my notes from our May 6th discussions

READ ROMANS CHAPTER 12

• “each member belongs to all the others”
• “let him use it in proportion to his faith”
• “burning coals on his head”?  what does this mean?  My bible study notes said that it was an Egyptian custom for someone who was repentant to walk around with a pan of burning coals on their head and this could be referencing that custom.  The important thing to focus on is that the person come to repentance.
• “do not conform to the pattern of the world”  ---  conforming is different than doing, meaning you could participate in a ‘worldly thing’ without conforming yourself to those ways.
• it says “YOUR mind”, not to make sure that others around you do not participate and conform.
• “distributing to the needs of the Saints” = all of us… we are saints  :)

1.  WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A LIVING SACRIFICE?

• “serving God while your heart is still beating” – Josh
• “putting your self-preferring nature to death” – Wes
• “not giving dead sacrifices which would be like going through the motions, only doing a checklist with no love, obedience, etc” – Lori
• we are taught the lie that it is not a “sacrifice” unless it hurts BUT Jesus said his burden is light, His yoke easy.
• my study notes say – “Sacrifice was important, but even in the OT God made it clear that obedience from the HEART was much more important.”

2.  WHAT DOES PAUL MEAN WHEN HE TELLS US TO BE CHANGED WITHIN BY A NEW WAY OF THINKING?

• “getting into His pattern allows you to see His ways and what He is doing.” – Wes
• Instead of asking “what would Jesus do?”, look around and ask, “what is Jesus doing?”

3.  WHAT HINDERS CHIRSTIANS FROM THINKING AND ACTING LIKE PARTS OF ONE BODY?

• “denominations” – Lori
• “arrogance, etc” – Vana
• we are not taught we are THE body… His Body
• you have to interact with all the other parts
• “you must participate and experience functioning as The Body… and once you do it is a Holy Wow moment!
• teaching (words) are not enough
• when we think of the body we think limbs, and eyes and ears BUT what about looking smaller… the cells that make up the body that have just a single task???
• continuing with the thought of we are one body, Jordan came up with this analogy – “when there is pain in the body, all parts of the body are notified and do what they can to react to the pain and to help take care of the hurting part.”
• “it has been the practice of Christians to always keep ‘machine’ alive (the building, the programs, the religion) instead of working as a Body.” – Wes
• referring to the Body of Christ, Lori asked – “if one had never seen nor participated as a Body, could we still function as the Body?  Would we still know it when we saw it?  Perhaps the capacity to function as the Body would be there but the development would be determined by the programming that we knew.”

4.  WHAT ADVICE DOES THIS PASSAGE OFFER ABOUT GETTING ALONG WITH EACH OTHER?

• “your love must be sincere” – Vana
• “don’t LOOK for work…. seek God and where He is leading you at this time.
• “it is hard to live in harmony because there is always that ONE!” – Josh…. which then led into a discussion of what harmony is or isn’t
• what is the definition of harmony?  the dictionary says being in agreement of feelings or opinion.  There was a strong dislike of this definition in the room :)
• peace and harmony… verse 18 says, “as far as it depends on you”
• you can’t change others, only yourself
• Then we got into a big discussion about world peace and involvement in politics.  Josh said he believes that world peace is impossible and that he has no plans to get involved in politics to make his voice heard on different topics.  After this statement we had some great and passionate discussions on our views about this.
• how can we participate?  put away our selfish ways and look to what is good for the whole (others) and thus become “living sacrifices”.
• loving our enemies… who is our enemy?  anyone who goes against our self preferring nature???
• we then discussed harmony in music… how we all the notes are different, make thier own sound but when they come together for a purpose… a song… then they are in harmony.  So when WE come together with all our differences under one purpose (Christ) we are in harmony with each other.
• “being kind creates harmony” –Noah
• Josh shared that we need to respect each others opinions BUT he feels if you disagree with anothers opinion then you don’t respect it.
• Lori shared – “even though there is disagreement, you can still live in peace”
• Wes shared – “how to create harmony?  when I serve, I put myself last”  (living sacrifice)
• Vana wrote a poem Monday morning about our harmony discussions - http://sundreone.blogspot.ca/2012/05/harmony.html
• And later in the week I listened to a podcast where the idea of harmony was mentioned towards the end of the podcast -- http://thegodjourney.com/2012/05/04/a-god-filled-nobody-part-2/

5.  HOW SHOULD WE REACT DURING TIMES OF TROUBLE?

• Paul started singing the Beatles song “Let it Be”  :)   “

“When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be”

• Jordan said he usually tries to find a way to fix it.
• Deanna said it depended on what kind of trouble she was in, which then led to what does trouble mean.  We usually think of trouble as in we have done something wrong that is punishable.
• We discussed how our first reaction to trouble is usually fear or panic.
• our reaction to trouble shows us our reaction to God… is God a safe place or a judge?
• I shared that my hope with my kids is that we have such a relationship that when they find themselves in trouble, that don’t think – “man my mom is going to kill me” but instead “man I am in trouble, I need my mom!”
• Paul asked the question – “have you ever made the decision to go and confess what have done wrong the moment you find yourself in trouble?”  showing a repentant heart.

6.  WHY IS IT DIFFICULT TO WAIT FOR GOD TO ACT ON OUR BEHALF?

• because we are so IMPATIENT!!!

7.  HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR TROUBLES TO BE A BLESSING?

• “learn from our mistakes” – Josh
• “helps my relationship with Him” – Jordan
• “builds character” – Wes
• “we go to God more and we learn He is not a wrathful God.  It improves our relationship with God.” – Lori

8.  WHAT SPIRITUAL GIFTS DO YOU THINK GOD HAS GIVEN YOU?

• “good sense of humor” – Josh
• “good with kids” – Jordan
• “serving others, encouraging others” – Pam
• “a good talker” – Paul

9.  WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SERVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART?

• “what does it mean to serve God with part of your heart?”