CONFLICT | WORTH IT
MATTHEW 5:9 BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS, FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF GOD
KEY SCRIPTURES
Ephesians 2:2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 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. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
1 Chronicles 28:9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.
2 Chronicles 15:2 He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me,
and those who seek me find me.
Isaiah 55:6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Jeremiah 29:12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Hosea 10:12 Sow righteousness for yourselves,
reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes
and showers his righteousness on you.
Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
KEY POINTS
- We have an identity conflict in the American church today.
- You are God’s handiwork and God’s masterpiece created by Him and for Him. Our identity needs to be in Him.
- God is calling us to a passionate love relationship with Himself.
- The sacrifice, the pain, the suffering, the conflict is worth it to know God.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Do you have an identity conflict in your life?
- Where do you struggle with identity?
- Do you really feel like God wants to be found by you?
- Do you really feel like you can encounter the Presence of God? Why/why not?
- Have you ever encountered the Presence of God in your life?
- Are the conflicts that we’ve gone through worth it in order to have a closer relationship with God?