The 1 Lie the Devil Always Tells

http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/2012/06/the-1-lie-the-devil-always-tells/

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Sunday, June 3, 2012

We met at Wes and Pam’s place.  Noah was a little under weather.  Jordan was having a pyjama day.  Teri and Ray were not able to make it.  Vana was here and kept the teens on their toes with all her great questions.  It was a good day.  :)

My notes are kind of sketchy for this lesson because we kept going off on rabbit trails and having interesting discussions. 

1.  What was the basis of Paul’s confidence in the Christians in Rome?

• Johanna – “1 they were full of goodness and knowledge and able to instruct each other”
• Nicole – “1. they were good”
• Vana had issue with the concept of “instruct each other”.  So we worked on that idea for a bit.  What did it mean?  And then it was asked “what happened from what we see happening here in the NT to what we have today?”  We see the people sharing their lives, their God stories… passing them down from generation to generation.  We don’t see this much any more in the greater Christian culture/religion.  We have cherry picking the verses of Scripture, but nothing personal being shared.  I offered that we moved from being families to institutions with religion.  And in the religion we stopped having encounters with God, because now we had a person as a go between… a person (“professional Christian”) who we went to with our questions and would get word for word Scripture answers, those expected “boxed answers”.  I see the need for God’s people to share more of their personal experiences with God and let go of what is expected as answers and lifestyle and choices Christians are burdened with in todays world.
• I don’t remember exactly how we got on the concept.. but I think we were talking about how we no longer fit into the typical church going people box.  And someone threw out that we are now “Free Range Christians”.  We all had a good laugh about that. 

2.  List some of the things God has accomplished through Paul’s life.

• Johanna – “He preached Christ from Jerusalem to Illyicum”
• Nicole – “2. he brought lots of people to Him”

3.  What things have you seen God use your life for?

• Johanna – “3. I don't know :\”
• Nicole – “3. .....”
• Pam – “the forming of this community we now find ourselves in.  I remember back in 2007 when I had been reading about home churches and Lori saying that they would be interested in being part of one.  My response was I was not going to be starting a home church!!!  And Wes pointed out that it started with a group reading a book and the it took off from there.”
• Wes shared that being part of Teri’s journey when she finally realized that God loved her, and seeing that weight lifted off her and the revitalization Teri had with her new found freedom and revelation.  It was was such an awesome thing to be a part of.

4.  Why did Paul prefer not to minister where others had already ministered?  Was this a wise decision?

• Johanna – “4 because he didn't want to start with someone else's teaching. Didn't Jesus say something about one sowing and another reaping? The idea of going where no one else has preached has its merits because no one gets missed. So yes”
• Nicole – “4. ...”
• I think it was a good decision at the time.  No one needed to have “competition” in the teaching department in a certain area.  And if they spread out, there was hope that all peoples would get to learn about Christ and the good news of freedom he brought to all people.  However, I offered that in todays world I might not have the same rule because I have experienced that so many people live under so many false teachings/understandings of who God is and what He wants for his people that many haven’t actually been told the “good news” of Christ.  They are victims, prisoners of religious teachings and still need to be set free.  People may know the name of Christ and why he came BUT they don’t KNOW him yet.

5.  What principles of evangelism from Paul’s life could you apply in your life?

• Johanna – “5 He encourages a lot... I don't encourage people enough””
• Nicole – “5. Yeah same as Johanna..”
• Wes answered with this verse --

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

New International Version (NIV)

2 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. ² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. ⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

6.  What do you think it means to “witness for Christ”?   Share your understanding and/or experiences with evangelism.  (Either you engaging in evangelism or someone trying to evangelize you.)

• Johanna – “6 I have never really talked about God with anyone... I have tried once or twice but it never got very far. Once I got asked about creation and God and I felt very ill prepared”
• Nicole – “6. to "witness for Christ" is telling people about the Good News”
• I knew that most people would understand this question as telling people the good news story with the hopes of convincing them or converting them to being Christian.  Most people think of witnessing and evangelism this way.  But earlier this year I had read something about witnessing that was eye opening for me.  What is a witness?  The dictionary says – “One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced.”   So I would offer that true witnessing would be sharing with others how Christ has worked in our lives, how we have seen him work in others lives.  Sharing what we have experienced, not what we know or can quote from Scripture.
• So take time to reflect on what YOUR story with Christ is.  Seek Him.  Pay attention to what God has done or is doing in your life.  Ask not – what would Jesus do? but instead look around to see what Jesus is doing now.  :)
• this blog post shared this thought (http://biblelovenotes.blogspot.ca/2012/06/thank-god-for-taco.html) --

When I’m honest and use God’s name naturally with unsaved friends, it’s sometimes the very thing that makes them initiate deeper discussions about the Lord.  Evangelism rarely consists of sharing the whole Gospel at once--something most of us fear because it's usually unnatural. The most effective and most natural way we witness is by talking about God in our everyday conversations.
"Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone"  Colossians 4:6, NIV

7.  Are you reluctant to talk about God with others?

• Johanna – “7 depends a bit on the person but I don't think so”
• Nicole – “7. No I'm not”
• Paul started out by saying he was reluctant to talk about God with others.  He didn’t want to be the one to bring God into the conversation.  And I think again when we first hear this question, we think of talking about God to people.  But I read the question differently.  Are you reluctant to talk about God WITH people?  And I would have to say from what I have observed of people in our community that none of us have trouble talking about God with people.  However it is different story to talk TO others about God, where you bring God up in conversation with an agenda on why you are bringing God up.  I have seen Christians do this in my past, they talk to someone with the agenda of evangelizing them or trying to convert them or convince them of something.
• It has been my experience that quite often someone who I am with will bring God into the conversation and I always see this as an divine appointment by the Spirit and I try to be a listening ear for the person and try to figure out why this moment has been orchestrated by the Spirit and what part I am to play in the conversation.  Is it just a listening session, is it to share about the freedom and love I know of God, is it to encourage this other person?

8.  If you would like to share… do you remember who shared the gospel message with you?  Tell us about your walk with God up to this point in your life.

• Johanna – “8 um I've kind of always known about God. I know I accepted Christ when I was 5 and got baptized a while later. I had a lot of trouble with whether or not I was saved and what kind of a "Christian" I was right up until we started coming to fellowship and talking about salvation etc.
  I've grown a lot in my walk with Christ since then mostly because I nominally proud ra place where I can ask all my questions and they get answers. And now I'm working on keeping up my relationship with God when there is no meeting of our family for that purpose. “
• Nicole – “8. i don't really know when it happened. it's a thing in my life that has always been there. ”
• I have had the same experience has Nicole and Johanna.  I don’t remember a time in my life without God.  In my teens, spectacular testimonies were a big thing at the church I attended.  And I questioned whether I was a Christian or not.  So when I was at Bible camp I decided to accept Christ, but I did it privately.  There were no fireworks or excited feelings.  So I figured I must have done it wrong.  So next at an evangelical meeting in our town, I went there and when the altar call came I went to the front to accept Christ.  I figured I needed to do it publically to make it real.  But guess what, still no fireworks nor an emotional response.  So after that I figured God didn’t want me.  I didn’t know why and I wandered lost (spiritually) for a long time.  I never gave up on God, I continued to go to church.  I even remember going to a prayer meeting one night at my church.  We all went to the front of the church to pray.  We stood in a circle and the pastor went around the circle and would stop in front of someone and start praying and prophesying.  I remember thinking… “do not stop in front of me!”  But he did.  I was mortified!  But what he said struck me – he told me that God had great plans for me and was going to use me for Him in a mighty way.  I was gobsmacked!  He was going to what????  Me!?  No way!  And for many many years… nothing happened.  I looked for ways for God to use me but nothing came about.  But now looking back, I wonder if maybe these past 4 years or so have been that time my pastor was speaking about.  I do feel like God has used me to help people and bring people together and grant me the privilege to have people in my life that I can share my God journey with.  For so many years I had no one to be a family in Christ with.  I am so thankful for God bringing us all together and I excited to see what else He has in store.  <3

 

Love

A video that gives a whole new meaning to love being a choice… -- http://inspiredtoaction.com/2012/06/love-is-a-choice/

peace

I read some great posts this morning…

 

1.  Show me your faith apart from your works -- http://www.alanknox.net/2012/05/show-me-your-faith-apart-from-your-works/

-  “The English term “faith” carries a range of meanings from trust and confidence to adherence to a set of religious principles. But, in Scripture, faith tends toward the former meaning: a strong trust or confidence in someone. In particular, faith is concerned with trusting or having confidence in God.”

-  “In verb form, translators often use the English term “believe.”  Today, the term “believe” is often used to indicate a mental assent or agreement.”

-  “Those who are saved trust God, and those who trust God are saved. Similarly, those who trust God will demonstrate that trust by their actions, their works.”

2.  That God kind of love  --  http://www.alanknox.net/2012/05/that-god-kind-of-love/

-  “the Samaritan’s love was not simply an emotional response, but instead it resulted in action that benefited the other individual. Jesus is saying that this is the kind of love that we should have for anyone that we meet: a love that goes beyond differences and cultural standards and generously gives and serves for the benefit of the other, that is, for the one who should be hated.”

3.  Trust and love… now what? Fellowship and discipleship…  --  http://www.alanknox.net/2012/06/trust-and-love-now-what/

-  “Trusting God results in loving God and loving others. When we love God and love others, that love will be demonstrated in our lives.  How is it demonstrated? In Scripture, two terms are used as umbrella terms to describe the “now what”: fellowship and discipleship. Not only are these two a direct response to trusting God and love, they are also related to one another.”

 

Good stuff! 

Hmmmm, what do you think?

 

About 5 years ago I learned that all sins are equal, that there are no sins worse than another.  And we have discussed this together before.  We as humans like to think that someone else’s sin is much worse than ours.  The other day I came across a guy’s blog who says that not all sins are equal.  You can read his thoughts here – http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2009/09/all-sins-are-equal-in-gods-sight-and-other-stupid-statements/. 

What do you think?

Christian Ethics

from Dave Black’s blog:  http://www.daveblackonline.com/blog.htm

the basics of Christian ethics:

• Be committed to truth and mutual respect.

• Watch your words and guard your tone.

• Be ready with a positive solution.

• Make sure you're using the right weapons. This involves the Word, kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness.

Remember: When we attack the person rather than the problem, we are setting ourselves up for disaster. Make sure your weapons don't cause you to sin.

 

This post shares an experience that showcases what Dave Black wrote about Christian ethics:

You can read the story here (http://www.wadeburleson.org/2011/06/militant-homosexuals-loving-them-to.html), and it starts under the heading “The Meeting with the Militant Homosexual Organization” (starts part way down the page).  It is a very touching story and it has given me a great lesson on how to love people.  This part of the story really taught me –

“I then said, "To be candid, I don't think I am the one with the agenda. You asked me to meet. You have stated it is your desire to change my mind. You are planning on picketing the church I pastor to convince our people that we are homophobic. My only agenda is to get to know you and to love you. If you ask me what I believe about homosexuality, which you did earlier in our meeting, I will tell you. But it is beyond my ability to convince you that what I am saying is true. Only God can convince you that what feels so right to you is in reality disapproved of by Him. I am simply called by Heavenly Father to love you where you are and that is precisely what I intend to do." ”