Philippians 4:6-9

What are areas of your life where you can release the anxiety of trying to your desires fulfilled, and instead focus on something greater than yourself? Where is there self-hate in your life? Ask God to help you love yourself so you can better love others too. Who’s approval to you need that is causing you anxiety? Ask God to remind you of His deep love and affection for you.

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1

Because I know that I am ok in Jesus, I’m not going to worry about ______, and I’m going to enjoy _______

When we suffer, we can let it make us bitter, or by the power of God he can make us better through it.

Who wronged you and you’re harboring bitterness towards, maybe like Esau did to Jacob at one time? Who have you wronged and need to reconcile with? Are you far away from God because of sin and rebellion in your life? On an even greater scale than Esau, God is eager to be reconciled with you.

In analysis, you work to turn the ghosts that haunt you into ancestors who accompany you. That takes hard work and a lot of love, but it's the way we lessen the burdens our children have to carry. - Bruce Springsteen

Problem: I don’t pray as much or connect to God unless I need something. I’ll pray and cry out to God for something, and then when I get that thing, I move on rather than thank God. I can also begin to idolize the thing that God gave me

Truth: Like with Abraham, God will test us to see if our faith genuine and authentic

Application: Because God provided Jesus for us, we are living sacrifices for Him (Romans 12:1)

Genesis 12-15

-Lie #1 People are inherently good inside.

-Truth: We are innately sinful

-Lie: This story is incompatible with the loving, gracious God of the New Testament

-Lie: We deserve God’s love

-Truth: When we realize how undeserving we are of God’s love and how just and holy He is, His love becomes amazing to us

-Lie: The Bible is full of stories about heroes who we should try to be like

-Truth: Noah’s redeeming quality was faith

First in our series on Genesis