Living the Promises of God
Faith Service Worship Vision
There may be times when you find it difficult to reconcile God’s truth to your own opinion or worldview, God’s truth is eternal, it does not change, our understanding of the truth does change as we allow God to work in our hearts and minds. These sessions are not about opinion, they are about learning truth, the truth contained in the Bible, together we are going to focus on how we apply God’s truth, black & white in a grey world. To set godly priorities, grow in Christian character and live according to God’s standards so that we are a living witness to others. Notes from previous sessions are available from the Bible Study Section of www.ashingdonelim.co.uk.
Session 3
25 January 2011
The Promise of Reality Spiritual Sat-Nav Do you remember the day you discovered your life wasn’t going in the direction you had always thought it would? Perhaps you thought that you
would continue on the road you were on until you reached your destination. Perhaps you thought there might be a couple of bends in the road, or maybe the odd pothole; then one day you reached the junction and had to decide which way to turn. Or perhaps when you reached the junction you saw a sign that said “diversion, turn here” and you knew there was no other way to go!
Do you remember the day that did not turn out quite the way you thought it would? It happens to everyone sooner or later. All of us have had
dreams, wishes, goals, and expectations that, for a variety of reasons, have not come to fruition. Plans fizzle. Expectations come to nothing. Trusted people let us down—or we let ourselves down. Dreams shatter or slip away. Has it happened to you? Has there ever been a season in your life when you
looked at your circumstances and wondered if God really cared?
Even as Christians there are days that do not go as we expect them to go. Often small things break in to our routine or big things appear in our journey. Maybe personal illness or even death; a terrifying diagnosis, the sudden loss of a close friend or family member. Perhaps a disillusioning church experience, a financial problem, or maybe a shattered dream. Sometimes our disappointments are clearly our fault—we made a poor decision or took the wrong path. Sometimes another person’s poor decisions are to blame. Sometimes, if we are honest, it’s a little of both. And then there are the times when life just seems to suddenly fall apart with no explanation. To us it seems totally random and maybe without warning.
When you watch a movie on TV or in the cinema how can you tell when something terrible is about to happen? The movies give fair warning when
something terrible is about to happen. The camera angles shift, the music grows sinister, a shadow looms. Something tells you, “Watch out.”
Do you wish the warnings in your life happened like the movies?
Reality is different to the movies. Our lives can often change when we least expect it. There’s no warning. You can’t explain it. You can’t blame it on someone else. It just happens, another reminder that so much in life often appears to be unexplainable.
Taking the road God calls us to be on To get to where God wants you to go and be what you know God wants you to be, there are several directions we need to take that will get you help us on our journey. Let’s use our “spiritual sat-nav” for the directions to get us to our destination.
1