03 Feb NEW YEAR HAPPY | Part 4 ‘The Happiness Equation’
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Night to Shine registrations are officially closed. If you or any of your group members are serving at this event, you should have been contacted by now and be prepared for your role. If you are a team lead, you will be getting an email beginning this week of the night’s agenda and any additional pertinent information or requests for set up help. We are truly looking forward to this event and celebrating those with special needs! Thank you to everyone who has helped in one way or another!
Team Nights: Thursday, Feb 21. Bring your group and come out to learn something new and have some fun!
Prayer Team Ministry during services – Felix and John will be hosting a meeting on Sunday, Feb 10 after 2nd Service for 30-45 minutes. If you or members of your group is interested and can commit time to this important ministry, please plan on attending this meeting. If you have any questions, please contact John Lane at Johnlane70@gmail.com . – Please, any member of your group who is not serving and has never filled out the necessary forms and want to serve on this ministry will need to do so.
The Deep End Podcast: airs live Wednesdays @noon on Facebook @thedeependtv ! Text in your questions anonymously to (508) 316-9333 to have them addressed on the show. And you can catch up on past episodes anytime on our Deep End page or on our Youtube channel @ waterschurchmedia
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We offer two types of classes. Please familiarize yourself with what these classes are about. Feel free to sign up for one so you can better explain what they are to your group members.
Starting Point: What is Christianity all about? Is the Bible really more than just a book? Who is Jesus? No matter where we are in life, we all have questions. Starting Point is a great place to explore the faith and have safe and open discussions about some of life’s toughest questions.
Growth Track: In this 3 part class; Discover, Deepen, & Dedicate; you will get answers to the most frequently asked questions about Waters Church and have an opportunity to ask your own. This is the perfect place to get to know the “Why” behind the “What” of who we are as a church.
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Key Verse: John 4
The happiness habits. There is ample evidence that the more we chase happiness the less happy we are. It comes down to ‘destination addiction’. People with destination addiction are not happy until they get to this place but when they get there, they are still not happy.
“Beware of Destination Addiction – a preoccupation with the idea that happiness is the next place, the next job with the next partner. Until you give up the idea that happiness is somewhere else, it will never be where you are.”
Icebreaker question:
Q. Have you ever had Destination Addiction and what destination did you think would make you happy and why?
IF HAPPINESS IS A PLACE, WE WILL CONTINUALLY BELIEVE GREATER HAPPINESS IS SOMEWHERE ELSE.
TODAY’S HABIT: THE HABIT OF FULFILLING GOD’S PURPOSE IN THE WORLD.
John the Baptist is one of the greatest and most successful prophets. Jesus said there was no one great than John the Baptist. He was some what of a crazy guy. God gave John an anointing. He preached to people and they listened and repented. All the people came to hear him preach. This is the dream of every preacher, to have everyone come and listen to them preach. John is the man who introduced the Man. Jesus is the One John was here to talk about. Jesus’s ministry became popular but John had settled in his heart already that he was here, not for his own purpose but, to do what God had for him to do and that was to point people to Jesus.
We have got to settle this in our own hearts. We are not here for our own purpose, but we are to do what God has for us to do in our generation.
THE HAPPINESS EQUATION:
1. DIVINE DESIGN PLUS…
An angel had come to Zechariah, John’s father, before John was born to tell him about John, the son he would have. John knew he had been divinely designed. We have all been divinely designed.
We are to say this about ourselves. The scriptures were written to us, God’s people. We are divinely designed.
Even BEFORE He made the world… He had us on his mind before he made the world! We are who we are because God thought of us! It does not matter what people say about us because God created us.
Q. How has knowing that God knew you before you were born changed the way you view the world as you know it? What do you look at differently than you did prior to knowing this truth?
We are called to live with a sense of destiny; the place God wants us to fulfill his purposes. We should not let our past keep us from being used by God. God uses all kinds of people. As Christians we have a destiny and God has a purpose for us. God can use anyone no matter what the devil tries to do to us. God can use our past for our Christian future. He will redeem our past and us our experiences for the future.
Q. What experiences of your past has God used now that you are a believer?
2. DIVINE DESIGN PLUS HEAVEN SENT PURPOSE PLUS…
John had settled this matter in his heart before someone else questioned it. This should be freeing to us knowing that God knows what we need. We should not desire something that someone else has, we need to be happy with the life God has given us. We are to cultivate a thankful spirit. Our purpose, as Christians, is to glorify Jesus.
Joni Erickson Tada was seventeen when she had a diving accident that left her paralyzed. At first she was mad at God and even contemplated suicide. However, God had a purpose for her. She learned to paint by putting the paint brush in her teeth and she has written many books and traveled the world telling people about Jesus.
We are to stop living in Crappy Land, stop moaning about what we think should be ours and use what we have for God’s glory.
Q. What have you desired that someone else had and why? When did you realize that it was not something God had desired for you and how do you use what you have to glorify Jesus?
3. DIVINE DESTINY + HEAVEN SENT PURPOSE + PEOPLE’S BENEFIT =
COMPLETED JOY.
If no one benefits from us, if no one gets to know who God is through our lives then it is all for nothing. Who is blessed beyond the blessing God has poured out into your life? We are blessed to be a blessing! We are blessed to live life outside of ourselves. It is what we give away in our lives that makes it to heaven, not what we keep. John the Baptist understood this.
John was here to connect those who did not have an identity and bring them home to God. Hew knew this was his life and this is what he was called to do; to bring people to God. Our jobs are our assignments. God uses those we cannot even imagine could be used.
Q. Who is someone who you may work with, attend school with, or are a neighbor to that you think God may have placed you in their life for a purpose and how have you been or how could you be a witness to them?
THE CHRISTIAN’S LIFE IS NOT ABOUT GETTING SOMEWHERE, IT IS ABOUT GLORIFYING SOMEONE.
PRAYER FOR EACH OTHER, THE LOST, NIGHT TO SHINE – WEATHER AND HEALTH OF VOLUNTEERS ETC., WOONSOCKET AS WE COME CLOSE TO SIGNING ON A LEASE TO A PERMANENT LOCATION AND OTHER UPCOMING CAMPUSES THE ROOF AS IT HAS SEVERAL LEAKS AND WILL COST MUCH $$ TO REPLACE , THE CHURCH, THE NATION AND LEADERS AND GUATEMALA MISSION.
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