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LESSON 1 Back to:
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These lesson outlines were prepared by Doug Yopp for use in the adult Bible class at the church of Christ at Beverly Shores, Leesburg, FL, USA. Here is his introduction to the first lesson: When things in life do not turn out the way we want, we have certain ways that we react to them. Disappointment, bad news, and difficult people all cause us to act or overreact, blow up or focus on the negative aspects of the situation. Many times this not only immobilizes us, but can cause frustration, overreaction and sometimes abuse of others or ourselves. As we do these things, we lose sight of the big picture: our goal of getting ourselves and our family and friends to heaven. Many times we alienate or annoy people around us who are really trying to help us. To live our lives as if it were one big emergency, rushing around, looking busy, trying to solve every problem, often compounds the problems we are dealing with. Many of the things that I will be suggesting are from the book "DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF...and it's all small stuff", by Dr. Richard Carlson. However, as with any book or publication, anything we look at or try to do must be taken only in the light of God's Word. The author is not a Christian, so what I have done is to take many of his ideas and see what the Word says about them and see if we can apply them scripturally in our lives. We all want to please God, and we know that we can do this by following his word, but it is sometimes difficult to see the practical applications to our daily lives. A while back we did the same thing with books by Gary Smalley, concerning our relationships as men and women. This study will try to help us to first examine the problems that come our way in light of the Word of God, and then to focus on strategies that, hopefully, will help to turn stress and unhappiness into joy and exhortation of ourselves and others. [BACK TO: BIBLE inSITE] |