The 4 G's: God is Good

Recap from last week
• Head, Heart and Hands
• Behind every sin is a lie about God
• God is great – so I don’t have to be in control

God is Good (outline)
I. I Need…
a. What needs do all humans have?
b. Why did God give us needs?
i. To reveal his character (good)

ii. So that we would look to him to provide

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of heavenly lights” James 1:17

I Tim 6:17 “17Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

Do you believe that everything good you have comes from God? Even the air you breathe? Does it create in us a posture of thankfulness? Every meal, every sip of water, every breath, is an opportunity to remember that God is good.

iii. To remind us of our need for him

“Ask and it will be given to you. Mt.7:7”
“You do not have because you do not ask God” James 4:2

iv. Our physical needs are signposts to a deeper spiritual need. Let’s read a story that illustrates this truth for us.

II. Samaritan woman (John 4)
a. Read story
b. Questions
i. Where was this woman going to for satisfaction? What was she looking for?
ii. What was the result?
iii. Where did Jesus point her to? (to himself, to worship the true God)
iv. What does this teach us about God? (That he gives true satisfaction through Jesus) Jesus is the ultimate demonstration of God’s goodness. We have a need. God satisfies it.
v. (God’s Spirit)

III. God is Good, so we don’t need to look elsewhere for satisfaction.
a. Idolatry is when we turn a good thing into an ultimate thing

1st Commandment: “Do not have any other God’s before me…You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” Ex. 20:3, 5. (Same Slide)

i. Sin arises when we desire something else more than we desire God.
ii. In our hearts we worship what we desire rather than worshiping God
iii. God is good VS What I desire is bigger and better than God, I believe it offers more than God offers
iv. What is your “if only” statement? If only… I would be happy. Again, not all desires are bad, but when we turn a good thing into an ultimate thing, it becomes sin.

What are some things we look to for satisfaction instead of believing that God is good, going to him and trusting his provision?

What is the result?

Why do we keep going back to those things?

What would our lives look like if we truly believed that God is good, so we don’t have to look elsewhere for satisfaction?


God desired so much to be our satisfaction that Jesus sacrificed himself so that we could be brought near to God, and sent his very Spirit to live in us. Jesus Christ himself lives in us through his spirit. What else do we need?

IV. God is good, but he is not a divine waiter…
a. True needs vs perceived needs (you do not receive because you do not ask rightly)
b. If I do not have this, God is not good. If this happens, God is not good…
i. “God is not the key to the good life, he IS the good life… God must be desired for his own sake, not as the secret of worldly success.” – Tim Chester
1. Jesus says: I am the way the truth and the life.
2. Jesus says: I have come to give life, abundantly
ii. Paul
2 Cor. 11:23-29 "23Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?"

If we look in the following chapter, Paul continues on saying that in order that he wouldn't begin to think too highly of himself for persevering through all these trials, God gave him "a messenger from Satan"and, though Paul asked, God would not take it away. God's response was: 9"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." [And Paul Says] “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.”

God's goodness was not dependent on his willingness to alleviate Paul's suffering, but was proved in his grace and his provision of strength to enable Paul to persevere. God did not offer Paul a comfortable life; he offered him Himself.

iii. “God always seeks the best for his people, and that best is himself. Famine, thirst, plagues and conflict are acts of divine love when their aim is to bring us back to God.”
1. Come to me, all who are weary, and I will give you rest.
2. I am the bread of life, the living water
Do you really believe that God Himself is Good? That He alone can truly satisfy the deepest longings of your soul?
Can you say with the psalmist, “As the dear pants for water, so my soul longs after you, Oh, Lord.”

Are you drinking out of the toilet or out of the spring of living water?


V. God created us with needs so that we would look to him to fulfill them and so that he can show his goodness by satisfying those needs. His creation is a part of that provision, and he gives us good gifts to satisfy those needs. But ultimately, those physical needs and provision point us to our deeper need for God himself. Do you believe that God is good? That he has given you everything you need for life and godliness, as his word says? Or are you believing that his provision is not enough? That if you only had that boyfriend, that drug, that new TV, that perfect family, that prestigious job, you would be satisfied?

What do you habitually go to in your life for satisfaction? Where is my discontent showing my lack of belief in the goodness of God?

How do we change? I begin by confessing to God that I have not believed that he is good, but have believed that something else is better than he is and that he has not provided what I need.

Repent in your heart and remind yourself that God is good. When that puff of marijuana is calling, when you are tempted to relieve your heartache through food, sex, money or alcohol, talk to yourself. Tell yourself that God is good, and that you don’t have to look elsewhere for satisfaction. And then do it! Go to him. And the more you do, the more you will be satisfied in him.

Change is about enjoying the freedom from sin and delight in God that God gives to us through Jesus.

The 4 G's: God is Glorious

1. God is Glorious: So we don’t have to fear others
(-)
What is Glory? (CROWD)
- The way something or someone truly is
- The source,
- The ultimate reality
- Jesus is the “glory” of God
- To Give glory to God is to say what’s true & ultimate reality about God
- To live for his glory…
- To manifest the hidden nature of something

In Hebrew Glory = “Weight, heaviness”

We sin because we crave the approval of people or fear their rejection

We see their glory as more glorious than God…
Their opinion weighs more than God’s…
They matter more than God does to us…
(We don’t see ourselves thinking this way, but we do…all the time)

We “Need” the acceptance of others

When we do that, we’re controlled by them…

The Bible’s term for this is ‘fear of man’.
(-)
Proverbs 21:39… the fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
(-)
Where do we see this fear of man showing up in the Story of God?
- Adam & Eve
- Abraham (wife/sister)
- Moses
- Leah (never got the love of Jacob… so tried to through baring him children… listen to their names: Reuben “Now my husband will love me,” Simeon “Because God has heard I’m hated, he’s given me another,” Levi “THIS Time my husband will become attached to me,” and finally Judah “Now I will praise God.”

(-)
What does the fear of man look like? (CROWD) (What do our actions look like when we need approval or fear rejection?)
- ‘Needing’ something from others
- Make fun of others?
- Working for approval? …or not working…? Lol!
- Hiding weaknesses
- Internalizing conflict
- Won’t or will say things for approval
- Build ministries for approval
- Susceptibility to peer pressure
(-)
What has the “fear of man” produced in your life? Heart?
- Self-hatred
- Self-doubt
- Disingenuous
- Pride
- Bitterness
- Inactivity
- Emotional Fluctuation (how they see me affects me & controls me) but our ID is supposed to be rooted in Christ
- Double-mindedness
- Needing More
- Over-committed
- Fear of exposure
- Embarrassment
- Lies & exaggerations to make self look good
- Comparisons to others
- People make us jealous, anxious, angry… control our emotions
- Resentment
- Withholding
- Avoid confrontation
- Craving approval
- Behave differently around certain people

Who or What do you look to for approval?
They are who’s most glorious in our lives.
- When we need approval, we have to keep feeding it…it’s cyclical
- Regardless of how much we do, we’ll still feel unrest
- Often, If we feel accepted or approved, we’ll move on to someone else to get more approval
- Frustration with relationships because they cannot provide what we “need.”

These are ALL results of not TRULY believing in our hearts that God is Glorious!

-SELF ESTEEM-
So what do we do? What does our culture tell us to do?
(-)
We try to overcome this by building more self-esteem… but we become dependant on people or things to boost our self-esteem…like a drug

Or we use the language of ‘need’.
We elevate good desires (for love, affirmation, respect) to needs without which we think we cannot be whole.
We talk about ‘needing’ the approval or acceptance of other people. But our true need is to glorify God and love other people.

We need to see the Glorious One as the Glorious One

Everything (including healing) starts with God, not us

(Putting yourself in the center…boosting your self-esteem only increases the addiction to our false gods)

We need to get our identity from God, not man!

EXP: We see this right…

The girl who gets her identity from that guy or that relationship… so she does anything (including putting up with abuse/neglect) she can to keep it going… we call this co-dependence in our culture

Or the son desperately seeking his father’s approval
Or the girl who’s emotions are governed by the guy in her life…

The teenager who gives in to peer pressure…

You can even fall into the trap of believing God is not glorious in the name of religion! …

[Anchor Gaslamp “Seeker Sensitive” Example… started with culture instead of the Gospel… Didn’t teach on things like giving – we didn’t want it to be a stumbling block to Christ…”

Imagine if Jesus ministry was shaped like that…shaped by the fear of man
- He Would have never told people to leave their lives and sacrifice all to follow him
- He wouldn’t have gone into the temple kicking over tables
- He wouldn’t have had that pivotal moment when He said “I am the bread of Heaven…” “…Will you leave also…”]

How do we get free from this cycle?
(-)
The answer to the ‘fear of man’ is the Fear of God.

To fear God is to respect, worship, trust and submit to God.

We need to grow our vision & view of God!
(This is why praise is so powerful… It reminds us of how Amazing God is…)

To fear God is to respect, worship, trust and submit to God.
It is the proper response to his glory, holiness, power, love, goodness and wrath.

Fear of God displaces the fear of man

Isa 40:25 - "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

Ps. 27:1 – The Lord is my light… Who shall I fear?

Whoever/ whatever it is that we fear… imagine them, then next to them imagine the Glorious God… how does that compare? Can they lay down their life, pick it up again & hand it to you? Can they form the universe?

Why do we keep putting others before God? (CROWD?)
- Our belief has slipped
- Not finding our ID in Christ
- Not TRULY believing God is Glorious in our hearts
- We must remember how Glorious our God is!

[[Do you realize how much of an offense that is to God (to stand next to anyone/anything and say “yeah…that’s more glorious than you God”) we need to start by admitting we realize how off we are, and repent… repent by focusing on God’s glory and asking him to give you a vision of Him that’s greater than anything else. It’s a form of idolatry…
- I’m only nice to you for your approval… means I’m using you…it’s sick.
- I don’t need their approval, so I treat others like crap…]]

So we shouldn’t strive in any relationships w/ man or God.
We have our ID through Christ, so we walk in love without need of approval… we don’t work ourselves to death because God has already approved us!
(-)
Do you believe that the most glorious being in the universe is pleased w/ you because of what Christ did???

My joy is not affected by people or circumstances, but it is SECURE in Christ…
(-)
If this is true, (that God is Ultimate Glory), how would that affect your heart?
- Giving
- Hospitality
- Loving freely
- Stable people…not double-minded or tossed about
- Authentic
- Interested in each other
- Easier to give God glory
How would it affect our community?
How would it affect our city?

The 4 G's: God is Great

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.

The 4 G's: Intro

The 4 G’s Intro

How many of you can admit that you need God?
How many of you understand that Christ is always calling you to go a little higher, learn a little more, and change to be more like him?

That’s the beauty of Jesus (he accepted everyone as they were, but He never left them that way… he was always calling them to change!

Let’s lay the foundation here…

(-)
Dialogue… “What does it mean to “believe?” - To understand something, agree with it & put it into action… to trust… to call something truth.

Belief is something that occurs in the heart… the real you…

The Heart is the “Seat of Emotions” in scripture

[Exp: Different cultures use different body parts to describe the same thing… eyes, kidneys, & bowels…]

Why do we do the things we do?
Where do evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, greed, hatred all come from?
Jesus gives us the answer:…
(-)
“For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean’.” (Mark 7:21-23)

From within. Out of men’s hearts. From inside.

According to the Bible, the source of all human behavior and emotions is the heart.
(-)
The root cause of my behavior is always, always my heart.

What WE see is behavior and emotions, and it is easy to focus on changing behavior and emotions. (That’s what 99% of the self-help books out there propagate… “fix this action…heal this emotion”)

But lasting change is only achieved by tackling the source of our emotions, words and behaviors: – the heart.
(-)
Jesus says it this way:
No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from brierpatches. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:43-45)

Our Actions and Words and Emotions flow from our hearts!

A lot of people like to blame other people or circumstances for their behavior…

The truth is: Our struggles and temptations often trigger sin, but they do not cause our sin.

The root cause is always my heart and its desires.

WE choose how we respond to circumstances…
What determines those choices are the thinking and desires of our hearts.

Most people do not see it this way though...
Think of the last time you were angry.
What made you angry?
We normally point to external factors:
- “They didn’t treat me with respect.”
- “Someone smashed my car.”
- “They never see it my way.”

But James says what causes fights and quarrels are the desires that battle within (James 4:1-2).
External pressures always impact our behavior via our hearts.
We cannot blame our circumstances.
(-)
When tempted, no-one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. (James 1:13-15)

So don’t blame God for your failures.
Don’t blame your parents or your past.
Don’t blame people or circumstances.
Our struggle is one that takes place HERE…in our hearts…

Our background can SHAPE our sinful responses, but the root is in our hearts…
- This guys may fly off the handle and start stomping his foot…
- This girl might choose the silent treatment and withdraw
- The expression of the anger may differ by upbringing
- BUT both rage and silence are anger and the root cause of that anger lies in our hearts.

Example: Me - If you saw me studying in the morning at, reading my Bible or praying, you might think I’m a godly man! Wait till I’m walking to work and some guy in a car almost hits me, or my boss is having a bad day and treats me badly… You’ll see someone who is far from godly.

I used to think of myself as the calm, prayerful man of the mornings, but I have come to realize the REAL me is the one a bit later on in the day… the person revealed when the sinful desires of my heart are exposed by frustrating circumstances and annoying people. The real me is revealed when I am too tired to keep up the pretence.


As we said before, the ‘heart’ in the Bible means more than the organ that pumps blood round the body. It refers to the inner person or my essential self.
(-)
The Heart includes your mind, will & emotions [this is why gospelling the heart is so powerful… we generally address people’s orthopraxy (their practices…they way they speak and live) & orthodoxy (their beliefs… what theology and doctrines they affirm)… not their heart-orthopathy]

Rom. 10:10 – Belief is something that occurs within all you are… (not just your mind)

If I look at some of the things that come out of my heart I must acknowledge that I am (in those things) an unbeliever…

We act upon what we truly believe…

“I believe God is in control!”

Really??? Do you have Fear in your heart? Anxiety? Then do you really believe God is in control?

In truth, Christian Spirituality is related to every point in your life. It’s impossible to separate our priorities in life from our faith. How we spend our time reveals what truth (or what lies) we believe within our hearts. We may try to divorce our faith from our finances, but God sees them as inseparable.

(-)
The process of closing the gap between what you know in your head & believe in your heart is called sanctification… Becoming holistically Christ-centered & gospel-centered

In other words, if you want to become more like Christ, you need to start allowing your heart to be changed deeply by truth so that it flows outward into your life!


The root of all our behavior and emotions is the heart – what it trusts and what it treasures.

Humanity’s problem is futile thinking, darkened understanding and ignorant hearts (Ephesians 4:17-19).

People are given over to sinful desires because ‘they exchanged the truth of God for a lie’ (Romans 1:24-25).

We sin because we believe the lie that we are better off without God
- that His rule is oppressive,
- that we will be free without Him,
- that sin offers more than God provides.

This is true of every sin and every negative emotion.
(-)
Behind every sin is a lie about God

Not many people think of themselves as someone who believes lies!

But every time we do not trust God or his word we are believing something else – and that something is always a lie.

If I get angry when I get passed over for a promotion I feel I deserved it is because I do not trust God. I believe the lie that God is not in control or that his purposes for me are not good.

If I overwork it is because I don’t trust God, perhaps because I believe the lie that I need to prove or justify myself.

Whenever we are depressed or bitter, it is because we believe God is not being good to us or that he is not in control.
(-)
“Everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23).

This is a radical view of sin.

It means many of our negative emotions are symptoms of unbelief – the greatest sin and the root sin.

As Christians, many of us don’t think of ourselves as unbelievers…

But when our lives don’t match our beliefs, we are unbelievers in those areas (not in the sense that we are bound for hell, but in the sense that there are areas of our lives that are still being brought under the rule & reign of King Jesus)

The truth shall set you free

Recognizing that behind every sin is a lie not only gives us a radical view of sin, it points us to the road out of sinful behavior and emotions: That road is trust in God.

Behind every external thing that comes out of your hands & heart is a lie about God you are believing in your heart.

Lust? I’m believing God’s plan is not good enough… That God is not Good enough… I’m even believing I’m more important than you… I lift myself up above God and the rest of His creation…

When we try to stop sinning we aim for working on our behavior… we need to work on our beliefs

We try to control sin by controlling behavior
(-)
“Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (John 8:31-32)

Just as lies about God lead to the slavery of sin, so the truth about God leads to freedom (Galatians 5:1, 13).

The truth that sets us free is the gospel (“if you hold to my teaching”).

Freedom is found in accepting that God is in control of our lives, that he is gracious and that he forgives those who come to him in faith (Titus 2:11-12).

Ask yourself this… “What evidence is there in my life that I’m not believing the gospel at a heart level?”

We all need to become preachers.

We need to learn to preach to our own hearts.
(-)
The Psalmist says: “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

But to whom is he speaking? The answer is to himself… His innermost self
(-)
When we find ourselves tempted to sinful behavior or when we find our emotions are getting the better of us, we need to speak truth to ourselves.

You do not have to be able to analyze your heart in detail.

It’s the truth of the gospel that brings change.

But it helps if you can identify the specific lies behind your sin and the corresponding truths that will set you free

In this series we want to identify four life-changing truths about God that affect all of our actions and words and emotions in life. If you can allow these truths to become deeply rooted within your heart, and learn to apply them to the many circumstances you face everyday you will be changed.:
(-)
4 Truths about God

God is Great – So we don’t have to be in control.
God is Glorious – So we don’t have to fear others.
God is Good - So we don’t have to look elsewhere for satisfaction.
God is Gracious - So we don’t have to prove ourselves.