Archive for July, 2006
- 90 Minutes in Heaven - Don Piper
- Same Kind of Different as Me - Ron Hall and Denver Moore
- Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
- Emma - Jane Austen
- Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling
- The Unusually Useful Web Book - June Cohen
- Radical Reformission - Mark Driscoll
- The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
- Summer - Edith Wharton
- Custom of the Country - Edith Wharton
- Glimpses of the Moon - Edith Wharton
- Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton
- The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton
- Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
- Sarah - Marek Halter
- Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
- Fresh Faith - Jim Cymbala
- Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
- The Sound & the Fury - William Faulkner
- Every Woman’s Battle - Shannon Ethridge
- Sheet Music - Dr. Kevin Leman
July 27th, 2006
Notes from our time with Chris & Jeri
Matt. 4.2: Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights. He went into the desert to be tempted, so he fasted and then Satan came to tempt him. Perhaps Jesus fasted to be more vulnerable to temptation? Or maybe he fasted from food and people to feed the Spirit–to be strengthened by prayer before his tempation. His temptation makes him more credible to us. If he had not been tempted. He would not be able to relate to us. If he couldn’t related to us, what would make him appealing to us?
Ex. 34.28: Moses fasted 40 days and 40 nights when he went on the mountain to receive the 10 commandments. Fasting makes you sensitive to yourself; it brings to light the weakness of your flesh, but it also makes you sensitive to God speaking and working in you. Had Moses not fasted he may not have been able to hear God’s Word to him.
From the Bible dictionary: Fasting can be done as a sign of distress, grief, or repentance; the law only required one day of fasting–the day of atonement. Just going without food and water will not automatically gain the desired results of a fast.
How does Spirit-led living connect to fasting? The idea of feeding the Spirit and starving the flesh is appropriate in regards to fasting. Fasting is not just a time to starve the flesh, for fasting is also a time to feed the spirit. The idea of fasting is to remove something you need (nourishment, sleep, companionship) or something you love or find pleasure in (television, chocolate, video games) for personal time with God. We can fast from our needs to show God that our relationship with him is more important than our physical, human needs.
Why should we fast:
- To repent: OT communities fasted as a sign of repentance when faced with destruction (Ninevah)
- To grieve: OT people fasted after the loss of a leader (Israel and Saul)
- To show distress: OT folks fasted when faced with trouble (Esther and the Jews)
- To hear/meet with God: Moses fasted when he went to the mountain to meet with God
- To begin a journey/do God’s work: Elijah fasted during the journey on which God sent him
- To face a challenging task: Jesus fasted before being tempted
How should we fast:
- Matt. 6.16: “Do not put on a gloomy face so others know you are fasting”–Don’t changed your manner or actions; behave normally when you fast.
- Luke 18.12: Understand the fasting doesn’t make you righteous before God
- Acts 13.8: Pair fasting with prayer. Replace the time you spend eating, watching TV, etc. by spending it with God.
- Ps. 109.24: Expect to feel physically weak.
- Is. 58.3: We should come clean and repent before fasting.
- Is. 58.5: God may be the one who prompts us to fast, especially before judgment and calamity.
July 8th, 2006
I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around these verses, not because they’re necessarily hard, but because (I think) I’ve heard and read them so many times.
Okay, let’s look at verse 8: “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another, for he who loves his neighbor fulfills the law.”
Let’s put this in context: Paul, in the preceding paragraph, wrote of doing good to remain under the governing authorities. If we stay away from evil, the governing bodies have no reason to avenge us, so how do this? By loving our neighbors (ah, yes, the Golden Rule rises again).
“Love therefore is a fulfillment of the law.” When we love, we don’t do evil and love wins! Right on.
July 7th, 2006
These verses are pretty straightforward. We should obey the governing authorities because God has put these authorities in place over us. When we oppose authority, we oppose and sin against God. If we do good, we have no reason to fear authority. If we do evil, those authorities are in place to avenge us.
Peter wrote about honoring the king who had scattered the Christians throughout the Mediterranean (1 Pet. 2.17). Because of our spiritual freedom, we are not to be rebellious toward the government. We should be law-abiding citizens, so we can claim the protection of the government if charges come against us. In Timothy 2.1-2, Paul charges us to pray for our “kings.” We don’t have to agree with them politically, but we are to pray for them. (See also Titus 3.1)
July 4th, 2006
Primary question: How is the faith God provides to every believer different from the spiritual gift of faith?
Faith: A belief in or confident attitude toward God, involving a commitment to his will for one’s life. Mere intellectual agreement is not merit for salvation (James 2.19–the demons believe in God). Genuine saving faith is a personal attachment to Christ: commitment to him and reliance on him.
1 Tim. 1.12: Because we know who we’ve put our faith in, we are able to remain faithful and obedient.
Eph. 2.8-9: We are saved by faith, not by works.
Gal. 2:16: We are not justified through the law but through faith in Christ.
Jude 3: We should fight for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
Pistis (Greek: faith)
Rom. 12.3-8 talks more about “the proportion of faith.” Do we all get different amounts according to our spiritual gifts? Do those of us with the spiritual gift of faith just get a higher dosage? It seems that there should be a difference in these faiths. Maybe it’s just easier for us to know where God wants us and to hear his leading and to act on his leading.
How much are spiritual gifts aligned with someone’s personality? Do those with faith have an easier time discerning what is trustworthy and what isn’t? Do they have an easier time trusting people? Are they more cynical? Does having faith just make placing faith in God easier? What is the role of this gift within the church? What does it look like?
My pastor’s thoughts on spiritual gifts from Sunday:
Spiritual gift inventories can be dangerous because they can prevent us from meeting the needs in the church that fall outside of our gifts. They prevent us from stepping outside of our comfort zones. Spiritual gifts are not to esteem ourselves, but we often use them to do so. Instead, we are to use them to esteem God. Spiritual gifts can change as we grow spiritually.
Ideally, we need counsel from other godly people to help see our spiritual gifts. No matter what, we must offer ourselves to God and trust him with our lives, our gifts, and our talents.
July 3rd, 2006
“For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself that he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith” (NAS).
Other versions and translations provided some insight for me, but a lot of my answers came from my pastor’s message this Sunday. First, here are my thoughts:
What is the “measure of faith” that God gives to us? Do we each get an equal amount? What about people who have the gift of faith? Are we only allotted a certain amount for our lifetime? How does one measure the amount of faith one has? Apparently, we are to measure our self-worth according to how much faith we have.
How does thinking of myself soberly have anything to do with the amount of faith I have (that God’s given me)? Perhaps the more faith I have, the more I see myself in light of the Father: an unworthy child of God. What else does God say about self-esteem and self-worth? As his follower, washed in Christ’s blood, who am I in his eyes?
My pastor spent some time preaching from Romans 12 on Sunday, and here are his thoughts on this verse: We need to have a sober view of self. We should think of ourselves with “God-esteem” rather than self-esteem. We need to set ourselves on God, not on self. We cannot covet the spiritual life God has given to others.
A measure of faith: Faith leads us to trust God in the measure of faith he’s given; it’s not our deciding what to do for God–it’s God deciding what we should do for him.
July 3rd, 2006
