Day 12 - Our Employer

Key #2 – God Provides For His People


Genesis 1:26-30; 2:15-17
• God made humans to exercise dominion over his creation by representing and working for him
• When our relationship with God is unimpeded by sin we represent him and can properly care for his creation
• When we are at rights with God, we do his work rather than our own

Genesis 3:17-19• What was the impact of sin on the way that humans would work in and interact with their environment?
• Working for ourselves and providing for ourselves apart from God’s provision is not a good thing as we so often believe, it is actually a sign of humankind’s rebellion against God


• Why does God want humans to ultimately work in concert with him rather than to provide for ourselves?


Matthew 28:18-20
• Jesus gives specific responsibilities and work to his disciples
• When we are reconciled to God he gives us his work to do (2 Corinthians 5:14-20)

• If you’re honest with yourself, does God’s work that he has called us to as disciples take priority in your life, or do other things like your job tend to take priority?

Matthew 6:19-34
• A restored relationship with God means realizing that God is the one who provides for us
• We don’t need to worry because God provides for those in proper relationship with him
• This doesn’t mean that we don’t need to work and that everything will pop up out of thin air
• It means, though, that we recognize that God is the source of all things
• Our jobs do not provide a living for us
• God provides for his people through our jobs. God is the provider
• His work, however, should still be our priority, knowing that when we are about his work that he will provide for us



• How does it change your perspective and actions to think that your job doesn’t provide for you but rather that God provides for you through your job?
• In what ways can you take on God’s work for you as a disciple as your priority in life while you are at your job, at school, in your neighborhood, etc.



Convictions
• Does your schedule demonstrate that God’s work is a priority in your life? (That doesn’t mean that you have to do more “church things” than anything else. It means that even when you’re at work, you are focused ultimately on the work of God’s Kingdom with everything else being a secondary goal.)
• If you had to file a spiritual tax return, would you have to list that you were employed by God or that you were self-employed?