Sunday, August 16, 2009
Todays Cellgroup Lesson.
Who am I?
Many people go through life wondering who they are, striving to find an identity and purpose, and, often times in their quest of self discovery, hurt other people along an arduous journey, or lose themselves in the fray of this bustling modern world, hapless in the tides of robotic human protocols and activities, pressures and stress.
This lesson will explore and help us form our identity in Christ so that we will have the constant knowledge of always knowing who we really are, and to bring our purposes and aims in life back to God, the true Lord of our lives.
Exodus 3:11 And Moses said unto God, who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
Oftentimes, we belittle ourselves and refuse to believe in God's higher purpose for us, that his plans for us are so great. As such, we expect little, and are afraid to step out to be the true people we are supposed to be, like how Moses initially had qualms about leading Israel out of Egypt.
We also frequently lose sight of our focus in life and forget what we're doing, leading to many senseless and thoughtless actions carried out by us. We can be lead to follow the world, and contribute to the sins in the world through such actions. This happened especially clearly when the humans were jeering at Jesus as he hung dying on the cross. Jesus said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34) The people had chosen to release a murderer instead of Jesus, who was innocent of all crimes, and condemn him to death on the cross, one of the worst types of deaths there was during those times. Clearly, they were sorely misguided in their thoughts and activities.
Worse still are the people who know clearly what they do, and choose to act against others to satisfy their own selfish desires and purposes. These people included the pharisees and teachers of the law, people who were supposed to have a close relationship with God, but instead were using their high offices and extensive influences to build and store up their own power.
But God says he created us in his image (Genesis 1:27), and that we are the Children of God (Galatians 3:26), all unique, and that he, the almighty God, would go all the way out to search for his lost children and, when they are found, bring them back into the family with joy. (Luke 15:3-7)
So, since this is who we are in Christ Jesus, we should have faith, rely on God's strength instead of our own, and go about our lives with confidence, because by ourselves, we are insufficient, but with God, all things are possible.
We should go about our lives with purpose, and to glorify God, so that we know what it is that we do in our daily actions and can keep ourselves in check.
We should be true to ourselves, and what we do, because even if others do not the things that we do, our father in heaven sees them, and he looks at our heart, and the intentions behind those actions.
So, as a child of God, what is our aim?
We need to find our way home, to be with the father whom we have strayed from since the fall of man.
How do we do this? Along the path, we'll meet with many difficulties, but we have to see past the lies of Satan, which condemns us to be conformers of the world, and ties us down.
We have to rise up and tell Satan No, I belong to God, and by His Blood I am set free, I am no longer held by the sins of this world. I cannot do it alone, but my God can. He is the creator of the world, the ruler of the heavens and I am his child, and because of him I am more than a conqueror. His grace is sufficient for me, And though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, because God is with me, his rod and his staff, they comfort me.
What must we watch out for?
Before the fall
Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
After the fall
Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sew fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
Why were they suddenly ashamed of God's work? His finest creation (themselves)?
-They were scared of facing God, till the point that even the impression of God, his works, frightened them.
- Sin had entered the world, and with it, lust.
The nature of children is such that they are easily tricked and gullible, because they are so innocent to the ways of the world.
And, because our character was not built up, because we did not know and have an experience of such things, we fell into the lies of Satan, and into sin.
Genesis 3:6 And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
Children all go gaga over bright pretty objects don't they? =)
Genesis 3:7-24 shows how Adam and Eve could only see sin, and were unable to see God, because he was too far away. In this dialogue with God, Adam and Eve are recorded to hear God speak, calling out to them while they were in hiding, but they did not see him.
- We have become so enticed by the world and it's sins that they are all we can see.
- We have moved far from God and hid from him.
- We are so distanced from the father that we can only hear him but not see him.
The first sin came about because we thought the other side was better, as naive children, we thought the grass was greener on the other side, failing to take into account the blessings we already had (The garden of Eden). And though they may be wonderful, we still chose to try to get to the other side, and fell into temptation.
So, while we are here on Earth, God builds up our character through trails and tribulations, so that we, his children, might learn and understand, and not fall into sin again.
He does it so that we might understand the world and sin and want no part in it, so that we would be able to pick ourselves up when we fall, so that we would see God's nature as a loving father and learn to rely on him, and tear our sights from the bright pretty objects, and set them instead on Him, so that we can listen to his voice, come out of hiding, and follow him back to heaven, our father's house, our home.
J! =)
Hope you guys got something out of it.
Who am I?
Many people go through life wondering who they are, striving to find an identity and purpose, and, often times in their quest of self discovery, hurt other people along an arduous journey, or lose themselves in the fray of this bustling modern world, hapless in the tides of robotic human protocols and activities, pressures and stress.
This lesson will explore and help us form our identity in Christ so that we will have the constant knowledge of always knowing who we really are, and to bring our purposes and aims in life back to God, the true Lord of our lives.
Exodus 3:11 And Moses said unto God, who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
Oftentimes, we belittle ourselves and refuse to believe in God's higher purpose for us, that his plans for us are so great. As such, we expect little, and are afraid to step out to be the true people we are supposed to be, like how Moses initially had qualms about leading Israel out of Egypt.
We also frequently lose sight of our focus in life and forget what we're doing, leading to many senseless and thoughtless actions carried out by us. We can be lead to follow the world, and contribute to the sins in the world through such actions. This happened especially clearly when the humans were jeering at Jesus as he hung dying on the cross. Jesus said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34) The people had chosen to release a murderer instead of Jesus, who was innocent of all crimes, and condemn him to death on the cross, one of the worst types of deaths there was during those times. Clearly, they were sorely misguided in their thoughts and activities.
Worse still are the people who know clearly what they do, and choose to act against others to satisfy their own selfish desires and purposes. These people included the pharisees and teachers of the law, people who were supposed to have a close relationship with God, but instead were using their high offices and extensive influences to build and store up their own power.
But God says he created us in his image (Genesis 1:27), and that we are the Children of God (Galatians 3:26), all unique, and that he, the almighty God, would go all the way out to search for his lost children and, when they are found, bring them back into the family with joy. (Luke 15:3-7)
So, since this is who we are in Christ Jesus, we should have faith, rely on God's strength instead of our own, and go about our lives with confidence, because by ourselves, we are insufficient, but with God, all things are possible.
We should go about our lives with purpose, and to glorify God, so that we know what it is that we do in our daily actions and can keep ourselves in check.
We should be true to ourselves, and what we do, because even if others do not the things that we do, our father in heaven sees them, and he looks at our heart, and the intentions behind those actions.
So, as a child of God, what is our aim?
We need to find our way home, to be with the father whom we have strayed from since the fall of man.
How do we do this? Along the path, we'll meet with many difficulties, but we have to see past the lies of Satan, which condemns us to be conformers of the world, and ties us down.
We have to rise up and tell Satan No, I belong to God, and by His Blood I am set free, I am no longer held by the sins of this world. I cannot do it alone, but my God can. He is the creator of the world, the ruler of the heavens and I am his child, and because of him I am more than a conqueror. His grace is sufficient for me, And though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, because God is with me, his rod and his staff, they comfort me.
What must we watch out for?
Before the fall
Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
After the fall
Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sew fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
Why were they suddenly ashamed of God's work? His finest creation (themselves)?
-They were scared of facing God, till the point that even the impression of God, his works, frightened them.
- Sin had entered the world, and with it, lust.
The nature of children is such that they are easily tricked and gullible, because they are so innocent to the ways of the world.
And, because our character was not built up, because we did not know and have an experience of such things, we fell into the lies of Satan, and into sin.
Genesis 3:6 And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
Children all go gaga over bright pretty objects don't they? =)
Genesis 3:7-24 shows how Adam and Eve could only see sin, and were unable to see God, because he was too far away. In this dialogue with God, Adam and Eve are recorded to hear God speak, calling out to them while they were in hiding, but they did not see him.
- We have become so enticed by the world and it's sins that they are all we can see.
- We have moved far from God and hid from him.
- We are so distanced from the father that we can only hear him but not see him.
The first sin came about because we thought the other side was better, as naive children, we thought the grass was greener on the other side, failing to take into account the blessings we already had (The garden of Eden). And though they may be wonderful, we still chose to try to get to the other side, and fell into temptation.
So, while we are here on Earth, God builds up our character through trails and tribulations, so that we, his children, might learn and understand, and not fall into sin again.
He does it so that we might understand the world and sin and want no part in it, so that we would be able to pick ourselves up when we fall, so that we would see God's nature as a loving father and learn to rely on him, and tear our sights from the bright pretty objects, and set them instead on Him, so that we can listen to his voice, come out of hiding, and follow him back to heaven, our father's house, our home.
J! =)
Hope you guys got something out of it.
what we could have been, 6:44 AM.
