious? If they are married, they should experience some anxiousness concerning how to please their spouse and sacrificially love them. If we let resentments build up in our marriages, then we can be sure that the tempter is coming to fracture that relationship.
7. What is one part of being fruitful as a follower of Christ? We should be asking God routinely to change our hearts to align with His Word and His will.
TALK TO EACH OTHER:
1. In what ways has the Lord helped you to be an overcomer?
2. How should we rightly handle the resentments that may try to creep into our hearts towards our spouses (and others)?
3. What lessons have you learned by walking through difficult seasons of life?
4. How does the gospel message equip us to sacrificially love others? What are the gospel truths that should steer us towards sacrificial love?
5. Do you have a personal testimony about how the Lord changed your heart when you asked Him to?
TALK TO GOD:
Pray as you feel led concerning the following area(s):
- To be a people who sacrificially love those around us
- That God would change our hearts so that fruitfulness will abound in our lives and in our church