Provision 2025
Provision in Criticism
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Discussion Point #1: Other people’s opinions are not a place for our happiness… Other people’s opinions are not a place for our purpose. We find our purpose in God and we find happiness in that purpose.
The difference between joy and happiness: happiness is temporary, it is from the outside and comes from outside circumstances. Joy is a state of being from being content.
Jeremiah 29:11 11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.
God had the plan before we were born. He curated our desires, hopes, dreams, ambitions in order to fulfill not what we want to do but what He needs us to do, and in fulfillment we will find true joy. So other people’s opinions about us won’t matter. What has God instilled in you that ignites that ambition?
Discussion Point #2: Pain will come, but there is purpose in it, so we are able to push through the pain because we know the end result. When we find our purpose, the criticism will come because people are not going to understand where you are going—because you aren’t going the same place. People will label you, and when people label you, they try to disqualify you. What labels do we need to remove from our lives that other people have put on us to disqualify us?
2 Timothy 1:9 9who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity
Isaiah 41:9-10 9I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 10So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
Discussion Point #3: Discussion #3: Since God is the author of our lives, He knows how our story ends. The author does not put the story to publish without knowing how the story finishes. Are we disheartened because we want the end result without our story being truly written to completion?
Hebrews 12:2 1looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
John 15:18-19 18If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.
They hated God first, so if they don’t like us, we are in good company. Don’t sweat it!
Challenge for the Week: Build yourself up on who started you. God is the author of your life—allow Him to write and finish your story…