God-Centered Living (Book - Oct 7, 2024)

# **Day 1** ## God-Centered Living - Part of the book of Genesis is the record of God accomplishing His purposes. - It is not about the record of Abraham's walk with God. - The focus of the Bible is God-centered. - The essence of sin is a shift from God-centered to self-centered. - The essence of...

# **Day 1** ## God-Centered Living - Part of the book of Genesis is the record of God accomplishing His purposes. - It is not about the record of Abraham's walk with God. - The focus of the Bible is God-centered. - The essence of sin is a shift from God-centered to self-centered. - The essence of salvation is denying self instead of affirming self. - We must deny ourselves and return to God-centeredness in our lives. - God has a place where he will accomplish His eternal purposes through us. ### A Self-Centered Life - Is focused on self - Is proud of self and self’s accomplishments - Is self-confident - Depends on self and abilities - Affirms self - Seeks to be acceptable to the world and its ways - Looks at circumstances from a human perspective - Chooses selfish and worldly living ### A God-Centered Life - Places confidence in God - Depends on God and His ability and provision - Focuses on God and His activity - Is humble before God - Denies self - Seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness - Seeks God's perspective in every circumstance - Chooses holy and godly living ## Definitions - `Self-centered` - `God-centered` ## Biblical Examples - G: God placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful, bountiful garden. He told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The fruit was pleasing to the eye and desirable for God's glory and dominion, so she ate it (see Gen. 2:16-17;3:1-7). -. S: Potiphar’s wife daily begged Joseph to go to bed with her. He could not do such a wicked thing and sin against God. When she tried to force him, he fled the room and went to prison rather than yield to temptation (see Gen. 39). # **Day 2** ## God's Purposes, Not Our Plans - To live a God-centered life, you must focus on God’s purposes, not your own plans. - You must seek to view situations from God’s perspective rather than from your own human outlook. - When God starts to do something in the world, He takes the initiative to reveal His will to people. - Throughout history, God, in His wisdom, has chosen to involve His people in accomplishing His purposes. ## Questions - What was God about to do when He asked Noah to build an ark (see Gen. 6:5-14)? - What was God about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah when He came to Abraham (see Gen. 18: 16-21; 19:13)? - What was God about to do when He came to Gideon (see Judg. 6:11-16)? - What was God about to do when He came to Saul (later called Paul) on the road to Damascus (see Acts 9:1-16)? - Why is it more important to know what God is planning to do than to focus on your plans? ## God’s Plans vs. Our Plans - Who delivered the children of Israel from Egypt? Moses or God? God did! God chose to bring Moses into a relationship with Himself so that he could deliver Israel. - Did Moses ever try to take matters into his own hands? He did! - In Exodus 2:11-15 Moses killed an Egyptian who had struck a Hebrew. What might have happened if Moses had tried to deliver the children of Israel through a human approach? Thousands of his countrymen would have been slain in battle. - Moses tried to personally deliver one Israelite, and that cost him 40 years of exile in Midian working as a shepherd and reorienting his life to God-centered living. - When God delivered the children of Israel, how many Israelite lives were lost? None. In the process, God led the Egyptians to give the Israelites their gold, silver, and clothes. Egypt was plundered, the Egyptian army was destroyed, and the Israelites did not lose a single person! - Why do we not realize that it is always best to do things God's way? We cause some of the wreck and ruin in our churches because we have a plan. We implement the plan and accomplish what we can do. We ask God to bless our plans, and then we promise to give him the glory when He does. Yet God is not glorified by making our plans succeed. He receives glory when His will is done, His way. Christ is the Head of the body-the church. What a difference it would make if we obeyed Christ as the Head of that body! He could accomplish more in six months through a people yielded to Him than they could do in 60 years without Him. ## Understanding What God is About to Do - Understanding what God is about to do where I am is more important than telling God what I want to do for Him. - “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:23-25) - “Years later, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his people. Looking all around and seeing no one, he struck the Egyptian dead and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, ‘Why are you attacking your neighbor?!’ ‘Who made you a commander and judge over us?’ the man replied. ‘Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?!' Then Moses became afraid and thought, ‘What I did is certainly known.’ When Pharaoh heard about this, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian.” (Exodus 2:11-15) # **Day 3** ## God Takes the Initiative - I was working at my office one day when I received a letter from a woman who told me about an expectant mother who was attending in Experiencing God class until she suffered a miscarriage. She was devastated and quit attending the study, as well as the church services. The woman writing the letter included the young woman’s phone number. I sensed it was God’s invitation. I called the woman. I told her that God still loved her. We prayed and wept together. I learned later that she rejoined the group and her church. God blessed her with several more children and led her to begin ministry in her church for women who suffered the loss of children. I have learned that as God’s servant, I must always be ready for my next assignment. - God’s revelation of his activity is an invitation for you to join Him. - “It is God who is working in you, both to will and to work according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13) ## God Always Takes the Initiative - Throughout Scripture, God takes the initiative. When He comes to people, He reveals Himself and His activity. That revelation is always an invitation for people to adjust their lives to God. None of the people God encountered could remain the same afterward. They had to make major adjustments in their lives to walk obediently with Him. - He is the One who sets the agenda. He is always the One who takes the initiative to accomplish what He wants to do. When you are God-centered, even the desires to do things that please Him come from God’s activity in your life. (Phil. 2:13). - What often happens when we see God at work? We immediately become self centered rather than God-centered. We must reorient our lives to God. We should learn to see things from His perspective. - We need to allow Him to develop his character in us. Must let Him reveal His thoughts to us. Only then can we gain a proper perspective on Him. - God always takes the initiative. He does not wait to see what we want to do for him. After he has taken the initiative to encounter us, he waits until we respond to him by making ourselves available to him. - All four (listed) are ways God may reveal His plans to you. There are others as well. The last two must be carefully watched. A self-centered life tends to confuse its selfish desire with God’s will. In addition, circumstances do not always indicate a clear direction from God. Open and closed doors do not always indicate God's guidance. Check to see that prayer, the Scriptures, and circumstances agree on the direction you sense God leading you. ## Learning to Walk with God - You may be thinking, That all sounds good, but I need practical help in learning how to apply these concepts. In every situation, God demands that you depend om Him rather than a method. - The key is not a method but a relationship with God. - George Mueller, a minister in England during the 19th century, was concerned that God’s people had become discouraged. - They no longer expected God to do anything unusual in their midst. They were not trusting God to answer their prayers. They had little faith. - God led Mueller to pray. Muller’s prayers were for God to lead him to a work people could only explain as an act of God. Mueller wanted people to learn that God was a faithful prayer-answering God. He discovered Psalm 81:10, which you read in yesterday’s lesson: ‘Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.’ God led him in a walk of faith that became an outstanding testimony of faith to all who heard his story. - Whenever Muller had a need in his life or ministry, he would pray to God about it but tell no one else. He wanted everyone to know that God had provided for the need in answer to prayer and faith. During his ministry in Bristol, Muller started the Scriptural Knowledge Institute for the distribution of Scripture and for religious education. He also began an orphanage. By the time of Muller’s death, God had used him to build four orphan houses that cared for 2,000 children at a time. The orphan ages had provided for more than 10,000 children. He had distributed more than eight million dollars that had been given to him in answer to prayer. Yet when he died at 93, his own worldly possessions were valued at eight hundred dollars¹. - How did Muller know and do God’s will? # **Day 4** ## God Speaks to His People - God has not changed. He still speaks to his people. - “Long ago God spokes to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and different ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son.” (Hebrews 1:1-2) - “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you everything I have told you.” (John 14:26) - “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare to you.” (John 16:13-14) - “The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.” (John 8:47) ## Questions - In the Old Testament ("times past"), how and through whom did God speak? - In New Testament times (“these last days”), how did God speak? - In John 14:26, whom did Jesus promise the Father would send in his name? - What is the work of the Holy Spirit as described in John 14:26? - Who is the one who hears what God says? - What does John 8:47 say about a person who does not hear what God says? ## Hearing God's Voice - If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the heart of your Christian experience. - Sin has so affected us (see Rom. 3:10-11) that we cannot understand God’s truth unless the Holy Spirit reveals it. He is the Teacher. When He teaches you the Word of God, listen carefully to Him and respond to Him. As you pray, watch to see how He uses Scripture to confirm God’s Word in your heart. Watch what He is doing around you and in your circumstances. The God who is speaking to you as you pray and the God who is speaking to you in the Scriptures is the God who is also working around you. ## The Inside Back Cover - The Holy Spirit is the fourth reality, and when Jesus returned to heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent to speak to God’s people. - The Holy Spirit speaks in four ways: through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church. - The Holy Spirit reveals : Himself, His purposes, and His ways. - “The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The sheep hear his voice. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me.” (John 10:2-4,14) - The key to knowing God’s voice is not a formula, nor is it a method you can follow. Knowing God’s voice comes from an intimate love relationship with God. That is why those who do not have the relationship (John 8:47) do not hear what God is saying,. You must watch to see how God uniquely communicates with you. You will not be able to rely on other people’s walks with God. You will have to depend on God alone. Your relationship with Him is crucial. # **Day 5** ## God Speaks with a Purpose - We tend to want God to speak to us so he will give us a heart-warming devotional that will make us feel good for the rest of the day. If you want the God of the universe to speak to you, you need to be ready for him to reveal what he is doing where you are. - He is not often seen coming and speaking to people just for conversation’s sake. He was always working to accomplish His purposes. - When God speaks to you, He has a specific purpose in mind. - When God spoke to Abram (see Gen. 12). What was God about to do? He was about to begin building a holy nation. Notice God’s timing. - When He did? Because it was then God wanted to start building the nation. The moment Abram knew what God was about to do, he had to adjust his life to God. He had to immediately follow what God said. - The moment God speaks to you is the time He wants you to respond to him. Don’t think you have the next three or four months to decide whether it is God’s timing. - The moment God speaks to you is God’s timing. That is why He chooses to speak when he does. He speaks to his servant when He is ready to move. Otherwise, he wouldn't speak. As God enters the mainstream of your life, the timing of your response is crucial. When God speaks to you, you need to believe and obey him. - Do not assume however, that the moment God calls you, you are prepared for the assignment. How long was it from the time God spoke to Abram until Isaac, the child of promise, was born? Twenty-five years! - Why did God wait 25 years? Because it took God 25 years to make Abraham a father suitable for Isaac. God was concerned not so much about Abram but about founding a nation. The quality of the father will affect the quality of following generations. As goes the father, so go the next several generations. God took time to build Abram into a man of character. Abram immediately began adjusting his life to God’s - The moment God speaks to you is the time He wants you to respond to Him.