God is ....... what it's all about (Sunday March 13 notes for those who couldn't hear me lol)

I hear people say it all the time. When I share how I started taking off Fridays to be off with Brae during the day they say man, that’s what it’s all about. When we took a victory photo last week with the whole family there they say man, that’s what it’s all about. I hired a new softball coach, she is awesome, she actually played softball all of her life until in college she found out she had an enlarged heart. She shared with our team about how she realized how valuable softball had become to her, and how she missed it and would give anything to play again. The girls were speechless and then she said while I would give anything to play again, I am here to coach because I love the game. My assistant coach said, man that’s what it’s all about. Peyton Manning retired this past week and shared an 11 minute speech. You knew it would be well prepared because he was the king of football preparation. He shared how he realized later in his career what it is all about. I can go on for hours with moments where I have heard people say that little sentence. But today I want to tell you my God is statement is God is what it is all about. A couple decades ago, Pastor Rick Warren wrote The Purpose Driven Life, which went viral and global. I read it and taught a study on it to a small group many years ago.And this best-selling book starts with a single line that polarizes and leaves no room for negotiation on a single point… It’s not about you. I’ve grown the deepest in seasons when God uses circumstances to remind me of this simple fact. Life isn’t about my happiness, health, or wealth. It’s about God’s good pleasure and glory. Romans 11:33 Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out. In other words: Everything comes from him; Everything happens through him; Everything ends up in him. You can believe this or not. You’re free to disagree. But this much is true: Life doesn’t make sense until you realize it’s all for God. God, in his goodness, is good to us. Why? Because it brings him both pleasure and glory. And when we, as feeble creatures, feast our hearts upon his goodness and grace, he is glorified and exalted in the earth. Life is not about being happy, but when we relate rightly to our Creator, happiness often results. And when I find my joy in my relationship with Him, everything else starts to make sense. Everything comes from Him- I think we sometimes struggle with this one more than we should. Hey I won, or I did really good at something. Think about all of what comes from God and how much credit we take for it. Oh you are naturally good at it? That makes it really easy to give God the credit. But wait, you aren’t naturally good at it, you aren’t all that gifted but you are still good at it because of your work ethic? Where do you think the work ethic came from? God put you in the family you are in, in the circumstances you are in, to be who you are. Paul even makes fun of this in Philippians when he talks about how they are bragging about where they are from and what their blood line is, and so on. He reminds them that they had absolutely nothing to do with that at all. Everything happens through Him- So many times I have prepared myself, I have seen myself as perfectly ready for whatever may come my way and then boom! Some kind of surprise some sort of eye opening experience that I never prepared for. How about Philippians 3:1-6 Paul is making fun of people who brag about their lineage, their heritage or their family line. He makes fun of them because they are bragging as if they are better in reality they are giving God all of the credit. We have absolutely no say in where we are born, who we are born to, God controls all of that. Everything ends up in Him- So here is how it works, we can give all of the credit to Him to begin with, we can make it all about Him, or we can make it about us and then in the end realize we missed out on so much of life because we made it about us when we could have been glorifying Him. All the glory goes to Him- If it were about me, I’d expect God to fix all of my circumstances. But it’s about him, and he’s more interested in growing my character. If it were about me, it would be unfair to have to wait for gratification. But it’s about him, so his timing is what matters, and he is set on developing patience in me. If it were about me, I would need to worry about making sure everyone around me likes me. But it’s about him, so his approval is all that matters. If it were about me, I’d go nuts trying to do all the things I think are important. But it’s about him, so his simple agenda – his perfect will, is all I’m responsible for. At the end of the day, the most important thing you can realize about life is that it isn’t about you. It’s about the One who made you to love you, to make you his, and to make you holy. Why is this so important for us to grasp? Because of Psalm 78:1-8 Every one of us on this earth today, every person here today in worship. Until we not only fully accept that it is about God, but also exemplify it to the next generation there will be no changes in this world. We tell people to come to church, we tell people to turn their faith and their trust to God, we tell people to accept the free gift of salvation. But we continue to talk about sports and hobbies and finances, those aren’t all bad but our kids figure out what is important by our actions. The next generation will see what we make life all about and they will look at one another and say, that is what it’s all about and I pray and hope they say that God is what it is all about. Alexa and PJ often talk me into going on long bike rides at the beach. It mostly goes something like this, we unload the bikes and head closer to the water, PJ tears out wide open and Alexa takes off not far behind. They both keep a pace that would make Lance Armstrong jealous, and their dad well I seem to keep up just enough speed to be able to see them what seems like miles ahead down the beach. One day we were riding and I was way behind and struggling, it was really windy and ofcourse we were riding against the wind. PJ and Alexa struggled less because they don't stop the wind as well as their father does. Well, several miles into the ride I see PJ turn around and then Alexa and start heading back towards me and back to the truck. Well, as PJ passes she says "Hey it's a good thing the wind shifted so that you can keep up better fat boy." Well, she was young and her statement was partially correct. It was a VERY good thing that we were going with the wind now and I would be able to keep up a little better. The wind did not shift, we changed our direction. Basically, in life we have two major options. Acknowledge that life is about our creator or find out later after we pedaled against the wind all of our lives that it wasn't about us. I don't know about you but I despise not having the opportunity to thank people when needed. I want to thank GOd each day and give him the glory now so that I don't wake up years from now and realize I missed the opportunity by making things about me.