How was your first week of purpose-driven living?

Hopefully you now have a new verse of scripture locked away in your mind, and you have enjoyed focusing on the big question, "What on earth am I here for?" through your daily readings in The Purpose Driven Life.

Next week we will learn about the second purpose, Fellowship.

We were formed to be a part of God's family, and if you are connecting with other people in a 40 Days of Purpose Grace Gathering or Sunday School Class, you are experiencing some great Fellowship! It's not too late to join one of these Campaign Gatherings, so see the bulletin insert listing all the groups that started last week and call the host of the group of your choice.

This Week's Prayer Focus

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off' to a solitary place, where he prayed. " Mark 1:35 (niv) Pray that the men, women, and children of our church will more completely understand that they were created for God's pleasure. Specifically ask that they will have a joyful heart of worship and become best friends with the Lord. Next Week You Were Formed for God's Family

The Secret of Life: Loving God March 5, 2006

You, God, created everything, and it is for Your pleasure that they exist and were created. Revelation 4:1 Ib (NLT)

Love the Lord your God....this is the first and greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37-38

Our first purpose in life is to worship this God who delights in us. Worship is my response to God's love Worship is giving back to God God wants me to love Him...

Thoughtfully "with my mind"
Passionately "with my heart and soul"
Practically "with my strength"

Therefore. I urge you. in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1 (NIV)

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. Mark 12:30 (NCV)

1. Worship is focusing my attention on God. (Thoughtfully)

You have looked deep into my heart, Lord, and you know all about me. You know when I am resting or when or when I am working... You notice everything I do and everywhere I go. Psalm 139:1-3 ( CEV)

Focusing on yourself is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, and ends up thinking more about self than God. Romans 8:7 (Msg)

Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. Romans 12:2a

Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense His grace. Matthew 6:6 (NLT)

Seek His face always. Psalm 105:4 (NIV)

In the year that King U/ziah died, I saw the Lord, high and lifted up, and His train (presence) filled the temple. Isaiah 6:1 (KJV)

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, whose thoughts are fixed on You. Isaiah 26:3 (NLT)

2. Worship is expressing my affection to God. (Passionately)

We love Him, because He first loved us. I John 4:19 (KJV)

I don't want your sacrifices - I want your love! I don't want your offerings - I want you to know Me. Hosea 6:6 (LB)

He is a God who is passionate about His relationship with you. Exodus 34:14b (NLT)

Give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. Romans 6:13 (NLT)

3. Worship is using my abilities for God. (Practically)

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

Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Romans 12:la(Msg)

So we make it our goal to please Him. II Corinthians 5:9 (NIV)

Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33 (NIV)

Next Week: You Were Formed for God's Family

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