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The Bible was written by various Authors over Thousands of years.

Yet all of them Inspired by the Holy Spirit, all of them Testifying to the same Truth of the only true and Living God.

The Good News is that God wants us to Connect with Him.

God wants us to Grow in Christ-likeness.

God wants us to Know what he Says, and has Done, and will Do.

It is impossible for us to grow as believers, without the Consistent and Regular times of Opening and Studying God’s Word.

Connecting with God Through His Word:

1. Begins with the Right Attitude.

4 competing authorities in the world:

a. Culture.

Culture is the “Everybody does it” mentality.

b. Tradition.

Tradition is the “We have always done it that way” mentality.

c. Rationalisation.

Rationalisation is the “I always though” mentality.

d. Feelings.

This is the “How can it be wrong when it feels so right” mentality.

God’s Word needs to be the Authority in the lives of Believers.

1. Life Can Be Unfair.

Ecclesiastes identifies at least 5 ways life can be really Unfair.

a. Crime sometimes Pays.

b. The Powerful Mistreat the less fortunate.

c. Some Politicians are Unethical.

d. Dishonest people seem to Get Ahead.

e. Gifts and Abilities do Not guarantee Success.

2. Why does God Allow life to Sometimes be Unfair?

a. Because God made us with the Ability to Choose.

Where there is Freedom to Obey,

there is also Freedom to Disobey.

b. Because there is Still the Rest of the Story.

God will judge everyone, both the wicked and the good.

c. Because Hard Times can Develop Character.

We can learn something and grow through it.

d. Because God wants to Show us we Need a Saviour.

Everyone has sinned at one time or another in life.

Unjust people make up an unjust world.

3. How should we Respond when Life is Unfair?

a. Accept that Life can be Unfair.

b. We need to have a Long Term Perspective.

i). Realise that Character still Matters.

ii). Have an Eternal Viewpoint.

Having an eternal viewpoint means:

i). We will Realise and Admit our own Injustices.

ii). We will let God Settle the Score.

How can we live our lives so they really count?

1. Realise that God has a Purpose for both the Good and the Bad Times of my Life.

Scripture tells us if God is the Centre of our lives, then even the

Mundane and Routine parts of life are Important.

2. When I Embrace Faith in the Confusing Times of my life.

Only when we learn to Trust God when we don’t understand everything that’s Happening can begin to live life like it Counts.

3. When I Use the Present Time to do Good.

God’s desire is for us to make Proper Use of this life.

4. Cherish all my Time as God’s Gift.

The Time we have is a Gift from the hand of God.

Cherish your time as a Gift from God.

5. When we Recognise we will have to Account for our Time.

We are Responsible for what we do with our time and our life.

Time is a most Precious commodity, more Important than Money.

There are 4 questions we can ask ourselves every day to help us:

1. What can I Learn from this moment?

2. What Good can I Do in this moment?

3. How can I Enjoy this moment?

4. How can I Trust God in this moment?

There is just one, basic message, that needs to be proclaimed:

It is in 4 simple words: You Matter To God.

God so Loved the World that he Gave.

1. Let me encourage you to Unwrap God’s Gift of Joy.

Don’t be Afraid.

There is Good News and Great Joy.

2. Let me encourage you to Unwrap God’s Gift of Hope.

Our greatest need as human beings is to be Forgiven.

That’s why God sent us a Saviour and Lord.

We need both in our lives:

A Saviour - Someone who can deal with our Guilt.

A Lord - Someone who can give us Direction.

There are 3 reasons we need a Saviour:

a. We need Forgiveness from the Past.

b. We need Freedom from our personal Problems and Struggles that mess up the Present.

c. We need Fulfillment in Eternity.

3. Let me encourage you to Unwrap God’s Gift of Peace.

Peace with God, gives us the Peace of God, which allows us to have Peace in our Relationships with others.

Does my Life Matter?

1. When we are Unsure our Life Matters.

What happens to us?

a. Life seems Not to make Sense.

b. Life seems to be Boring.

c. Life seems Unsatisfying.

d. Life seems Insignificant.

e. Life seems Out of Control.

2. How can we Really Know that our Life Really Matters?

God has told us what the purpose of life is.

We were Made to be Loved by God.

3. So how should we Prepare for this Eternity that we are Designed for?

When we realise that our life really does matter we will:

a.. Get to Know God.

How do we Establish a Relationship with God?

i. Commit our lives to his Forgiveness & Leadership.

ii. Build a Relationship with God.

b. Become More Like Jesus.

c. Practise Serving.

d. We will Share Life’s Purpose with Others.

It’s the message of Resurrection that makes Christianity different from every other religion in the world.

God’s invitation to you to have a changed life.

The Resurrection means I :

1. Open My Mind to God’s Power.

We need to open our mind to the possibility that God has power we don’t.

Power that can transform our lives!

The truth of Easter is that our lives can be different and new.

2. Open My Heart to God’s Grace.

Grace = God gives us what we need instead of what we deserve.

God knows everything about us and He still loves us and was willing to go to the cross in our place.

We can never earn it or deserve it.

3. Open My Life to God’s Love.

No one can ever love us more than God.

Until we understand that we were made by God and created to have a relationship with Him, life doesn’t make sense.

God’s grace helps us to live and to keep going.

God’s love gives us the power to change and to be different.

Today you can…discover the truth about Jesus !

No generation in human history has experienced more constant change than our generation.

How does God work at changing us?

1. He Produces Discontent.

God will highlight our discontent by bringing us to a crucial junction.

God “stirs up our nest” so we’ll listen to Him and turn to Him.

2. He Brings Us to a Place of Decision.

At this stage, we have to decide if we’re going to move ahead and deal with our need to change.

3. He Causes Us to Seek Him.

When we understand that there’s something better available for our lives through change, then we gain a new perspective.

We cannot change until we change the way we think.

We have the incredible capacity to lie to ourselves.

We need to seek God and let Him start changing the way we think.

How do we know the truth? By applying God’s Word.

4. He Begins to Transform Our Conduct.

This is what repentance is…acting on what is right.

5. He Challenges Us to Keep Going.

We never “arrive” in this life.

Change requires more than desire…it takes discipline and commitment.

An important part of our spiritual life is perseverance.

Some biblical principles that can help us respond to tragedy God’s way.

1. Remember that this is not Heaven.

Bible is brutally honest about this.

Many go through life with Two mistaken ideas:

A. The good things that happen to me prove to me I’m good, and

B. The bad things that happen to me prove I’m bad.

God gives everyone the ability to make choices.

2. Be Real About How We Feel.

Tragedy always creates strong emotions.

We need to release our feelings to God.

3. Accept Help.

When a crisis comes, who’s going to hold you up without God

and any meaningful relationships?

4. Refuse to be Bitter.

Some people have no happiness: they live & die with bitter hearts.

Bitterness = self-inflicted wound.

How do we keep from being bitter?

A. Accept what we cannot change.

Faith is facing the facts of life and not getting discouraged.

B. Focus on what we have.

God’s will for us in a crisis is to express gratitude.

5. Remember What Matters.

Tragedy has a way of clarifying values.

The only security in life, is to build it on something that can never be taken from us.

What’s the most difficult command in the Bible to follow? Phil 4:6.

An average person’s worry is: 40% are things that will never happen, 30% are things about the past that can’t be changed, 12% are things about criticism by others (much of which is untrue), 10% are things about health, 8% are real problems that will be faced!

Eng. root word: “to choke, to strangle”. Gk. word: “a divided mind”.

1. What is the Truth about Worry?

A. Worry is not logical.

It can be an unreasonable obsession with unimportant things.

B. Worry is not normal.

We have learned how to worry (and we can unlearn it!)

C. Worry is useless.

It is “stewing without doing”.

D. Worry indicates a lack of understanding about God’s character.

2. What is the Truth about Overcoming Worry?

God’s solution to the problem with worry we all struggle with?

A. Have the right life priority.

Worry is a warning light of mixed-up values & confused priorities.

B. Focus on each day.

“Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!”

God’s provision is daily.

C. Rely on God.

Worry and trust cannot live within the same heart.

God’s peace: “stands as a sentry” – “God’s ‘protective custody’ of those who are in Christ Jesus extends to the core of their beings.

Peace or worry?

What we experience in our life becomes a spiritual question.

Who are we trusting in and relying on?