Our Experiences

Lesson from church today:

Use Your Experiences

We are all completely different and unique. We all have natural abilities and unique personalities.  We need to add our experiences to the mix.

Rom 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

It's like with chocolate chip cookies.  Many of the ingredients are pretty bad tasting on their own, but when they are combined, they taste great!  This is like our lives.  We go through good and bad experiences, but if we mix it all up in the bowl together, we'll end up with something pretty good.

Embrace the experiences

• lessons are there to be learned…right now
• There is much to do
• We can do anything through God
• Everything in life is for a reason and part of our journey and who we are
• Gal 3:4 - Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing?
• What's the point of suffering, if we haven't learned anything from it?
  
• James 1:2 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds
• Either you will grow and become closer to God or you will curse God (from bad experiences, trials, etc…)
• God is concerned with our eternal life, not this finite human life.  We should be concerned with the eternal as well, instead of focusing on our human, world problems so much
• Gen 50:20 - You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
  
  

Extract and employ the lessons

• Learn from mistakes and don’t make the mistakes again.

• II Corinthians 1:3-6 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
• We have suffering. God comforts us. Why?  So that we may learn this and go out and comfort others.
• Philippians 1:12 - Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. (he was chained to a Roman soldier, in prison. Although he was going through something horrible, he considered this an opportunity to spread the Word.)
  
• When God’s will is my will, life is great.