We are teaching this:
Glory-Feel the Weight
The goal of this series is that
we would wake up to the reality of God’s relentless passion for His own glory; that
the more we realize what life is really all about, His Glory, the more we are
able to live it. We also believe the more we see God for who He is, the more we
trust Him and live out what we are meant to be. Our prayer is that our awe of
Christ would increase or be restored to be passionate active worshipers. As
Isaiah 26:9 says “Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.”
Glory 1: The Weight of His Name. (Because Jesus is God period!) (4-15-15)
We all desire to make a name for ourselves, and believe being the center of our lives and even other’s is a good thing. We make much of our lives, even our relationship with God about us. The truth is God wants us to wake up to the reality that the story is about Him and His glory. We will answer the question what is glory? We will look to Romans 11:33-35 to help us grasp the scope, size, depth, and weight of God. We will learn that we exist, and everything exists, to bring God glory. We will also see that God’s primary agenda is His glory and that His self-centeredness is a good thing. We will wrestles with the invitation to trust Christ as the center and move out of the way. That life happens when we move out of the way. Finally we will be left with the question, what should God’s response be to the hijacking of His glory?
Glory 2: The Weight of Eternity. (Glory Thievery Response 1) (4-22-15)
Sometimes the most loving
thing you can do, the necessary thing to do, is give someone truthfully bad
news. See it’s easy to talk about the kindness of God, but for awe, respect,
worship sake we must also talk about His wrath. In this Bible study we will
look at the reality of hell and what it is. Instead of asking how could a good
God create hell and send people there, we will ask how could He not? We will
see that the horrors of hell are an echo
of the infinite worth of the glory of God. We will also see that this first
response is insufficient to bring God praise and that no one is scared into
heaven. But if you don’t know the weight of your disobedience, and the weight
of His just deserved wrath, how will know the weight and riches of His mercy to
give Him proper glory? My prayer is that they would begin to grasp the weight
of eternity and long for God, delighting in His mercy.
Glory 3: The Weight of Mercy and Grace. (Glory Thievery Response 2) (4-29-15)
If it’s true that God is for
His glory, and the apex of His glory is His grace, and God will get His glory,
then shouldn’t we be able to put our full trust in His grace? We will look at Philippians
2:5-11 and how unthinkable this response to stealing His glory is. We will look
at how the cost of His mercy says more
about Him then it does us. By
looking at Ephesians 1-2, we will see how Jesus getting all the glory for
something we don’t deserve and could never do is not only deserved but the best
thing ever for us. Our prayer is we would stop working to please God but trust
humbly the grace of God. Trust also what He says about us because of His grace.
That we would be released from shame and live in the freedom of God’s glorious
grace. It’s living in the light of His grace that we are most satisfied in Him
and He is most glorified, thus fulfilling what we are most meant to do.
Glory 4: The Weight of Really Living. (For the Fame of His Name) (5-6-15)
One of my favorite quotes is
“Everyman dies but everyman does not truly live” ~William Wallace. This asks the question what does it mean to
really live? To answer this we are going to look at Colossians 3:17 in that
whatever we do we are to do it to reflect God’s greatness back to Him and to
all people. That we get to declare the praise of Him who has called us out of
darkness (1Peter 2:9). That we are worshipers, and this is a way of life. We
will explore this by moving from the doxology of Romans 11(talk 1) to Romans
12:1-2. We get to be the soundtrack to the greatest story ever, the story of
God’s glory. Our prayer is we would be excited to be a megaphone to Jesus,
bold and unashamed. That we would be seeking God’s tuning to be like Jesus for
no one gave God glory better than Him. That we would live in the hope of the prayer
from Ephesians 3:16-21, all glory to God.
Think about this:
As you might know we are all
wired to worship. We are all worshiping all the time and something. This is our
design. We are meant to worship; the question is what is that something you are
worshiping right now? Our kids and us have a lot competing for that central
place in our lives. We also live in a culture where performance is a high value
and receiving credit and recognition is a must. Add to this a constant barrage
of messages about independence and self-reliance and it easy to fall into trap
that life is best when it revolves around me. All through the Bible we see the
disaster of putting ourselves, the created, over the Creator. All through the
Bible we also see that we and everything is created for God’s glory. This is
our purpose and life works best when we do what we are meant for. Living to
reflect God and worshiping Him in everything we do is real living. To help
explore this truth with your teen here are some question to discuss around the
dinner table: (As part of the discussion don’t forget to answer the questions
yourself, sharing your personal relationship with the Lord is helpful)1. Glory is connected with the concept of weight and worth, what are the things carrying a lot of weight in your life right now? What is your world revolving around? What matters most?
2. Read the Doxology in
Romans 11:33-36 together. From this passage how would you describe God in your
own words? How does this view of God impact your trust in Him?
3. When it comes to deserving
credit there is nothing more giving God recognition than His grace. Grace is
all about what we don’t deserve and what we can’t earn. How do feel about His
grace? How might your trust in His grace point others to God?
4. Everything is about His
story for His glory and He is inviting us to play a role in His story. We are
not the star or an essential part but we get to be in the story. How do you
feel about this invitation? Why is accepting this a struggle? If it’s all about
His glory how might this effect the way you make plans, go to school, work,
live? (Colossians 3:17)