Wednesday, January 19, 2011

DISCOVERY - GAME PLAN Part 2 Extended Notes


INTRO:
Almost everything you need to know about who you are and why you’re here is summed in about five sentences that appear in three verses contained in a letter Paul wrote to a church in a place called Ephesus…

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NLT), God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.


Three Facts About You:

1. You were designed by God. You are God’s masterpiece.

You are not an accident… You are not an afterthought… You are a piece of work by God…

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) says, “For we are God’s masterpiece…”

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) says, “For we are His workmanship…”

The word “masterpiece” or “workmanship” is the Greek word poiema… It sort of sounds like our English word, “poem.” A literal translation of Ephesians 2:10 could read, “We are God’s poem…”

But the word “masterpiece” means more than poem; it can refer to any work of art… It can refer to a statue, painting, song or piece of architecture… The word refers to artistic skill or craftsmanship…

R. Kent Hughes says the best translation of Ephesians 2:10 is the translation by Bible Scholar, F.F. Bruce when Bruce writes: “[We are God’s] work of art, His masterpiece…”


THOUGHTS:
You are a piece of work designed by God. Think about this…

God is CREATOR… Nothing exists apart from Him! He brought everything in the universe into existence…


Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God. 
 The skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

The stars, the galaxies, the skies, the universe are the work of God’s hands, but as wonderful as the cosmos is, it’s not God’s masterpiece…

Every baby is a masterpiece… According to Genesis 1:26-27, we were “…created by God and in the image of God…”

If you want a glimpse of the majesty, power and greatness of God just think about the complexity of the human body…


Check out the following facts from Dr. Richard Swenson’s book, More Than Meets The Eye:

The human body is composed of ten thousand trillion atoms – a number greater than the number of stars in our universe. In each person, more than a trillion of these atoms are replaced every one-millionth of a second.

Each human cell is made up of a trillion atoms. The body contains between 10 and 100 trillion cells. We tear down and rebuild over a trillion cells every day.

During a lifetime, the heart beats over two billion times and pumps sixty million gallons of blood through sixty thousand miles of blood vessels. We each manufacture over two million red blood cells every second. Laid side by side, our red blood cells would stretch over 100 thousand miles.

We breathe 600 million times over an average life span, with every breath containing over a billion trillion air molecules.

The retina of the human eye contains over 100 million rods and cones. The rods provide you with dim vision, night vision and peripheral vision. The cones are for color and detail. These rods and cones take continuous pictures under light conditions that can vary by a factor of ten billion.

Each eye has one million nerve fibers that electrically connect the photoreceptors in your retina to the visual cortex in your brain and allow your brain to "see" in images.

Get this: in one-third of a second, the retina solves the equivalent of nonlinear differential equations that would take a supercomputer 100 years to solve.

Not only that, but the human ear has a million moving parts, can vibrate twenty thousand times per second, can hear sounds over a range of intensity that varies by a trillion, and can distinguish among two thousand different pitches.

The human nose can distinguish ten thousand different smells, including some chemicals present in only 1 part to 400 million parts air. We have nine thousand taste buds in our mouths and over four hundred touch cells per square inch of skin.

Our three-pound brain is the most complex arrangement of matter ever discovered in the universe. It contains ten billion neurons (possibly ten times as many) and has 100 trillion neurological interconnections… The brain fires at a rate of a thousand trillion computations per second and can hold information equivalent to that contained in twenty-five million books.

Each of us carry around a mental videotape containing three trillion pictures. We are the only species with the gift of language and are capable of thinking at a rate of 800 words per minute…

Billion of skin cells are replaced every day and the entire epidermis is replaced every couple of weeks. We each have five million hair follicles on our bodies and, in a lifetime, grow over two million feet of hair on our scalp… There are some notable exceptions to this rule…

The adult human has over 200 bones that are as strong as granite in compression and twenty-five times stronger under tension. The femur is stronger than reinforced concrete, must bear an average of 1,200 pounds of pressure per square inch with every step, and is capable of supporting a force of six tons before it fractures.



I think St. Augustine was right:

“Men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the season, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.”


IMPORTANT THOUGHTS: But as amazing and magnificent as human beings may be, Paul is talking about a lot more than the complexity, symmetry and design of the human body when he says, “We are God’s masterpiece… We are God’s workmanship…”

He’s reminding us that the ultimate masterpiece and workmanship of God was revealed when God took people like you and me who were dead in our trespasses and sin… That’s the truth of Ephesians 2:1…

Before Christ (BC) we were physically alive, but we were not spiritually SICK, we were spiritually DEAD... We were basically animated corpses or spiritual zombies…

However, TWO WORDS that show up in Ephesians 2:4 changed EVERYTHING!


Ephesians 2:4-5 ((NLT), But God…

But God… When we were still DEAD in our transgressions and sins…

But God… When we were still dominated by the world system, our own fleshly appetites, and even the devil…

But God… When we were completely and utterly hopeless… When we were the objects of God’s wrath… Sentenced to die and deserving of judgment…

BUT GOD… Loved this fallen race of rebels and failures so much, that He came into this world where he was tempted by Satan, yet never sin – either by nature or by choice…

But God… Willingly sent His own son to die the death we deserved to die and pay the penalty for sin we deserved to pay, so that through his death, burial and resurrection He would secure our victory over sin, Satan, the world, the flesh and the devil…

Ephesians 2:4-5 ((NLT), But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)


The masterpiece Paul is specifically speaking of in Ephesians 2:10 includes a lot more than the marvel that is YOU — humanly speaking… The masterpiece Paul is referring to is YOU MADE ALIVE through the work of the cross and the power and reality of Jesus’ resurrection!


Get this: you were planned by God before you were ever born!

Psalm 139:13-16 (NLT), You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body 
and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! 
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, 
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born. 
Every day of my life was recorded in your book. 
Every moment was laid out 
before a single day had passed.

The NIV reads like this:

Psalm 139:16 (NIV 2010), Your eyes saw my unformed body. 
All the days ordained for me 
were written in your book 
before one of them came to be.


THE POINT: “God created every aspect of your personhood… He administrated every choice of your hardwiring… He determined how tall you would be, whether you would tend to gain weight, the color of your eyes, the texture of your hair, the shape of your nose, the size of your hands, the tone of your voice, your innate personality, your natural gifts, the tone of your skin, your degree of physicality or athleticism, and whether you are mechanical, analytical, relational [or highly creative]… You didn’t CHOOSE any of those things…” ~ Paul Tripp, What Did You Expect?


Author Eric Rees is right: “You were not created to conform… You were not created to compare…. You were not created to compete… You were not created to compromise… You were created to contribute to God’s kingdom and make a significant difference and impact with your life… You were created to just be you!” ~ Eric Rees, SHAPE: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life


Isaiah 64:8 (ESV), But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.


Three Questions That Help Us Discover The Game Plan God Has For Our Lives:

• What am I gifted to do?

Spiritual Gifts are “a set of God-given, special abilities that God gives you so that you can glorify Him, share His love and serve others…”


1 Corinthians 12:7 (NLT), A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.

1 Peter 4:10 (NLT), God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

Romans 12:6-8 (NLT), In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.


An Abbreviated List of Abilities:
accounting
agriculture
athletic ability
artistic ability
architecture
administration
baking
barbering
boat-making
carpentry
computers
cooking
creativity
dance
debate
design
embroidery
engineering
engraving
farming
fishing
gardening
graphic design
horticulture
hospitality
inventing
leadership
machinist
making money
management
managing money
masonry
math
mechanical ability
molding
musical ability
organization
painting
philosophy
poetic ability
sailing
selling
serving
sewing
songwriting
tailoring
teaching
technical ability
tent making
website design
writing literature



• What do I absolutely love to do? What am I passionate about?

Heart or passion refers to “the empathy, excitement, attraction or draw you feel towards a group of people, a field of expertise or a particular type of service.”


THOUGHTS: Heart / Passion is the motivation you have to give yourself to an idea, a cause, or a person. It’s a burden you carry. It’s a calling you’ve received, a dream you have or a vision you’ve glimpsed.

When we talk about “heart” and passion we’re talking about the things you care about and the things you love to do. We’re talking about the motivations and emotions that make you, “you.”


QUESTION: What are you passionate about? What do you love to do?


Philippians 2:13 (NLT), For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Colossians 3:23 (GN), Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people.


• How can I leverage the experiences in my past to glorify God, share His love and serve others?

God wants to use your experiences…

Educational experiences: What were your favorite subjects in school?

Vocational experiences: What jobs have you really enjoyed?

Spiritual experiences: What have been your most meaningful times with God?

Ministry experiences: How have you served in the past?

Painful experiences: How has God helped you with your problems, trials and hurts?

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NLT), All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.


2. Your life is a gift. Every moment has been marked by grace.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NLT), God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 (NLT), The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! 8 Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you…

Ezra 9:8-9 (NLT), “But now we have been given a brief moment of grace, for the Lord our God has allowed a few of us to survive as a remnant. He has given us security in this holy place. Our God has brightened our eyes and granted us some relief from our slavery. 9 For we were slaves, but in his unfailing love our God did not abandon us in our slavery. Instead, he caused the kings of Persia to treat us favorably. He revived us so we could rebuild the Temple of our God and repair its ruins. He has given us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem.”


3. You are not on your own. Because of the cross, you have been created “in Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT), For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Colossians 1:27 (ESV), To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.


ONE MORE IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL FACT ABOUT YOU:

4. We will all give an account to God for what we did with our gifts, passion, experiences and life.

See Matthew 25:14-30

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