27 Jan NEW YEAR HAPPY | Part 3 ‘The Happiness of Trusting God’
Text ‘waterschurch’ to 41411 to keep updated on the latest information!
NIGHT TO SHINE – BUDDIES STILL NEEDED:
If you or any of your SG Members have not signed up to serve at Night to Shine, we still need a few buddies/chaperones. Please click link below or share this link if you or any of your members can be on this team specifically! If anyone is trained in ASL, we could use you too!
For SGL’s Only: 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 are 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
Financial Peace: starts Saturday, February 2 from 9:00-11:00a
Team Nights: Thursday, Feb 21.
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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Fasting and Prayer – 2019! Theme: “Who’s Next?”
Dates: January 27th (after lunch) – January 30 (after Breakfast)
Week one:
- Happiness does not just HAPPEN.
- The right HABITS make happiness happen.
Week two:
- Habits do not START as habits.
- Habits have always been a part of our lives; habits shapes who you are. Habits start with “that sounds like a good idea” or someone says, “hey have you ever thought of?”
This Week: The happiness habit of trusting God.
Key Verse: Proverbs 16:20
Proverbs is the book of wisdom. They are mostly sayings and were written by Solomon, the son of David. The definition of a proverbs: short sentences drawn from long experiences. We get wisdom from experience, through learning and failing. They are based on long experiences we can learn from. God wants us rooted and grounded in what works.
Ice-breaker question:
Q. What is an example of a personal long experience from which you have gained wisdom?
There are 3 types of proverbs:
Synonymous – two statements back to back that say the same thing but say it differently.
Proverbs 16:18 – “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
This gives clarity to the concept that pride goes before a fall.
Antithetic – two statements that are opposite.
Proverbs 16:9 – “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
We can plan, but God establishes our steps, don’t just make plans, listen to what God says.
Progressive – two statements, one says one thing and the second moves us toward the goal. If you want to go further and get some place, do what it says.
Proverbs 16:20 – “Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.”
Listen to God and find out good things.
Whoever gives thought to the word finds good things. Hearing is one level and trusting is the next. There is a difference between hearing and trusting and those that go beyond hearing and trust are blessed.
Where Am I Sitting?
1. The Believing Chair
90 percent of us are sitting in this chair. These are people who believe there is a God but are not really sure who he is. It could be Allah, Buddha, Jesus or some higher power. He is somewhere up there but they are just not sure. They are basing their eternal life sitting in this chair.
Q. What was your perception of God and why did you perceive Him that way, when/if you sat in this chair?
2. The Listening to God Chair.
Those who have gone from the believing chair that have decided to start listening. Maybe they had a health scare, financial scare like the recession; something got their attention. Proverbs 16:20 (He who hears will discover good).
These listeners are just checking it out. It is a conditional faith. As long as things go well, they will listen. Most people stay here and they are not happy. They never discover the blessing of moving from listening to trusting.
Q. How long did it take you from just listening before you really started trusting God?
3. The Trusting Chair.
“Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.”
The enemy works hard to keep us from this chair because this is where God wants us to be. The Devil is happy to just keep us listening, by making us feel good about just going to church and not trusting God. We can go from the ‘trusting chair’ back to just ‘the believing chair’ when we don’t want to believe what the word says and have trouble trusting.
Q. What has been something you have had trouble believing in God’s word that has caused you to go back to the second or first chair?
“Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord”
THREE TESTS THAT CAN LEAD TO A DEEPER TRUST IN GOD:
1. TRUSTING GOD BEGINS WHEN WHAT GOD SAYS CHALLENGES WHAT I BELIEVE.
***The Intellect test.
The sights and sounds of a well produced production lead us in a particular direction every day. Example: Facebook. Your phone is sitting beside you and you are just having a conversation with someone (without searching anything on your phone or device), the next day your FB feed has that product you were talking about. Next thing you know, you buying into whatever it is you are being directed toward.
Some of us are crooked because we are listening to everyone’s opinion.
We should not trust in what we know. God has created a universe that we cannot understand. He is beyond our understanding. If we understand God then we made him in our own mind.
Important people tell us what they think and without discernment we end up following the crowd.
Being afraid of what others will say about us. But God says that they can’t save us, change us or remake us.
Q. Have you ever found yourself listening to what others were saying and followed the crowd and how were your beliefs in what others said challenged by God’s word?
2. TRUSTING GOD BEGINS WHEN WHAT I WANT IS DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I HAVE.
***The possessions test.
Trusting God might cost me something. ‘What if I tithed and that did not work?” God is faithful, you do not lose when you trust in Him. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10).
Some of us trust in our security systems more than trusting in God.
Q. What are some things you have wanted or things you have possessed that came before putting God first in your life and why?
3. TRUSTING GOD BEGINS WHEN WHAT I HAVE EXPECTED WAS DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I HAVE EXPERIENCED.
***The circumstance test.
We gave our life to Christ, we listen and trust and then something bad happens and we stop trusting God. Somewhere along the line someone falsely told us that when we come to Christ all of our troubles go away. WRONG. Our plans might not come to pass, but we should trust God anyway! Take Paul for example, all kinds of terrible things had happened to him. What he expected is not what he experienced.
This phrase kills the idea that God would never give us more than we can handle. Paul knew even if he trusted in God and it cost him his life that God can raise the dead.
Q. When you came to Christ, did you think all your troubles would disappear and why did you think this? What did you expect and how was it different from your experience?
Some of us are stuck with ‘What If’s’, but we have got to flip our ‘What If’s to ‘Even If’s like Paul. Or even as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – in Daniel 3:16-18 NIV
TRUST HAPPENS WHEN WE TURN OUR ‘WHAT IF’S INTO ‘EVEN IF’S.
THREE “TRUSTING GOD” QUESTIONS:
1. Am I willing to do whatever God says in Scripture about this area whether I agree with it or not?
2. Am I willing to accept anything God sends, allows to happen or brings to an end whether I want it or not?
3. Am I content to allow the Lord’s plans and purpose prevail in my life even if they aren’t what I hoped for and planned?
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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