Friday October 7, 2005

Good Morning!

Hope that you guys can make it on Sunday. Note that I'm mostly likely away this Sunday.

Still need feedback from folks about the next study book, so let me know what your opinion is, whether by email or at class. If you have a suggestion for a book that I haven't mentioned, things are still wide open, so please suggest it now.

The new unit for this week is Unit 23, Sanctifying Grace

Focus Scripture for the Week:

1 Thessalonians 5:23

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely.

Today's Scriptures: Hebrews 10:11-18, John 17:11-19, Acts 26:12-18

Today's Discussion:

-- the remaining three scriptures for this week.

-- all three of these mention the idea of being sanctified by God through our faith in God.

-- again, sanctified is word that we may not use or be familiar with, but we get the idea. We know we are supposed to be a different person, a new person, when we get saved.

-- my take is that this week's lesson makes these points:

-- we are sanctified when we profess our belief in Christ.

-- that God expects us to live better, sanctified lives once we turn to Christ.

-- God helps us live a sanctified life by giving us the strength and guidance to do so through his sanctifying grace.

-- we can tap into this grace through what Wesley called the means of grace -- prayer, communion, fasting, reading the Bible and listening to the word being preached.

-- our call is to work daily towards living this sanctified life, to daily work on moving towards perfection.

-- the new life is not just about not doing things that are bad -- a sanctified life is as much about doing the things that we should, doing the work of God in this place and time.

Question for Sunday:

-- did you try the $5 experiment? how did that work out? how were you proactive this week in living a sanctified life?

Today's prayer request: Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims

Need to continue to remember this people, whose lives will remain in flux for the forseeable future. Need to pray for them to have peace, for comfort, and for them to get all of the assistance that they need to restore their lives.

Today's class member prayer:

Jodi Findlay

Have a great day.

Jay