I Will Use You

Notes

Verses

{The Lord will work out his plans for my life – for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Psalm 138:8 NLT}{We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 NLT}{Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us Ephesians 3:20 NLT}{This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus. Matthew 1:18-25 NLT}

Quotes

Mike Cosper : We tell stories to know who we are – to understand ourselves and our place in the world. Stories help give us a sense of place – a way to understand our lives, our relationships, our past and future is all tied up in a story. (The Stories We Tell); John Eldredge : Christianity, in its true form, tells us that there is an Author and the He is good and beautiful and true, for He is the source of all these things. It tells us that He has set our hearts’ longings within us. It warns us that the truth is always in danger of being twisted and corrupted and stolen from us because there is a Villain in the Story who hates our hearts and wants to destroy us. It calls us up into a Story that is truer and deeper than any other, and assures us that there we will find the meaning of our lives. (Epic); John Eldredge : You have a crucial role to play. (Epic); Perry Noble : If God, the Creator of the universe, created us on purpose, with a purpose, and for a purpose, then why in the world would we be willing to settle for anything less? (Unleash); Oswald Chambers : Joy comes from seeing the complete fulfillment of the specific purpose for which I was created, not from successfully doing something of my own choosing. (); C.S. Lewis : God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. (The Problem of Pain); Louie Giglio : Life is the tale of two stories – one finite and frail, the other eternal and enduring. The tiny one – the story of us – is brief as the blink of an eye. Yet somehow our infatuation with our own little story – and our determination to make it as big as we possibly can – blinds us to the massive God Story that surrounds us on every side. (i am not but i know I AM); Louie Giglio : We can choose to cling to starring roles in the little-bitty stories of us, or we can exchange our fleeting moment in the spotlight for a supporting role in the eternally beautiful epic that is the Story of God. (i am not but i know I AM);