God is Great- so we don't have to be in control.
God's greatness is a central part of what we know to be true about him.
Psalm 145:3
3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.
No one can even understand or measure how Great God is.
In the Story, where do we see that God is great? How does he show his greatness?
- the only one who does what is good, right and perfect
# Provides for needs before they arise
# Creates all
# Has authority over all
His Greatness is Amazing! Yet it's also amazing how little it takes to make us doubt.
Funny personal example: Someone waits through a green light when I'm 2 minutes late to work.
Dialogue: What areas of your life do you find yourself wanting to control?? (everything, finances, future, time, impressions, friends)
Think to yourself: What do you obsess over? What things do people do that drive you nuts? What do you fear? What makes you anxious?
Dialogue: What kind of fruit does this produce??
(anxiety, stress, impatience, fear, worry)
You may say, "I believe God is in control." Is there fruit? Fruit that can bless others?
We become : overbearing, inflexible, micromanagers, manipulative
Not Letting God be King-- and reign in our lives
Don't fall to the temptation of wanting to be God
Think of Genesis: Eve & Serpent… “God knows that when you eat of the fruit, you will be like God, knowing good & evil”
Who was in control in this story? (wait for crowd response)
God was. He set the rules. He is Omnipotent.
Adam & Eve are attempting to be in control of their environment… They are disobedient … They realize they didn’t have control
If you don’t trust God’s control, you will find yourself trying to take control of everything!
Dialogue: If behind every sin is a lie we're believing about God, what is the lie we're believing in this case?
We see it all throughout the story
Abraham calling Sarah his "sister" instead of his wife--
10 out of 12 Spies said, "We can't take the land." - The land that God had promised to give them.
Sarah laughed when God said she would become pregnant.
Jacob's story-- stole the birthright, deceived his way into getting the blessing, and then had to flee for his life. All trying to be God.
But how many times a day do we see it in our own lives...
“You’re great, but not great enough for this one…you need a little bit of my help God.”
We must learn to rest in the fact that God is in control!
To work in the rest of God… what is your heart’s posture… to rest knowing He’s doing the work, and we’re just putting our hands to it…
Jesus modeled this… The perfect example of God’s Greatness
Luke 12:22-31
Who of you, by worrying, can add even 1 hour to his life… Oh you of little faith… Don’t worry
1 Cor 3:5-9
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
The reason we worry & try to take control is because we do not truly believe (in our heart) that God is Great
Again, we may know it in our head, but not truly believe it in our hearts…
But we must have ears to hear what our hearts are telling us!
When you're stressed, anxious, worrisome, doubtful, impatient, etc--
Who are you believing is great in that moment?
Dialogue: So what do you do when you realize that you're not believing God is great?
(repent and confess faith)
We WALK by FAITH… faith is not mental assent… it is methodical, slow, pacing walk… “God, right now I’m not believing you are great… I’m going to take a step of faith and choose to believe in my heart that you are great!”
Slow, methodical, back and forth of faith. Step-by-step, moment-by-moment during the day, we have the chance to walk by faith.
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