Saturday, March 22, 2014
February 2014 Gathering: Who is a Christian?
Brian presented the topic regarding who is a Christian, how do people in remote areas get saved, etc.
January 2014 Gathering: Political Involvement
Claude presented the question: how much involvement should a Christian have in the political arena or otherwise on topics such as gay marriage, etc.?
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Discipleship
We had our monthly meeting on November 12 with our previously agreed upon topic of "discipleship". Before the meeting I had typed something up to ask a few questions to some Christian brothers that I work with to get a "feel" for what some others thought about this particular topic. I'll begin with the questions I asked them and brought these same questions to the study group to look for similarities and/or differences in our responses.
1. How would you describe a disciple and discipleship?
2. What are the misconceptions about discipleship?
3. Do you feel that the church is being the disciples that the Great Commandment, spoken by our Lord Jesus, tells us to be? If not, where do we fall short?
Using these to "spark" our meeting I was quite interested with the outside answers as well as the answers/thoughts we had within our group. The overriding consensus of the definition of a disciple was a follower, learner, student, etc. That brought up much more questions in the way of a "true" disciple and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. A very good reference was made by Eric in regards to the biblical references to a follower that follows so close as to get the dirt off of the shoes of the "teacher" all over himself. Of course, that leads to the thought of how close you are following as a disciple and the dedication to "become covered" in the dirt of the one that you are following.
We all spoke freely that to be a true disciple of Christ is to be "all in" and following Him by His example and His Word. I am of the opinion, and think Scripture supports, that if a person is a true follower of Christ (Christian) than they also will be a disciple. There are many that will be "professing" Christians, but only in word and not deed, that will never be a true disciple because they
are not a true believer. Disciples are to be growing in knowledge and being conformed (sanctification) and that should be outwardly evident, although some will be faster than others in this growth.
As far as the responsibility of a believer in discipling other it comes down to a couple of things. First of all one must be willing to disciple another. That is not to make someone else be more like us but to help them in the growth of their own walk with Jesus. We all agree that the Church and us as individuals within the church fail at that more times than we succeed. In order to be truly discipling others it involves some personal interaction and "getting dirty" with them. Helping others, especially those new to the faith, in discernment and a growing active knowledge of the revealed Lord and the instructions he has given us. With that being said, discipleship is not a "works" to gain favor and/or to gain some sort of "super-Christian" mindset. That is a common misconception in regards to the amount of discipleship one individual may or may not be active in.
To be discipling others the best example we have of that is our Lord Himself. He gave us the blueprint for helping others to grow in Him. Once again, we can gain a false sense of our own stature in this if we remove the object of who the Great Disciple is and try to replace Him with ourselves. I personally believe this to be one of the issues with discipleship today. A program bent on discipleship can be fine, if the focus is on helping the one being discipled to learn more about Him and not on completing a program or doing some monotonous task.
Discipleship is personal, it is time consuming, and it is hard. That being said, it is sorely missing in today's churches. We are very easy to tell someone once they make a profession of faith that "things won't be easier, they'll be tougher for you" and thank we have done our jobs discipling. We have done a great disservice to a new brother/sister in Christ if we stop there. Individual commitment is needed and that begins with our individual commitment to be disciples ourselves and study the Word of our Lord.
We concluded our meeting by setting a task before ourselves to think of what "we" can do better to help resolve this problem in our own lives and church instead of pointing the fingers outwards.
The topic for next month's meeting will be "Evil".
Meeting to be held at Billy's house in December along with completion of homework assignment given to each of us.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Recent Revival Services: Jonah, The Good Samaritan, Moses, & Abram
These are the notes that I took from the 4 revival services we had on the evenings of October 27-30. They are not meant to be perfect study tools. Rather, these are like outlines along with my own comments and as much as I could include from what was spoken. Please read through the verses as you read through what I have written here.
Speaker Greg Locke
Thoughts on the Jonah lesson:
Jonah 1:1-15
Psalm 85:6
Nineveh - capital of Assyria - very large - commerce center - gospel ignorant
He ran from God.
In the boat he was the only one with the truth, but he wasn't praying. He should have been preaching, praying, and prophesying.
It was determined that Jonah was the culprit.
If we stay in rebellion long enough, it begins to stop bothering us. (he was asleep)
Does the thing that used to turn my stomach now pitter patter my heart?
We can always find someone who will make us feel better in our rebellion.
God will show you He cannot be thwarted.
Revival will not come (might even drown and take others with you) unless you throw Jonah out of the boat (our own Jonah out of our life).
Do we come to church full of the world and ask God to fill us?
Speaker Greg Locke
Thoughts on the Good Samaritan lesson:
Luke 10:25-
He was the magnetic Messiah drawing crowds.
The lawyer was argumentative - paid to argue.
What must I do? This was his question, but the meeting is orchestrated by the Lord.
Go to the Bible for the answer - Deuteronomy 27.
He looked ridiculous and so he tried to justify himself.
In the parable...
He fell into the situation and was wounded & stripped.
The story is about our spiritual condition & calamity.
How do we respond to someone in this condition?
1) religion - won't stop, but will leave you dead in a ditch
2) Christian - has the truth, but to inconvenienced to share it
3) the loving one - saw with his heart; compassionate
To reach people no one is reaching, we will have to do things no one is doing.
Message trumps methodology.
Separation from the world is not the same as isolation. Go where the people are.
How did he show compassion?
Wounds are messy - don't marginalize people.
He made a financial investment in someone he had never met.
He gave him the front seat. He had to scoop him up. He took him to a place where he could get medicinal rehabilitation.
If we are pregnant with truth, we should give birth to obedience.
He stayed all night with him.
Does the church errantly operate only on business hours?
He pays for it all.
Who is the real neighbor? - the merciful and loving one
Do thou likewise.
Speaker Greg Locke
Thoughts on the Moses lesson:
Acts 7:20-
It refers to a time in which generational bondage was in place.
Forced abortion was in place because of Pharaoh's fear.
Moses' mother raised him in Pharaoh's house on Pharaoh's bill.
God is sovereign. Moses is an image of Jesus being a deliverer.
Moses was educated by the best, well-nourished, and good looking. He was the Prince of Egypt.
He would never have been happy again without visiting his people after God put it in his heart.
What God puts in your heart may not be seen by others.
God works on everyone's hearts at different times, in different ways, and in different measures.
God providentially allowed someone (of 3,000,000 people) to see him twice in two days.
Moses fled based on the man's words.
He became a shepherd.
God did not need his greatness. He beat Egypt out of him for 40 years.
Why did God do this? Psalm 78:22
All He wants is a broken, willing vessel.
He approaches the bush and God spoke...reminding him who his people are.
The ground is a holy ground - ground of holiness - place of consecration & commitment - feet/shoes are related to authority - giving away shoes meant agreeing to fulfill your end of the bargain. The only thin He wanted was his surrender.
God sends him (not when he had everything) when He has everything.
He always reminded the people about the coming Prophet.
40yrs (gained status) + 40yrs (lost status) + 40yrs (servant)
Sometimes the one who brings you to where you are is not who will take you where you are going.
The Lord buried him.
He wants my "shoes."
Speaker Jon Leighton
Thoughts on the Abram lesson:
Genesis 11:27-13:15
A man has unpacked who should be living out of his luggage.
The Lord has already promised him he would be blessed.
God spoke to him in Ur and told him to go to Canaan (from country and kindred), but he stopped 700 miles short in Haran.
3 options were exercised:
1) Abram delays his obedience. - brings disaster (Terah died there away from his country.)
A place of delay is a place of temptation.
The longer we stay the easier it is to stay longer.
1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 6:17; 1 John 2:15
It becomes a place of conviction.
God speaks 78 words to him in 12:1-3.
James 1:17
It is more about who you are than what you do.
It becomes a place of affliction; it affected those around him. Terah was buried in a pagan land
lust yields sin which yields death
The longer you stay the more likely you will die there.
Robert Robinson account related to "Come Thou Fount"
2) Abram partially obeys.
8 word reminder from God
God has plans for us at all stages of life.
Do I have a Lot that I don't leave behind?
Partial obedience brings tension.
God is not speaking because we have not done what He said to do - we are still in disobedience.
Don't go to where He was, but instead to where He is.
Abram & Lot - financial struggles
Partial obedience brings tension into his finances, family, and focus.
We should not let the world decide.
Abram was supposed to go to Canaan.
3) Full obedience brings communication.
God speaks again after Lot had separated.
God speaks 93 words - more than He had spoken before.
God blesses Him with wealth, but, even better, with communication.
To get the blessing of the new (newer, nicer, better, more valuable, longer lasting) we have to be willing to give God the old.
To obey or not to obey.
Speaker Greg Locke
Thoughts on the Jonah lesson:
Jonah 1:1-15
Psalm 85:6
Nineveh - capital of Assyria - very large - commerce center - gospel ignorant
He ran from God.
In the boat he was the only one with the truth, but he wasn't praying. He should have been preaching, praying, and prophesying.
It was determined that Jonah was the culprit.
If we stay in rebellion long enough, it begins to stop bothering us. (he was asleep)
Does the thing that used to turn my stomach now pitter patter my heart?
We can always find someone who will make us feel better in our rebellion.
God will show you He cannot be thwarted.
Revival will not come (might even drown and take others with you) unless you throw Jonah out of the boat (our own Jonah out of our life).
Do we come to church full of the world and ask God to fill us?
Speaker Greg Locke
Thoughts on the Good Samaritan lesson:
Luke 10:25-
He was the magnetic Messiah drawing crowds.
The lawyer was argumentative - paid to argue.
What must I do? This was his question, but the meeting is orchestrated by the Lord.
Go to the Bible for the answer - Deuteronomy 27.
He looked ridiculous and so he tried to justify himself.
In the parable...
He fell into the situation and was wounded & stripped.
The story is about our spiritual condition & calamity.
How do we respond to someone in this condition?
1) religion - won't stop, but will leave you dead in a ditch
2) Christian - has the truth, but to inconvenienced to share it
3) the loving one - saw with his heart; compassionate
To reach people no one is reaching, we will have to do things no one is doing.
Message trumps methodology.
Separation from the world is not the same as isolation. Go where the people are.
How did he show compassion?
Wounds are messy - don't marginalize people.
He made a financial investment in someone he had never met.
He gave him the front seat. He had to scoop him up. He took him to a place where he could get medicinal rehabilitation.
If we are pregnant with truth, we should give birth to obedience.
He stayed all night with him.
Does the church errantly operate only on business hours?
He pays for it all.
Who is the real neighbor? - the merciful and loving one
Do thou likewise.
Speaker Greg Locke
Thoughts on the Moses lesson:
Acts 7:20-
It refers to a time in which generational bondage was in place.
Forced abortion was in place because of Pharaoh's fear.
Moses' mother raised him in Pharaoh's house on Pharaoh's bill.
God is sovereign. Moses is an image of Jesus being a deliverer.
Moses was educated by the best, well-nourished, and good looking. He was the Prince of Egypt.
He would never have been happy again without visiting his people after God put it in his heart.
What God puts in your heart may not be seen by others.
God works on everyone's hearts at different times, in different ways, and in different measures.
God providentially allowed someone (of 3,000,000 people) to see him twice in two days.
Moses fled based on the man's words.
He became a shepherd.
God did not need his greatness. He beat Egypt out of him for 40 years.
Why did God do this? Psalm 78:22
All He wants is a broken, willing vessel.
He approaches the bush and God spoke...reminding him who his people are.
The ground is a holy ground - ground of holiness - place of consecration & commitment - feet/shoes are related to authority - giving away shoes meant agreeing to fulfill your end of the bargain. The only thin He wanted was his surrender.
God sends him (not when he had everything) when He has everything.
He always reminded the people about the coming Prophet.
40yrs (gained status) + 40yrs (lost status) + 40yrs (servant)
Sometimes the one who brings you to where you are is not who will take you where you are going.
The Lord buried him.
He wants my "shoes."
Speaker Jon Leighton
Thoughts on the Abram lesson:
Genesis 11:27-13:15
A man has unpacked who should be living out of his luggage.
The Lord has already promised him he would be blessed.
God spoke to him in Ur and told him to go to Canaan (from country and kindred), but he stopped 700 miles short in Haran.
3 options were exercised:
1) Abram delays his obedience. - brings disaster (Terah died there away from his country.)
A place of delay is a place of temptation.
The longer we stay the easier it is to stay longer.
1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 6:17; 1 John 2:15
It becomes a place of conviction.
God speaks 78 words to him in 12:1-3.
James 1:17
It is more about who you are than what you do.
It becomes a place of affliction; it affected those around him. Terah was buried in a pagan land
lust yields sin which yields death
The longer you stay the more likely you will die there.
Robert Robinson account related to "Come Thou Fount"
2) Abram partially obeys.
8 word reminder from God
God has plans for us at all stages of life.
Do I have a Lot that I don't leave behind?
Partial obedience brings tension.
God is not speaking because we have not done what He said to do - we are still in disobedience.
Don't go to where He was, but instead to where He is.
Abram & Lot - financial struggles
Partial obedience brings tension into his finances, family, and focus.
We should not let the world decide.
Abram was supposed to go to Canaan.
3) Full obedience brings communication.
God speaks again after Lot had separated.
God speaks 93 words - more than He had spoken before.
God blesses Him with wealth, but, even better, with communication.
To get the blessing of the new (newer, nicer, better, more valuable, longer lasting) we have to be willing to give God the old.
To obey or not to obey.
October Gathering: Tithing
Is tithing expected or encouraged? And what does it mean to tithe? Is the New Testament church required to give 10% on a monthly basis to a local church?
First, allow me to share several quotes that I found to be particularly thought provoking.
1) The purpose of tithing is to secure not the tithe but the tither, not the gift but the giver, not the possession but the possessor, not your money but you for God. Anonymous
2) What makes the Dead Sea dead? It is all the time receiving and never giving out. Anonymous
3) Givers can be divided into three types: the flint, the sponge and the honeycomb. Some givers are like a piece of flint - to get anything out of it you must hammer it, and even then you only get chips and sparks. Other are like a sponge - to get anything out of a sponge you must squeeze it and squeeze it hard, because the more you squeeze a sponge, the more you get. But others are like a honeycomb - which just overflows with its own sweetness. That is how God gives to us, and it is how we should give in turn. Anonymous
4) Grace binds you with far stronger cords than the cords of duty or obligation can bind you. Grace is free, but when once you take it you are bound forever to the Giver, and bound to catch the spirit of the Giver. Like produces like, Grace makes you gracious, the Giver makes you give. Eli E. Stanley Jones
Tithing is expected AND encouraged. We are emissaries and emulators of a God who gave His own Son. He is the creator of all. It all belongs to Him. Therefore, we should also be givers. Not only should we be givers, but we should give freely, sacrificially, and with purpose. While giving initially had percentages attached to it, we are to give as we purpose in our heart. God doesn't need our money. He doesn't want us to give begrudgingly. He wants us to give cheerfully. The reason God loves a cheerful giver is because He knows He has the heart of that giver. As far as how we divvy up our giving, and this is only my opinion, it seems that our giving should probably loosely follow the manner in which God blesses us. If God is blessing us through a local church, radio broadcasts, or other Christian organizations, then it seems reasonable for us to give to all of them. However, the majority of our giving will probably be to the local church to provide for the many ministries that are in motion and also for the pastor and his family.
First, allow me to share several quotes that I found to be particularly thought provoking.
1) The purpose of tithing is to secure not the tithe but the tither, not the gift but the giver, not the possession but the possessor, not your money but you for God. Anonymous
2) What makes the Dead Sea dead? It is all the time receiving and never giving out. Anonymous
3) Givers can be divided into three types: the flint, the sponge and the honeycomb. Some givers are like a piece of flint - to get anything out of it you must hammer it, and even then you only get chips and sparks. Other are like a sponge - to get anything out of a sponge you must squeeze it and squeeze it hard, because the more you squeeze a sponge, the more you get. But others are like a honeycomb - which just overflows with its own sweetness. That is how God gives to us, and it is how we should give in turn. Anonymous
4) Grace binds you with far stronger cords than the cords of duty or obligation can bind you. Grace is free, but when once you take it you are bound forever to the Giver, and bound to catch the spirit of the Giver. Like produces like, Grace makes you gracious, the Giver makes you give. Eli E. Stanley Jones
Tithing is expected AND encouraged. We are emissaries and emulators of a God who gave His own Son. He is the creator of all. It all belongs to Him. Therefore, we should also be givers. Not only should we be givers, but we should give freely, sacrificially, and with purpose. While giving initially had percentages attached to it, we are to give as we purpose in our heart. God doesn't need our money. He doesn't want us to give begrudgingly. He wants us to give cheerfully. The reason God loves a cheerful giver is because He knows He has the heart of that giver. As far as how we divvy up our giving, and this is only my opinion, it seems that our giving should probably loosely follow the manner in which God blesses us. If God is blessing us through a local church, radio broadcasts, or other Christian organizations, then it seems reasonable for us to give to all of them. However, the majority of our giving will probably be to the local church to provide for the many ministries that are in motion and also for the pastor and his family.
September Gathering: Guilt
When we spend time at our jobs trying to provide for our family, we have less time to spend with our family. How do we address the guilty feelings we have over missed time with them?
When we spend time with our family, we have less time to spend with God. How do we address the guilty feelings we have over missed time with God during extremely busy times of our life?
Our consensus was that God is a forgiving God. He knows about all of our pressures and responsibilities. He understands the expectation to provide for our family and to spend time with our family. Even though we may not always have the time we wish we had for reading the Word, we can still conduct our life as an act of worship. We can worship through our life while we work in a way that honors Him. We can worship through our life while we give love to our family and provide leadership to its members. While this doesn't excuse us from trying to make time in our schedule to read the Word, pray, minister, etc., we should remember that God does not deal in guilt. Guilt is a negative emotion that does not bring about right actions spawned from right motives. And regardless of what we have or haven't done in the past, we can only change what we do next. We should be good stewards of our time, but more than anything we should do our best to honor God in all that we do.
Topic initiated by Brian
When we spend time with our family, we have less time to spend with God. How do we address the guilty feelings we have over missed time with God during extremely busy times of our life?
Our consensus was that God is a forgiving God. He knows about all of our pressures and responsibilities. He understands the expectation to provide for our family and to spend time with our family. Even though we may not always have the time we wish we had for reading the Word, we can still conduct our life as an act of worship. We can worship through our life while we work in a way that honors Him. We can worship through our life while we give love to our family and provide leadership to its members. While this doesn't excuse us from trying to make time in our schedule to read the Word, pray, minister, etc., we should remember that God does not deal in guilt. Guilt is a negative emotion that does not bring about right actions spawned from right motives. And regardless of what we have or haven't done in the past, we can only change what we do next. We should be good stewards of our time, but more than anything we should do our best to honor God in all that we do.
Topic initiated by Brian
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