Think back on your life and your past experiences. Where can you see God working in your life? Can you see how God was shaping you for your future? What kinds of experiences have brought you to where you are now spiritually?

What is a Page 23 Vision? How do we know what it looks like?

-   A personal, God-appointed dream or calling. Pg. 23

-   Begins with a seed of inspiration that takes root in your imagination. Over time it will produce a harvest of obedience for the glory of God. And the whole process will take place deep in the soil of your faith. Pg 24

-   It will probably flow from something you’re already doing- relationships you’ve already established, priorities you’re already passionate about. Pg. 25

-   It is biblically based, focused on Jesus, affirmed by the key people in your life, and tethered to your passions, gifts, and life experiences. Pg. 25

How do we find our Page 23 Vision?

SEIZE: Open your heart and mind to God’s vision for your life.

ACTIVATE: Choose to step out in a strength not your own.

MAKE YOUR MOVE: Act with boldness. God will MOVE in your life.

LOVED: “Certainly I felt way too young to take on such a serious task that required this much wisdom. But somehow I sensed that none of this would matter. Ignorance and inexperience wouldn’t count as valid excuses. When God speaks, he does not stutter. When he awakens you to your calling, the snooze button stops working. It was time for me to get busy for God.” Pg. 29

Seeing yourself as too young to be used for God’s glory is NO EXCUSE. If anything, it is BETTER that you are young. You have the ability to be audacious. Examples of young’uns used for God’s glory:

-   David

-   Jeremiah, pg. 29

-   Timothy, pg. 29

I asked my girls to come up with their own Page 23 Visions for this week’s Bible Study. Start brainstorming with your group what a Page 23 vision in their life would look like. Share them with the group. Support each other!

“How radically different would modern American culture be if we stopped raising our kids to survive their world and started empowering them with a vision to change it?”

“How would your general outlook shift if you woke up every morning, not just to a to-do list, but to goals and activities that flowed from a Page 23 vision?”

Discussion Questions for DVD:

1. Why is it necessary to have a Page 23 vision for your life?

2. What’s the closest experience you’ve had to a Page 23 moment? What did it look like?

3. Looking at your life—your experiences, your passions, your gifts—what are the seeds that God has planted in you that could hint at your own Page 23 vision? Write and discuss some of your impressions.

4. What’s the next step you need to take to begin turning your Page 23 vision into a reality?

An awesome revelation:

If you DO NOT think that you have a Page 23 vision for your life or you CAN NOT think of one, here is some good news…

“You have a personal birthright to believe in a God-given mission for your life. And if God can instill and fulfill a big-city dream of enormous Kingdom impact in a small-town boy like me, he can put a Sun Stand Still spirit in you too. CONSIDER THIS YOUR PAGE 23.

Consider this Chapter of Sun Stand Still your page 23 vision for your life. You WILL be used for God’s glory. Start thinking how you can live to serve HIM.

-   pg. 11: Israelites are at the border of the Promised Land. PANIC- giants and walled cities stood between them. Everyone wanted to turn back.

-   Numbers 14:7-9, “…Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up.”

-   Fear won out. 40 wasted years.

Have you ever felt like the Israelites? What were the giants and walled cities holding you back from the good land you were meant to occupy?

If you want to experience God’s blessings, audacious faith is NOT OPTIONAL.

Joshua 10:8-14

-   Joshua had the AUDACITY to ask God to make the sun stop in the sky.

Pg. 15: Could it be that God intends for us to have the same kind of faith- the kind of faith that dares to believe God for the impossible-as a normal way of life?

Pg. 17: “When you have a dream in your heart, but no earthly idea how to make it happen, keeping your faith intact is a full-time job. But I’ve discovered that these crises of belief don’t have to be the end of faith. They can become the foundation that a stronger faith is built on.”

Audacious faith is for schoolteachers, college students, etc.

I want to be a Joshua in my generation.

Begin thinking of the way you pray now.

-   What does it look like? What kinds of things do you ask for?

Now think of how you could pray audaciously.

-   How are the two different?

How strange is this…

A shed + a garbage heap + games with an orange peel + a witch doctor + opposition = AUDACIOUS FAITH

Huge churches + resources + wii games and technology + freedom of religion = audacious faith?

I am amazed at the way that Pastor Michael looks past his situation and focuses only on God’s vision for his life. He detailed how he wanted to TRANSFORM his current situation for Christ. Some would say that we in America have it GOOD. Easy even. Do we ever look past our situation and focus solely on God’s vision for our life?

LOVED: “But when we prayed for God to make fire fall down from heaven, and his house burned down that same week, he left us alone.” THIS IS BOLD FAITH.

I want for us to be a ministry of excellence: DOING ALL THAT YOU CAN WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT.

Tonia “designed her life around leveraging her on-camera talent to make an off-camera impact.”

LOVED: “If it’s necessary, and it’s never been done, that’s because God intends for her to do it.” THIS IS BOLD FAITH.

What do Pastor Michael and Tonia have in common?

-          Share the same spiritual DNA

-          Accomplish amazing things for Christ

-          Are not afraid of the impossible

-          Are not afraid of opposition

-          Are not afraid of God changing their lives for his glory

What is my ministry? Where is my village? What is the area where I could make an impact?

-          School: classmates around me who watch my every move because they know that I am a Christian and I’m in SAO.

-          Family: be an example for my family members. Do not be afraid of what your family members will say if God is calling you to something different than you first had in mind.

-          Friends: share with your friends what God is teaching you in your life. PRAY that God will use you and your friends in miraculous ways. Instead of talking about what your friend did, pray for them. Ask God for the sun to stand still over their lives.

-          Relationships: be on the look out for a man who is after God’s own heart. A man who also has a sun stand still vision for his life. A man who is not just a mediocre Christian but someone who is willing to act audaciously for God’s glory.

• If the size of your vision for your life isn’t INTIMIDATING to you, there’s a good chance it’s insulting to God.

Audacity: Unusual boldness, makes regular people behave with boldness or daring, especially with confident disregard for personal comfort or conventional thought.

Does the brand of faith you live by produce the kinds of results in your life that you read about in the biblical stories of men and women of faith?

-          Why not?

-          What has happened to this generation?

What do you envision for your life/future?

What if there is a higher calling to fulfillment and significance for you and your life?

“Without good direction, people lose their way; the more wise counsel you have, the better your chances.”
- Proverbs 11:14
“But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a LEADER among you, must be your servant.”
- Matthew 20:26

I encourage each of you to get involved in your Bible Study groups! PRAY with and for each other.  SHARE your struggles and triumphs with each other. LISTEN to what is going on in each girl’s life. ENCOURAGE each other on a regular basis. GROW with each other in Christ. And finally, CHALLENGE each other to not just be mediocre Christians, but to be radical Christians for Christ. To go to God with every problem, no matter how small. To trust God when things start falling apart. To trust God when things start getting better. To love instead of hate and to forgive when its hard. To not only have faith that God can help you through some things. But to have faith that God can do the IMPOSSIBLE.

This semester, we will be learning about having audacious faith. Audacity makes regular people behave with boldness o daring, especially with confident disregard for personal comfort or conventional thought. When you live with audacious faith in Christ, your eyes will be opened to see your day-to-day life in vivid color. Your spiritual growth will accelerate at a super natural pace. You will find a higher calling to fulfillment and significance that God deeply desires for your future job, your relationships, a marriage, your finances, and your impact on this world.

“On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel:

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
So the sun stood still,
and the moon stopped,
till the nation avenged itself on its enemies,

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a human being. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!”

- Joshua 10:12-14

This book may be difficult for some of you to get into. Maybe because you don’t believe its possible for God to do miraculous things in your life. Maybe because you’re afraid what will happen to your ordinary life if you do ask God for the impossible. What I desire most this semester is for you to be CHALLENGED. I want for you to accept the fact that ordinary people, you and me, can do miraculous things for God. I want to see the sun stand still in our lives. I love you all and I am truly looking forward to this semester

Love, Caroline

Proverbs 31:29-31, “Many women do noble things, but YOU surpass them all.  Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.”

YAYYY! CONGRATULATIONS! The Woman of the week this week is YOU! I now consider you among the ranks of all the women we have talked about: Ruth, Esther, Mary, Elizabeth, Britt Nicole, Miriam, Mary and Martha, Beth Moore, The Samaritan Woman, and Leah. We have studied many women and their stories over the course of this semester. They have taught us many things about what it takes to be a woman of God. Girls, if you continue to follow in the paths of these miraculous women, you are entitled to equal status. I hope that you realize how TRULY VALUABLE you are in a world like this.

This week, we’re going to learn about Rebekah. Rebekah is the wife of Isaac. Abraham, Isaac’s father, sent his trusted servant back to his country to choose a wife for his son. Abraham’s servant went back to Abraham’s country, sought God for guidance and immediately came in contact with a very godly young girl. Read Genesis 24: 10-21. Rebekah, inspired by nothing more than a caring heart, drew water, not only for the servant but also for his camels. Rebekah, who was described as very beautiful, put her self through a lot of hard work for no apparent gain. She was a woman of godly character. Something of great worth in God’s sight (1 Peter 3:3-4).

As a woman of God, the greatest investment you can make in your life is that of a godly character (1Timothy 4: 7-8). Let the word of God remold your life. It’s in seeking God that you will find fulfillment (1Timothy 6: 6). As you seek the kingdom of God all other things will be added unto you (Matthew 6:33). This is the secret to a fulfilled life that so many women have missed. The godliness in Rebekah is what opened the door to her destiny. She was not sitting there complaining of her situation, but rather allowed the love of God to shape her life. As the fruit of the spirit takes root in your life so shall the favor of God follow (Galatians 5:22). As you draw close to God, God will draw close to you. When God is close to you, good things will follow (James 4:8)

A Woman of God. There are many decisions in life that you are going to have to make. Sometimes making the right one is vital. The closer you get to God, the better chance you have of making the right choice. Rebekah followed the servant back to Isaac immediately and became his wife and he loved her (Genesis 24:66). A close relationship between a man and a woman in marriage is vital. Together you can lift one another up spiritually, physically and emotionally. When one is down, the other can lift the person up. This was true of Isaac and Rebekah. Rebekah was barren and Isaac prayed for her and God heard his prayer (Genesis 25:21). Couples need to lift each other up in prayer. There are times when it is your prayers that will help your partner. Rebekah was a woman of prayer and had no less access to God than Isaac did.

Couples need to support one another. Taking support from your partner is not a sign of weakness. Rebekah could certainly hear from God directly, nevertheless she still allowed Isaac to do it when it regarded child birth. Patience is always necessary in receiving discernment from God. Rebekah was a woman of patience. She was also a woman who knew when to lean on her husband. This was part of her strength.

EXPLORING LOVE: “Before a heartache can ever touch my life it has to go through Your hands…“

As we come to a close on our Bible Study on becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman, I feel it is necessary to discuss one important topic: LOVE. As we each learn how to become Proverbs 31 Women in this world, we must recognize that we are entitled to men of equal status. We must be on the lookout for men of God, men who will treat us like we deserve to be treated and men who will grow with us IN Christ.

Where does love come from? The unbelievable love of Christ:

Revelation 2:4-5, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.”

Where does LOVE come from? The unbelievable love of CHRIST.

• You have forsaken your FIRST LOVE. We talked about this some at our first Joint Bible Study. We talked about how God should come fist in your life before anything else because He was your first love. I want to talk about it a little bit more…
• God’s love is free and this love is like no other love you could ever experience in your life because it is whole. There is nothing lacking in the love that God can give you. Do not ever believe that you can live without love because you cannot. You cannot count on the people around you to give you that love either but you can count on God. He is always there and He never changes.

God’s Love PROVIDES

• • Ephesians 1: 4-9, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ…”
  • God has so much love for us that he has accepted our many flaws and adopted us as his own. He forgives us when we fall and steers us down the right path according to his perfect will. God’s love is perfect.

God’s Love UNIFIES

• • Ephesians 2: 4-8, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
  • God has so much love for us that he saved us when we were dead to sin. He rescued us when we were falling and created a way for us to be ALIVE in Him. He gave us the greatest gift of all: His SON. God’s love is perfect.

God’s Love REVEALS

• • Ephesians 3: 16-21, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
  • God has so much love for us that he allows Christ to live in our hearts. He strengthens us when we are faint and works through us so that we may live for him. His love is beyond what we can comprehend. We are unable to grasp how wide and how deep his love for us actually is. God’s love is perfect.

“Before a heartache can ever touch my life, it has to go through your hands.” I love this verse from Kerrie Roberts’ song “No Matter What.”  It truly shows that the FIRST person you should show your undying love for is Christ. He has already proven his love for you. You must have this relationship with God first before you can begin to love someone else. Here is something else important: YOUR PARTNER MUST ALSO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD BEFORE HE ENTERS INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU. It cannot be a one way street.

Proverbs 31:10-12, “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.”

I LOVE YOU GIRLS!!!

Love, Caroline

AND THE WATERS PARTED…

HOPE is truly the source of abundant life.  I feel like everything around me recently has been pointing to this truth.  My friendships, my relationships, my schoolwork, my social life, etc. Our world is desperate for hope. Many of us who are searching for purpose in our lives, those who have recently lost loved ones, the homeless, hungry, hurting, lost….you fill in the blank- they are all desperate for hope.  I believe that we all have points in our life where we need a God moment. We need the hope that God will show up and do something amazing.

Moses needed a God moment as Pharaoh’s army was closing in on the Israelites and they had no where to go, but into the sea.  Moses had hope that God was big enough, and the waters parted. Daniel needed a God moment when he was thrown into the lions den. Daniel had hope that God was big enough and he sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouth so that they could not hurt him. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had hope when they refused to bow down to the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar. “If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O King, let him deliver us” Daniel 3:17. They had hope that God was big enough and they were lifted out of the fire unscathed. I am convinced that sometimes it is not the result that saves, but simply the HOPE.

There has to be hope that there is more than what this world can offer.  Proverbs 13:12 says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” I have seen a lot of heart sick people, myself included, whose hope has been deferred because it has been placed anywhere besides in Christ.  The world has let them down, people have let them down, and now they have lost hope.  Hope in Christ, the living God, who is coming back for us, and has a place in eternity for us is a longing that will be fulfilled.  We can cling to that for life.

Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.” We can offer hope through God’s word.  His word will never let us down.  His word is a safe place to trust our hope to. I am here on Earth to be a God moment for people who are desperate for one. Not me, as in what I have to offer, but the hope that is in me because I know Christ.  I have the opportunity to meet people who are desperate for hope everyday, and the salvation that I have in Christ should overflow and run into their barren lives.  Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” When I have my hope in the right place it will overflow and be used as a God moment in other people’s lives.  That is huge.

Romans 8:23-25: “…. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.” I was given hope when I was saved.  I look forward to the day that Christ will return and take me to Heaven.  I can wait patiently because I know He will return.  I am standing at the sea of life waiting for God to part the waters. I am ready for God to show me his unbelievable power. The blessing is that even if the sea never opens I will never lose hope.  There are so many people out there who need a hope that cannot be lost.  How can we be their God moment?

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Love, Caroline

First, we’re going to talk about JACOB. If you know anything about Jacob, it is that he is always chasing after a dream.

• Jacob was the son of Isaac who was the son of Abraham. His mother was Rebekah.
• He was his mother’s favorite.
• He had a twin brother named Esau. When the twins came out of the womb, Jacob was grasping Esau’s heel and therefore, his name means “heel-catcher.”
• Esau sold his birthright (he was the oldest son) to Jacob for a bowl of stew.
• Jacob tricked his father Isaac and stole his brother Esau’s blessing by making a hairy sort of costume (Esau was very hairy).

In Genesis 29:10-12, right after Jacob had stolen Esau’s blessing, he goes to his uncle Laban’s home.  This is where he sees his Uncle’s daughter, Rachel, (who by the way is his COUSIN) and he immediately falls in love and kisses her. In Vs. 18, Jacob tells his Uncle Laban that he will work 7 years for him in return for his daughter Rachel, because he loves her.

Now, let’s back up a little. Laban had TWO daughters. Rachel was the youngest and she was beautiful. Leah was the oldest and the Bible says that she had “weak eyes,” which in Hebrew can mean cock-eyed.  Rachel was probably the more attractive of the two. Continuing on…

• Jacob finishes his 7 years and asks for his prize: Rachel. In Vs. 22, we see that Laban took his daughter LEAH (instead of Rachel) and brought her to Jacob. There was a grand feast and they all got really drunk. Jacob made love to his wife, thinking it was Rachel. Vs. 25, “When morning came, THERE WAS LEAH!”
• “When you give your LIFE to something other than God, expecting your fulfillment in it, it always turns out to be Leah; it’s never Rachel the next morning”- Pastor Steven Furtick. You work and work and work towards something, and then you wake up! It’s never Rachel, it’s always LEAH. It will never be as attractive as you thought it was.
• I’m sure many of you have found this out in life. When you finally got what you had been going for (the man you thought could give you love, a job in the right city with the right amount of pay, a great group of friends who have fun and give you a social life, high grades, etc.) you wake up and realize that that hasn’t made you happy at all. You realize that you don’t feel any more valuable. If anything, you feel less valuable.
• Jacob then agrees to serve Laban for 7 MORE years in exchange for Rachel. “Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah.”

This brings us to LEAH.

Back to Genesis 29:31. “When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. ³² Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.” ³³ She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ³⁴ Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi, ³⁵ She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah, then she stopped having children.”

• Now, Leah represents the person who is like “If I could just have another baby, If I could just lose 10 pounds, If I could just meet the man of my dreams, If I could just find the perfect job…”

You may find yourself always wanting MORE. If you’re Jacob, you may be willing to work 7 more years. If you’re Leah, you may be willing to have another baby. Where does it stop?

In this period of my life, I find myself looking at myself, and seeing a Leah. If I could just work a little harder, If I could just do something a little better, If I could just….Then WHAT?! Then what? Would my life be any better? Would I finally earn the approval or achievement that I seek?

I have the thing that I thought I needed, but I don’t feel the peace that I thought I would feel. Here’s the thing: I don’t need to live out of this place of chasing acceptance. I am already ACCEPTED. The Lord is the one who rewards. As long as I am following in his will and listening to him and praying to him, I only need his acceptance.

Vs. 35, “She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” After continuing seeking approval, (Do you love me now? Do you love me now?) Leah finally accepts that her acceptance and approval comes from God.

Read John 4:1-42.

Vs. 13: The Samaritan Woman found LIVING WATER.

Vs. 34: Spiritual food. Reaping a harvest.

Vs. 29: “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did.”

Jesus did not tell her everything she ever did. This woman wasn’t giving an account of her entire life. Jesus hadn’t spent hours, weeks, days, or years laying out everything she had ever done. Bad or good. It was just one encounter that probably lasted a few minutes. But apparently her life was so revolutionized by what Jesus spoke in those few minutes that she blew it out of proportion. For her, the GRACE that Jesus had shown her was so life changing that she couldn’t find words that even approximated her experience. Grace blows things out of proportion. It takes an ounce of life change and exaggerates it in our minds to the point where it is a miracle on par with the parting of the Red Sea. And it should be this way. We should be so overwhelmed by God’s grace in our lives that if anything, we exaggerate its effects. Be like the Samaritan Woman. Don’t be afraid of exaggerating the impact Jesus has made on your life. God’s grace is bigger than you think it is. Sometimes you just have to blow its effects out of proportion to realize it.

1 Peter 2:11″Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.”

- I have spent much of my life fitting in.  I have always wanted to be liked.  Being a part of a group and being seen as “one of them” was so important to me.  I enjoy being comfortable and I am most comfortable when I am similar to the people around me.  I love having things in common with people. I like feeling like I am a part of something. I would have died if someone had described me as an alien or a stranger.  Have you ever felt like this?

- But I am beginning to understand exactly what that means and would even venture to say that I am slowly becoming what I have feared so much- I am different.  I don’t fit in.  I am a stranger to this world. And with this, comes the call to LIVE A LIFE OF DIFERENCE.

- We talked about being different at Retreat this weekend. This lesson kind of goes along with the first test we talked about which is CULTURAL DISTRACTIONS.

- We must be CONFIDENT in who we are in Jesus Christ. What kind of woman we are and how VALUABLE we are.

THE ANTIDOTE TO INSECURITY:

Proverbs 31: 20, “Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Here is the key to this woman’s effectiveness:

• Her priorities are determined by God’s will, not her own.
• She is concerned about what God thinks, rather than with what other people think. Physical beauty is usually admired. But if a woman’s beauty and charm are the extent of her talents, what happens when time goes by and she grows old?
• This woman does not depend on beauty and charm for her success. She recognizes her need for God.

Psalm 139:13-16:  “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

1. God put me together. You don’t know how incredibly valuable you are.
2. Ephesians 2:10: “For you are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
3. Vs. 13- He created my inmost being. You can’t cover insecurity on the INSIDE with stuff on the OUTSIDE. True security comes from God. It doesn’t work from the outside in. This is the essence of hypocrisy. Say this together out loud: “You shaped me God. First inside then out.”
4. Vs. 14- I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your WORKS are wonderful. I am his work. Therefore, I am wonderful. Insecurity is the ULTIMATE insult to God. Pastor Steven said, “When you are at a fancy restaurant, and you enjoy what you are eating, you could give your compliments to the chef. When you compliment the dish, you are esteeming the cook.” How you feel about YOU is a direct reflection of how you feel about GOD. For you are his workmanship. There is nothing about you that he did not mean to happen.
5. “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” God KNOWS you. He has a purpose and a plan for your life. He is CAPABLE.
6. There was an episode of Bill Cosby where Vanessa was getting teased by her classmates because she had a nice house and her family had money. Cliff Husktable was a doctor, and Clair was a lawyer. One day Vanessa came home and said, “You know what dad, this never would have happened if we weren’t so rich!” Cliff looked at his daughter and said, “Let’s get one thing straight. I am rich. And your mother is rich. You, however, are not.” Don’t ever forget who made you. Don’t ever let anyone tell put you down or make you feel insignificant. Your father is the KING OF KINGS. And he made you! He made YOU. My personal worth does not possibly come from me, but from God. God is my true security.

“But to mean it when I say that I want my life to count for His glory is to drive a stake through the heart of self – a painful and determined dying to me that must be a part of every day I live.” — Louie Giglio

Love, Caroline

“The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ⁷ So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” Genesis 6:5-6

God saw the entire human race as wicked. He saw them as evil and He even regretted creating them. What made Him decide to use Noah? How did Noah find favor in the eyes of the Lord? He was the only SHINING STAR within the evil human race. What does it mean to be DIFFERENT?

1. The First test is cultural distraction. What kinds of things do you think could be a cultural distraction? What I’m talking are the things that happen around us that keep us from going after our God-given dreams. For instance -

• Distraction of Popularity
• Distraction of Pleasure
• Distraction of Possessions
• Distraction of Profits

The antidote to cultural distractions is this: you must dare to be different from others.  If you are going to reach your dream in the next decade, if you are going to fulfill your destiny, if you are going to accomplish your goals and see your vision become reality, you are going to have to dare to be different from others. And until you settle this issue, you will never fulfill your destiny because you cannot make a difference without being different.  You cannot be all God wants you to be and fit in with everybody else.

2.  The Second Test is Voices of Doubt: Voices of doubt can come from the culture around you. They can     also be friends and family but the biggest Voices can be you, the way you talk to yourself. Just imagine all the Voices of Doubt that were in Noah’s life. How would you like to be Noah’s next-door-neighbor? And imagine the pressure Noah experienced from his own family. They were dependent on him!

“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.” Hebrews 11:7

The antidote to the voices of doubt is to instead listen to the voice of God. I must listen to the voice of God, not the voices of doubt.  When I start planning where I want to go in the next ten years in this Decade of Destiny, I must listen to what God wants me to do, not what all of the doubters say to me. You talk yourself out of God’s vision, God’s dream, God’s destiny for your life time after time.The truth is you can’t be trusted to tell yourself the truth. You can’t trust what other people say either. The only voice you can trust all the time in any situation is the voice of God.

3.   The Third Test is Hearing God: Noah could hear God. To hear God you’ve got to get near God. You don’t hear God when you got the TV on.  You don’t hear God when you are listening to your iPod. You don’t hear God when your mind is filled with a thousand other distractions.  You’ve got to get alone with God and be quiet. The Bible says, “Be still and know that I am God.”

• If you are fearful about your future, you are not walking with the Lord.
• If you are fearful about your finances, you are not walking with the Lord.
• If you are fearful about marriage, you are not walking with the Lord.

4.    The Fourth Test is HOPE: The truth is, when God gives you a dream, there will be delays, difficulties, detours and dead ends along the way. These things are a natural part of life. But you can be ready for them.

The antidote to discouraging delays is to refuse to give up on the dream God gives you. As I said, a lot of people start out well, but they give up too quickly.  They don’t hope.

H-O-P-E: Holding On, Praying Expectantly.

Now if anybody had a right to be discouraged, it was Noah.  Do you know how long it took Noah to build the arc?  120 years.  Could you go 120 years on a project without one word of encouragement from anybody else in society?  In fact, could you go 120 years with everybody ridiculing you and saying, “That guy is nuts. He thinks he hears from God.” Noah trusted God. And when he heard God’s warning about the future, Noah believed him even though there was no sign of a flood. I bet there were many days that Noah didn’t feel like going to work, but for 43,800 days, he went to the same place and he worked. He never gave up.

The Bible says, “God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9. God is looking for people that he can bless.  I want you to be one of those people in the next ten years.

Noah was different.  God liked what he saw in Noah. Everything was headed toward destruction, but two words changed history — “but Noah.”  That’s the power of one person.  That’s the power of just one individual.  That’s the power you have in your life when you decide to be different and follow the commands of Jesus.

Don’t be afraid to be DIFFERENT.