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

Thursday, October 6, 2005

Good Morning!

Happy birthday to Nicole McKinney, whose birthday is today!

If you get a chance, go to our web site at leapclass.blogspot.com and look at Monday and Wednesday's posts to find links for a couple books that we are considering for the class. Let me know if you like one or the other specifically, or if you like the style/content of one vs. the other, or if you have a suggestion for a book.

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 10:1-10

Today's Discussion:

-- Hebrews was a book written to address some of the concerns of the Hebrew Christians who may have been considering returning to the faith of their birth -- Judaism.

-- in this scripture, the author (Paul, most likely) was comparing Jesus' sacrifice to the Old Testament sacrifices, and how God's plan for granting forgiveness changed with the coming of Christ.

-- our takeaway and/or encouragement from this scripture should be the permanance of Jesus' sacrifice for us; the assurance that our sins are forgiven. Wesley, in his writings this week, talks about those who come to Christ, and how some feel immediately the full assurance that their sins have been forgiven, and they immediately feel the joy from that, while others -- such as himself, find that joy and assurance sometime later in their faith walk,

-- this scripture is just one of many that should give of confidence in our salvation.

Question for Sunday:

-- do you have doubts about your salvation? how do you address overcoming those doubts?

Today's prayer request: The poor

One thing that Hurricane Katrina did was to expose to many Americans just how many poor people we have in this country, and some of the problems that they encounter due to their lack of money. One of the things that Jesus preached consistently was our obligation to the poor. Let us pray for the poor, and let us pray that each of us find ways to minister to them.

Actually, let's try this -- get $5 or $10 in cash, put it in your pocket, with the expectation that you will encounter someone or some opportunity today to give it away to someone who needs it.

Today's class member prayer:

Lynn Rocksvold

Have a great day.

Jay

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Good Morning!

As additional information, here is a link to the Purpose Driven life book page at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0310205719/qid=1128511013/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-8761174-3207203?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Gives you some additional perspective about the book, and a way to look through some pages.

If you haven't been able to look at some other books, look at Monday's note on the web for a similar link.

Website is at leapclass.blogspot.com.

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: Exekiel 20:8-13

Today's Discussion:

-- going back to the Old Testament today.

-- with this scripture, how do we connect it to our topic? I think it is the idea of rebellion. In the passage, God is talking about how the people of Israel had rebelled against his laws and commandments, and how God reacted and punished them for that.

-- in the context of our lesson for this week, we have talked about how our desire to move towards perfection is an outgrowth of our faith in Christ, and it should be something that we aspire to in reaction to our salvation. But I think that -- in my own mind at least -- we get the feeling that putting forth that effort is optional. Living a holy life isn't God's suggested response for us; it is the expected response.

-- this may be way overreading on my part, but, looking at the scriptures we've read to date on this topic, I would say that our takeaway is that not aspiring to live a sanctified life is a form of rebellion against God. God provides the grace for us to make that happen, and he outlines the path for us, but it is up to us to act on that grace, and to follow that path.

Question for Sunday:

-- how have you rebelled against God -- either consciously or unconsciously?

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:

Carl McKinney

Have a great day.

Jay

Tuesday, October 4, 2005

Good Morning! 

 

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:  1  Thessalonians 4:1-8  

 

Today's Discussion:  

 

-- in the scripture for today, Paul gives instruction about how we are called to live "a holy life".  We have talked about how some of the words surrounding this concept are scary -- "moving on to perfection", "holy life", "a sanctified life" -- words that seem intimidating and impossible to attain.  But this shouldn't discourage us or beat us down.  Yes, we should know that God's standards are pretty high, and the world's standards are pretty low.  But as we grow in our faith, and as we endeavor to encounter Jesus each day through prayer and reading, it becomes a standard that is closer than we think. 

 

-- this is where what we studied earlier -- the idea of means of grace (reading scripture, hearing preaching, communion, fasting and prayer) -- those are ways that God's grace is given to us to help us meet his standards.  These are the ways that we tap into God's sanctifying grace.

 

-- While this passage regards sexual immorality -- promiscuity was particularly rampant in the day that Paul wrote this -- there is more to a holy life than this.  One of the things that John Wesley particularly preached was that moving on to perfection didn't just involved those things we shouldn't do, but should also include those things that we should do.  Keep an eye out for that.

 

Question for Sunday:   

 

-- as we have continued on this study, do you have a feeling that you have tapped into God's grace through the various means of grace?  Can you point to a specific example of where you have been strengthened by that grace?

 

Today's prayer request:    Someone in need of Christ

 

Think of someone at your work place that you know is not a Christian, or perhaps a Christian but who has fallen away, and pray for them to tune into the way that God is calling them, and for God to use you in helping them find their way to God.  

 

Today's class member prayer: 

 

Megan Douglas 

 

Have a great day.

 

Jay

Monday, October 3, 2005

Good Morning!

Hope you had a good weekend. In class, we looked at a couple of possibilities for our next study. One book that might be a possibility is Devotional Classics, which is a reader that covers many, many of the best known Christian writers. Here is a link to the books page on Amazon, which includes an overview of the book, some reviews, and the opportunity to look at some of the actual pages in the book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060669667/qid=1128338040/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-8761174-3207203?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

If the link doesn't work, just go to www.amazon.com and search for Devotional Classics -- Richard Foster is the author. Foster has two other books -- one called Spiritual Classics, which is similar to Devotional Classics, and then there is a Spiritual Formation Workbook, which is a shorter, maybe six-eight week section.

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: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Today's Discussion:

-- let's start with an understanding by what is meant by sanctifying grace -- here are some nice, concise definitions that I found on the web:

What is meant by Grace?

This is the unmerited favor and love of God which we all experience. In simpler terms, this is the love that God has for all of us, even though we do not deserve it because of our sinful nature. John Wesley believed that this grace affects us in primarily three (3) different ways (Prevenient Grace, Justifying Grace, & Sanctifying Grace).

• Prevenient Grace - This is the divine love of God that surrounds all humanity and precedes any and all of our conscious impulses and actions. This is the action of God pursuing a relationship with us and urging us to turn towards God (repent) and to confess our sins so that we may be delivered from the bondage of sin and death through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
  
• Justifying Grace - Justification and Assurance - We believe God reaches out to the repentant believer with a grace of accepting and pardoning love. In justification, we are, through faith alone, forgiven our sin and restored to God's favor through the action of Jesus Christ.

• Sanctifying Grace - Sanctification and Perfection - We hold that the wonder of God's acceptance and pardon does not end God's saving work. Rather, through the action of the Holy Spirit, God continues to nurture our growth in grace in a continual journey toward "having the mind of Christ and walking as he walked." John Wesley would say this is our "going on to perfection" through the work of the Holy Spirit.

-- this week's lesson is about the idea of sanctifying grace, and how we should be open to it, and understand how it is in work in our lives. Also, this unit starts to get it where I hope we are individually after 20+ weeks of this study -- in closer relationship with Christ through a more disciplined spirtual life.

Question for Sunday:

-- this week's lesson starts to get at the idea that we've talked about some already -- the idea of "moving on to perfection.", of becoming closer to Christ. As we start to wind down this study, how would you grade yourself on your progress towards that goal?

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:

Ron Ray

Have a great day.

Jay