From Part One:  Living as God Defines Living  Chapter Two: Establishing Our Need, p. 11 Know that bowing before God places us in the exact right place; smack dab in the Master's workshop; held in his hands.  Here our Savior begins dealing with the rust, dust, grime and broken pieces of our lives, the layers that we are often blind to and helpless before.  Here and no where else are we able to effectively deal with the restraints of our culture, personal life experience, religious experience and training, economic status, everything.  Here in the Master's workshop everything can and will be dealt with.  And you, the one created in his image, will be restored to him, the Creator.

From Part Two: "Designed for Life:  A Biblical Model for an Honest Pursuit of the Words of God!" 2.2a Reading Simple, yet very powerful.  Reading the Bible begins a process of opening our eyes to the world of God, to his "otherness," the ways and thoughts of God that are higher than our ways and thoughts as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55.9).  Reading is so clean and simple and yet very powerful.  2.2a.1  Time for the goose bumps. I can (you can) pick up the Bible and (now think about this - here come the goose bumps) read an overview of the entire history of mankind - Creation, redemption, kingdoms rising and falling, future events. And not only that but I can sit with my Bible on my lap and read the intimate details of the lives of people who have walked this earth thousands of years earlier.  Amazing, simply amazing, that I can read the details of Job's struggle of faith.  Equally amazing that I can read the Psalms and chart much of David's spiritual journey whether he wrote while hiding in a cave or ruling his kingdom.  The New Testament is equally revealing as Paul, the great apostle and leader, exposes his inner struggles.   "So when I came to you, I was weak and fearful and trembling" (1 Corinthians 2:3 NCV).

Living by the Words of God! Brief Outline for Part One:  Living as God Defines Living! Beginning:  Am I living by the words of God?                  Do I want to live as God defines living?  Do I want to stay alive?                          Do I want to believe God about life?                  Do I want to face the reality of God now                     or do I want to wait until I stand before him in eternity?                  We begin answering those questions as we examine another question:                                       Am I living by the words of God? This Essential for Life: In Deuteronomy 8.3 and Matthew 4.4, we are confronted with this essential for life – that we need more than food to live as God would define living; in fact, we need to live by the words of God.         So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did          your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man            lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD (Deuteronomy 8:3 NKJV).          But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that           proceeds from the mouth of God'" (Matthew 4:4 NKJV). What should our response be? The premises for this study:          To live as God would define living,            we need to face the words of God in Deut 8.3 and Matt 4.4.          To live as God would define living,            we need to establish the certainty of our need to live by the words of God in our minds and hearts.          To live as God would define living,            we need to grow in our understanding of the words of God.          To live as God would define living,            we need to live by the words of God. Chapter One:  To live as God defines living,                          we need to face the words of God in Deut 8.3 and Matt 4.4.          A. To live as God would define living, we need to live by the words of God.          B. To live as God would define living, we need to know what it means to live by the words of God. Chapter Two: To live as God would define living,                            we need to establish the certainty of our need to live                             by the words of God in our minds and hearts.         A.  We need to know our starting point: The fear of the LORD.          B.  We need to examine our perception and our value of God's words.         C.  We need to evaluate our ability to handle truth in general and truth about ourselves specifically. Chapter Three: To live as God would define living,                            we need to grow in our understanding of the words of God.         A. We need to continuously develop our learning skills and resources.          B.  We need to learn and practice an approach to Scripture that best equips us to answer                "What does it say?  What do the words of God on the pages of our Bibles say?"         C.  We need to deal with the effect our fallen nature has had on our reasoning abilities. Chapter Four:  To live as God would define living,                           we need to live by the words of God.         A. Living by the words of God, we love God.         B. Living by the words of God, we honor our calling and uphold our legacy.         C. Living by the words of God, we allow God to establish his priorities in our lives.         D. Living by the words of God, we come to the light.         E. Living by the words of God, we live by the words of God now.         F. Living by the words of God, we take on the yoke of Jesus Christ.         G. Living by the words of God, we lose our lives along the way. CONCLUSION: Am I living by the words of God?