Bible Study: Outside the Comfort Zone (Aug 1, 2008)

This was the last Bible study for the 2007-2008 Genesis year, ‘term’, wrapping up our Renewed thinking, Reformed living theme. There was TONS of good discussion but unfortunately not all of it was recorded down, I will do my best off my memory.

Just a quick note, for this Bible study we traced comfort zone to its’ origin which mainly applies to missions, not that the modern sense of the word is wrong; this is just the approach that we took.

The passage of study that we chose is found in Matthew 10:24-39:

24“A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!

 26“So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

 32“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

 34“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
   ” ‘a man against his father,
      a daughter against her mother,
   a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law -
    36a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

 37“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

The main discussion questions were:

1. How does verse 25 relate to this entire passage? Beelzebub is the prince of the demons.

 

 

 

 

2. ‘Do not be afraid’ is mentioned three times, what are they referring to and what do they mean?

 

 

 

 

 

3. What does it mean to take up your cross and follow Jesus (verse 38)?

In short verse 39“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” summerizes this entire passage. Being outside of your comfort zone means to be willing to sacrifice our safety, our hopes, and all that missions entails for Christ. Verse specifically talks about giving up of one’s life or even your fear of giving up your life for the sake of the Gospel (martyrdom) and being an apostle and follower of Christ does not mean you need to die for Christ literally (it seems like a far stretch, but it may happen) – to be fully devoted to Christ would mean to be able to give up everything. Life is the most precious gift given to us and so if we are willing to even give up our lives for Christ, that means that every other gift we have been given, our friends, our family, our career, education, money, etc. would go too. And that is what missions is … to be willing to give up everything to do His work. 

To summarize what we have learned … being outside of your comfort zone and even getting out of your comfort zone involves:

• imitating Christ and being obedient to God
• being bold
• fearing God above all else
• surrendering and understanding that He will be there no matter the circumstance
• and to be completely selfless, willing to sacrifice no matter what the cost

Bible Study: Heart of Outreach (July 4, 2008)

Hello all you readers on the interweb, first I want to apologize for the lack of updates, we are REALLY REALLY SORRY SORRY!! We are going to try and update this retroactively… so as a result some posts are going to be more or less detailed than others, please please just bare with us!

Working on our theme for the year “Renewed mind and Reformed living” we started moving into the reformed living part for the summer by looking at the heart of outreach. The passage of study for that week was found in Phillipians 2: 1-11

 1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
 6Who, being in very nature^[a] God,
      did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
 7but made himself nothing,
      taking the very nature^[b] of a servant,
      being made in human likeness.
 8And being found in appearance as a man,
      he humbled himself
      and became obedient to death—
         even death on a cross!
 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
      and gave him the name that is above every name,
 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
      in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
      to the glory of God the Father.

We continued with our inductive style approach of Bible studies in which we each first looked at the passage ourselves and made notes of what jumped out at us and any questions we had. Then we brought those notes and questions back to the big group and discussed them. Questions discussed during the night included:

Why does Paul state these ‘prerequisites’ before commanding us to have the same attitude in our service to God? (v. 1)

 - note that  he states “if”  in the beginning à he’s saying that any act of service or external righteousness must flow from our internal relationship with God (v. 1 “united with Christ, comfort from His love, fellowship with the Spirit..”)

What does it take to be in the right place to serve God? (v. 3-8)
- what does it mean to be made nothing?
    àhumility, emptying ourselves, acknowledging that we are nothing until we allow ourselves to be instruments of God
- example of Jesus, who is the son of God already, made himself nothing; he chose NOT to be on his throne in order to become a servant

Why do we need to be “united” in mind, love, spirit and purpose? (v. 2)
-  see Romans 12:4 – 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others
- we need to be aligned in our purpose in order to serve effectively, supporting each other in his/her calling or work

The main point we were trying to drive home that night was that before we can even begin to start outreaching, we need to first humble ourselves and what better model of humility than Jesus Christ?

Application questions:

1.  How can you considers others better than yourselves and still keep an accurate view of who you are in God?

2. In what practical ways can you “look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others”?

3. Read John 12:24-25.

 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

How does Philippians 2:5-11 parallel with this passage?  Are there things in your life that you need to let go of in order to advance God’s kingdom wholeheartedly?

Bible Study – Faith & Deeds

James 2:14-24 

Faith and Deeds

 14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

[o1]  18But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
      Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.[o2] 

 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. [o3] 

20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless^[a]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”^[[o4] ^b] and he was called God’s friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

[o5] ________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 [o1]How does the absence of deeds nullify faith?

Can we really keep our faith “personal” – only something between God and us?

 [o2] Can you really “show” your faith without deeds?  How can what you do demonstrate your faith?

 [o3] Why did James make this comparison?  What point was he trying to make by saying even demons believe what we Christians believe?

 [o4] In addition to validating our faith by deeds, what is the more important end result here?

Which is it that you think God was most pleased by – Abraham’s “deed” or his “deed-justified faith” or his character?

 [o5] If we are saved by grace through faith, why then do we need to “justify” our faith by deeds? (see Ephesians 2:7-9)

 

See Passage Questions at the Bottom

 

Comment #1 – While our relationship with God is personal, our faith cannot be kept “personal” as only something between God and ourselves.

- we can’t say we love God and be unwilling to take care of those whom God loves

- in this case, just praying for them isn’t enough

- **link to comment # 5

 

Comment #2 – Jesus Himself found it necessary to not just claim that he is “humble and gentle” (Matthew 11:28-30), he took concrete action; he took the place of a servant and washed his disciples’ feet..

- Analogy: whenever we make a claim, we need to show that it is valid in some way

- e.g. a math genius feels lazy and doesn’t put down any answers on the exam paper and gets a zero; then he is as good as someone who knows nothing about math at all

- in the same way if we call ourselves Christ-followers and do not live as a sacrifice for others, then practically we are as good as nonbelievers

 

 

 

Comment # 3 – following from v. 18, it sounds like if you only know that there is one God, it’s as if you have faith without deeds… and according to v. 17, this kind of knowledge-faith by itself is as good as “dead”

- so if we know but do not act, we are as good as the demons who fear the existence of God, practically speaking

 

Comment # 4 – the more important end result to God is the transformation of our CHARACTER in the process (in this case righteousness)

- His purpose is to mold us into the person that would naturally be doing these things

- the fruit of our work and sacrifice is a byproduct of our obedience and submission to God’s will

- Even though in the end Abraham didn’t have to take Issac’s life, it goes to show that what matters most to God is our willingness to act on our faith and our love for Him, and not necessarily the “task” that we accomplish

- God is honoured, and He in turn honours Abraham by calling him “friend”

 

Comment# 5 –

- God didn’t need Issac, so if we believe that God is perfectly content without us, then He MUST have greater purpose for asking us to be “living sacrifices” (in this case Issac is a literal living sacrifice)

- because in essence God doesn’t need anything from us, He doesn’t even need us in the first place

- God’s greater purpose is to change us in the process of acting out our faith.  The schematic shows how this works.

- **linking back to the example of a brother in need – sure, God could provide for them if He wanted to, but yet God asks us to be the provider

 

Faith –> Action –> Character 

Take faith as our relationship with God – we have a relationship with Him because we believe in Him by faith

It is from the overflow of our relationship with God that we are able to pour out as Jesus poured out (Action)…. Yet when we pour out to others, we build character and in turn also strengthen our relationship with God ( ↑ Faith)

- and once our faith is “increased” we dare to do more for God and can push ourselves our of our comfort zone

- Abraham’s example – it’s safe to say that his faith became greater after he willingly gave God his son; if he is willing to sacrifice his own son, what else wouldn’t he do for God?

THUS…  why do we need to justify our faith? à It isn’t just about showing non Christians that we are real or that God is real, it also BUILDS our relationship with God, it grows us in the process

- we become what we do, our values sooner or later conform to our behaviour

            - like any relationship, we actively show our trust and love for the other person

- if we feel loved by God because of how much He has done for us, don’t you think God feels the same way towards us when we obey His word and love Him by serving others?

 

 

Summary/Emphasis of discussion:

- the majority of the passage (v 18-24) talks about why and how deeds justify faith

- for v. 14-17, it is interesting that James doesn’t tell us to demonstrate our faith by doing something “religious” e.g. jump off a bridge, or go walk in front of a running car and expect God to miraculously save us..but rather it involves someone else’s needs i.e. a hungry brother or sister

- although doing something for others isn’t the only way to show our faith, like Abraham sacrificing his son wasn’t benefiting anyone directly, it is certainly emphasized here

 

 

Application Questions

 

 

1.         If the Cross signifies Jesus’ sacrifice for us, what would “taking up the cross” mean in the context of this Bible study?

            - the Cross symbolizes Jesus’ identity as the Lamb, a living sacrifice

            - if He calls us to take up His Cross daily, it would mean that we are to take up the same role, to have a servant’s heart and put others’needs before our own

            - if we’re not at the stage where we can sincerely put other ppl’s needs first, then at least we can start to learn to be aware  of others needs, and to be sensitive to them

 

2.       Re-read James 2:14-17. In Romans 12:2, it says,

 

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” 

 

How does putting your faith into action relate to renewing your minds and testing and approving God’s will?

 

-  we have transformed our mind the first half of the year – now it’s time to take action and “test and approve God’s will” through our experiences.

 

3.         In what ways can you offer your bodies as living sacrifices to others?  How can you concretely help someone in need?

  

4.  Were there any burning questions or observations that you’d like to share with your group?

 

 

 

 

Bible Study – Giving

Romans 12: 1-8

Living Sacrifices

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

——————————————————

We discussed the passage above during our Bible Study.  The passage on “Living Sacrifices” was chosen to complement this month’s theme on “Giving”.  Even though much of the discussion we had this past Friday did not specifically touch on giving, a lot of great observations were made on the passage.  A few of the points made in our discussion are below:

- From verse 2: When you align yourself during the “renewing of your mind”, you may be able to “test” His will.  By “test”, the passage may refer to looking at situations or places in your life where you are able to see God’s guidance and direction, only after you have “renewed” your mind.

- From verse 3: The important point from this verse, is to think of yourself with sober judgment, or humbly.  When looking at the phrase in this verse “in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you”, one may question whether the amount of faith we have is given to us by God, or whether it is just something that we develop ourselves.  One way to respond to this may be that God does give us faith, but whether or not we use and practice this faith to the fullest us up to our own control.

- Many other great observations and questions were made from this passage.  Please add to our discussion in the comments!

Workshop – Priorities

Investing Time with God

Purpose: To understand the importance of investing time with God by understanding its value and looking at Jesus’ example.

A. How much time do you actually spend with God?

The “average” person has an average of 40 million minutes in their life. They spend it using 2 weeks waiting at stoplights, 3 years in the washroom, 2 years on the phone, 1 year getting dressed, and only 7 months connecting with God. Though, this is an average.

“But I’m too busy! Not today… I’ll do it tomorrow.”

- But remember: God would never give you so much to do that you could not accomplish it after having time with Him. 1 Corinthians 10:13.

“You don’t spend time with God, you invest it. Time alone with Him can be one of your greatest time savers.” (Bill Thrasher)

- Spending time with God shouldn’t be another thing on your ‘to do’ list. This attitude only leads to resentment from the added pressure that it produces. It should be viewed as a gift from a gracious and kind God.

B. Why should we invest time in God? What are the benefits?

1. Life is a spiritual battle. Be geared up. (Ephesians 6: 11-13)
2. A person becomes like the one he focuses on. (Matthew 6:33; Psalms 37:4)
3. You will be blessed. (Joshua 1:8 )
4. God loves it when we invest time in Him. It’s like giving Him a kiss. Start your day off with: “Good morning, God! *muah*”

C. What can we learn from Jesus’ example about investing time with God?

- It was important!

- Jesus lived in a way where He knew that every second was important, and He spent His time in the most effective way.

- Luke 6:12 describes the three things He spent most of His time on.

1. Investing time with God. < - He started with this!!!

2. Investing time with His disciples.

3. Investing time in His ministry.

- Spending time with God was a way for Jesus to get refuelled. This was a time for Him to intercede as well as receive renewal and refreshment.

- Did Jesus pray when His life was incredibly busy? Mark 1:3 YES! Of course. He made it a priority.

D. Devotions straight from the Word.

– Read the Scripture and meditate upon a truth. Does something hit you in the passage? Pray about what comes to your heart.

The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.

The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears,
and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back. (Isaiah 50:4-5)

Discussion & Thoughts

1. Did anything hit you from this passage above?

2. Why is spending time with God sometimes the least of our priorities?

3. During the times when you have neglected to invest time with God due to a busy schedule, looking back, how would things have been different if you had stopped to devote time to God?

4. Have you ever had times when you felt condemned or unworthy, and this has caused you to put investing time with God on the last of your priorities?

- Read Hebrews 4:16. Why should we approach God with confidence? What does this mean?

5. What are some things you have learned in your own walk about spending time with God? Struggles? Tips?

Bible Study – Too Busy Not to REST

Dear Genesis,

It’s crunch time for everyone, and this month’s theme is PRIORITIES.  Being university students, yes, school is one of our top priorities, but believe it or not, God has a bigger picture for our lives even as students!

Out Bible study this past Friday focused on God’s purpose for REST.  We hope that those of you who were with us have taken something away from it and those of you who missed it can also find rest in this crazy time!

_______________________________________

Key Passage: Exodus 20:8-11

8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

First we read this commandment (the 4th one) in the context of the 10 commandments (Exodus 20:1-17).  It is interesting to see that this commandment of rest is included in here along with other more seemingly “serious” commandments like “Do not murder, do not steal..”, and God used more than a few words to explain this one.

So…God isn’t exactly saying “Rest when you have time”, He’s seriously about you setting aside time to rest!

Digging into the passage…

1)  Why is the 4th commandment as important as the rest? (no pun intended!!)
- God wants us to put aside time for intimacy with Him
- commentaries have suggested that the first 4 commandments deal with our relationship with GOD, while the rest deal with our relationship with other people
- we need to rest so we can reflect on what’s been happening in our lives

2)  The “Sabbath” means literally to stop, to put an end to, to cease.  What feelings or thoughts are provoked when God tells you to STOP?

- we feel that if we STOP, we’re not in control of our lives anymore
- we feel like we’ll fall behind and the world moves on without us if we are to STOP
- it provokes a somewhat insecure feeling when we’re asked to STOP and take a break
- another reaction is “yay!” – God allows us to take a break and this is good! We can celebrate!
- it’s a chance for us to relax and recharge

3)  Why did God emphasize that neither you should work, nor your family, friends, pets, servants or enemies?  What is the purpose of “EVERYONE” taking a break?
- it’s a time for us to fellowship and celebrate TOGETHER what God has done for us as well

4) v. 11 – why did God have to rest, if He doesn’t get tired or weary – He’s God right?!

- God is modeling something for us.  Almost every day of the 6 days of creation, He took a pause, reflected at what He had done, and saw that it was good.
- He wants us to drink in the blessings that He has given us
- if we’re going so fast all the time, everything is a blur, we’ll never get to see the things around us clearly
- in addition, if God wants to point out areas that we need to work on, we won’t hear Him if we’re always too busy trying to “keep up”
- Psalm 34:8  Taste and see that the Lord is good…
- He wants us to enjoy time with Him and our family and friends

The MESSAGE of the Sabbath:

i) There’s more to life than labor

- God wants us to stop so as to not just view life through the lens of school/work
- although work is an important part of life, it is not what sustains us, God Himself sustains us
- when we do well, we think that it’s God’s will, and may be it is, but maybe there’s more to that — God wants us to care for more than just marks, success
- no matter how busy we are, He wants us to take care of what matters to HIM – people and His Kingdom
e.g. listening to a friend who is troubled, offering help in other ways

ii) Your time belongs to God

- our time isn’t our own but we act like it is
- the Sabbath is a boundary around our tendency to go-go-go-go-go
- He wants us to give Him 1/7 days (aside from having quiet time with Him everyday)
- if your life is His, then your time is also HIS

14 But I trust in you, O LORD;
       I say, “You are my God.”
15a My times are in your hands..
                                    Psalm 31:14-15a

 The Sabbath as a GIFT:

Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

Mark 2:27

 - the commandment to rest is as much as a gift as it is a rule
- it was made for us – it’s a GIFT!!

It’s a gift to PROTECT:

Ø      Our Body – from wearing out à Rest-oration

 

A decent day’s work so fatigues fools that they can’t find their way back to town.

Ecclesiastes 10:15 (The Message)

 

-  God knows what work can do to us; it can bring us power, prestige, success; also a place to hide from difficult issues that God wants us to address e.g. our hurts, our short-comings
- God knows that we can be chasing our own tails by over-seeking accomplishments
- hard work is good – but it can be misused as a way to validate ourselves or to gain approval from others e.g. if I get this mark, this degree, this job, I’d feel more confident and others will look up to me

 

 

 

Ø      Our Spirit – from tuning out à Re-member

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.                                                                   Hebrews 10:25

 - the antenna of God that wants to give u direction and nudges, but if you’re going too fast the signal starts to break up – then soon you don’t hear his voice
- when we’re lost,we go faster ; its makes us feel like we’re making progress, it makes us feel we’re in control
- our spirit needs to remember to tune back in to God’s voice
 - we need solitude to reflect on what has been going on, how we are doing in our walk with God, in our relationships with others, aspects of our character that we need to refine

Ø      Our Soul – from burning out à Re-creation

 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
                      he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
                                                                       Psalm 23:

- Remember no matter how busy Jesus was in his daily ministry, he often took time to connect with the Father alone
- For any mature Christ-follower, solitude is essential for God to restore our soul
- “re-creation” – NOT RECREATION – watch ball games, video games, shopping, drinking, most ppl need to recover from their weekend
- rather, take a walk, read a good book, do exercises that restores; activities that get you thinking
- do something that refreshes you
-  spend time in God’s word, meditate on it, drink it in, sleep on it
 

 

 

 

 KEY POINTS BROUGHT UP IN SMALL GROUPS

- we need constructive rest; not that there’s anything wrong with watching TV, having good food, but we need activities that are restorative
- while watching 6 episodes of 24 straight after the last exam gets your mind off things, and as quite entertaining as it is, it is still not restorative (rather draining and addictive! haha)
- what hinders us from resting or making time for God is not neccessarily the volume of our work, but it’s the value that we place on it
- if we think it’s important, we put our time and effort into it – and yes we should, but school or work isn’t the ONLY important thing in our lives
- some of us shared that we found the outcomes of our work to actually be BETTER when we give our time to God
- it boils down to TRUSTING that God’s plan for us won’t deviate just because we take some time off to take care of other more important things… e.g. our relationship with God and others
- example: If God’s plan for you is to graduate and become a _________, God’s not gonna let you chose to slow down to reflect on important things in your life, or chose to spend some time with a friend in  need etc.
- God WORKS even when we REST
- He is the one who provides and sustains
- God gave us the Sabbath day because He knows that through rest we will be able to work more productively with a refreshed body, mind, spirit and soul– compared to working non-stop

So… as uneasy as it sounds – REST! Plan ahead so you don’t need to pull all-nighters.  Even if you do, make sure you set aside time to rest afterwards. 

Good luck on exams and a final word – it’s ok to nap!!!!

 

Blessings,

Evie & Jenny

Bible Study – Selflessness

Last week we had a Bible Study on Selflessness. We covered a passage that looked at the selflessness of Paul. This passage was probably really confusing as we did not really analyze it as much. Let’s try that once again.

The passage was a part of the letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church. To give you some background, the Corinth Church was founded by Paul. Paul actually worked there for a year and a half as a tent maker. He, literally, made tents. This was his way of financially supporting himself while he spread the gospel in Corinth. (This is where we get our modern day “tentmaker” term from).

At this time in the Corinth Church, there was a lot of talking going on about whether Paul was a legitimate apostle or not. Now 2 questions come up to my mind when I hear this:

1. What is an apostle?

An apostle is someone who…

- has seen The Lord: (1 Cor 9:1)

- was called directly by Jesus Christ: (Luke 6:13, Gal 1:1)

- has the Holy Spirit of God: (1 Cor 2:11-14)

- respects and teaches The Word of God, and not their own philosophy: (2 Peter 1:20-21)

- has done miracles: (Acts 5:12, 2 Cor 12:12)

2. What’s the big deal of whether he’s an apostle or not?

Here’s an analogy. Say I, Stella, feel that I’m being called by God to be a pastor and I require schooling funds to reach that goal. Now, when I approach you and ask you for funds to help me with my calling, you may (whether it’s right to or not) question what I claim to be the truth. And eventually, as more people talk, this can cause a lot of problems.

Now, let’s read the passage…

 

 

1 Corinthians 9: 1-18

The Rights of an Apostle (TNIV) or A Pattern of Self-Denial (NKJV)

¹Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? ²Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. ⁴Don’t we have the right to food and drink? ⁵Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? ⁶Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?

⁷Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? ⁸Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? ⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? ¹⁰Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. ¹¹If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? ¹²If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?

But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. ¹³Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? ¹⁴In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

¹⁵But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast. ¹⁶Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. ¹⁸What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.

 

 

At first glance, it appeared to my that Paul was really boastful about his selflessness. But read the passage again. When you look deeper into the text and realize why he’s giving up his rights as an apostle, a deeper sense of selflessness shows.

Paul is giving up his rights as an apostle and supporting himself through tentmaking because if he had asked for the church to support him financially, physically, etc., this may cause those, who oppose to support him, to sin out of anger, malicious talk, etc. In other words, he doesn’t want to ask for corn (for example), because this request causes other to begin to talk maliciously and possibly break unity in the church. So to prevent the church from being tempted into sin, he’d rather not as for corn. I hope that’s a bit more clear.

Questions to think about:

1) What does it mean to be selfless? (Note: Phil 2:5-8). (You can think of examples of selfless people in the Bible. What is it about them that is “selfless”?)

2) When you see someone acting selflessly, how does that make you feel? What does it make you think? What light does this shed on why Christians are called to be selfless?

3) Do you believe that God would give different convictions to different people regarding the same area in life? (cF: vs. 5-6) Explain.

4) Can you think of a situation (or an example) where you considered your rights, yet at the same time felt convicted to give up those rights?

5) Do you find it difficult to be selfless? Discuss.

Prayer Labyrinth – February 22, 2008

Hi friends, sorry for the delay in posting the program from a few weeks ago. At Genesis that week Phila with the help of Miriam, Stella and Evie led a prayer program called the Prayer Labyrinth. We’ve been talking about self-control this month but most of the time the self-control we talk about requires an execution of our own strength, our own knowledge and our own sense of right. The question that we focused on for this program was “Where is the freedom and power in Christ?”

As mentioned in a Campus for Christ article, the basic premise of the prayer labyrinth is that

…you are on a pilgrimage with God to the center of a labyrinth and back out again.  At each station, you encounter God concerning a different aspect of your life.   

The main fellowship room was set up as the first station and the two adjacent rooms across the hall contained the 2-4 stations. The idea was to follow the printed footprints on the ground that led the participant through a journey within themselves towards away from the self and towards Christ. You can practice this program at home using the following signs that were posted for each station.

 Station 1: You and God

We have been talking about self-control. It is no doubt a part of living a holy and godly life. But unfortunately, often we execute it by our own strength, our own knowledge of God and by our self- righteousness. It is a matter of fact that our rational thinking and our human rational perception of God blinds us from transparently coming face to face with our God with our problems and brokenness and drawing strength from Him ALONE. 

This time is my no means a time to cast any guilt and shame on anyone because it is not all the nature of God. However, I’d like you to quietly take this time to BE HONEST to both and God and reflect.  

In front of you are some cards, I want you to pick up one and CARRY them (hold onto them) throughout this whole journey of reflection. On each card, I want you to be bold and honest and identify thing in your life that you’re unable to let God take control of and write it down. Don’t worry; no ones going to know what’s written on your cards except YOUR AND GOD. The point is YOU and HIM.

Try not to be distracted by the presence of other journey participants. I cannot emphasize this enough, TAKE YOUR TIME. May God richly bless you as you take this journey with Him.

 Station 2: Holding On

In front of you are some pebbles. They symbolize things that we insist on holding onto by ourselves despite God’s gentle and persistent call. Like the card, I want you to pick one up and carry it until the end of this journey. Take this time of solitude in prayer.

Station 3: Rest

Try to experience the weight of the thing you’re carrying with your own strength. How does it feel to have everything on your shoulders?

• Where’s that freedom and power in Christ that God has really called you to have?
• “For all have sinned and fallen short of his glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:24

Take this time to rest in God.

Station 4: Letting go

What’s your present feeling about holding onto this baggage?

In front of you, there is a pot of water, a garbage bin, and some red markets. Continue this time of reflection. Whenever you are ready (in your own time), I would like you to let go of things and ways that you’ve insisted to take control of rather than giving up to God.

• drop your pebble in the pot of water
• Use the red market to cross out your card
• Write Jesus’ name on it and you can even tear it in half if you would ilke
• Let the card go into the garbage

This point of the procedure is to allow you to experience the way of life in Christ’s name and the freedom and power through him ALONE.

At the end of the night, everyone returned back to the main room for a time of reflection and prayer within their small groups. They were encouraged to pray over the cards they have either torn or crossed out with Jesus. It was a really good time of reflecting upon the things that hold us back from truly surrendering our will to God. And to learn to rely on God’s strength to help us learn the skill of self-control and self-discipline.

Hopefully this program was the beginning of a habit of reflective time to reconnect with God in our own lives.  We should  allow God to tug at our heart everyday;  to welcome God’s calling and guidance and to not rely on our human knowledge and power.
 

Procrastination Workshop

Happy leap day everybody! We had an excellent workshop on procrastination last Friday, too bad the weather wasn’t the greatest but it’s ok all of our good discussion will be posted up!

So to start things off I will give you the wikipedia.org definition of procrastination which states that… just kidding! As university students (or past university students) I’m sure we have plenty of experience with this beast at one point or another.

We started off the night by looking at Luke 9:59-62 and really analyzing the characters and how they procrastinated. In this case the people who Jesus approached all made excuses and basically worried a lot about other non-essentials. The consequence of this was that they were not fit for the Kingdom of God since they were not truly following Christ. This is a classic example of procrastination that can be applied to our everyday school lives, we want to study and know that it is important but we make excuses like maybe I should check facebook first or my emails first. We don’t realize how much time all these little things really derail us, in the end we either don’t study or don’t spend enough time studying. The problem here is about prioritizing, if we are called to be students then we should be good students and anything begging our attentions from being a good student should take a backseat. Self-control isn’t an easy thing. One way to overcome this may be to force yourself to do it once and afterwards you will or should realize how rewarding it is to have your priorities done without anything in the way, after a few more times you will eventually internalize this new habit. You might have to put up physical limitations but you have to do whatever it takes.

Afterwards, we split up into smaller groups to look at The Parables of the 10 virgins (Matt 25:1-13), the Bags of Gold (Matt 25:14-30) and the Great Banquet (Luke 14:15-23) and analyzed them in similar fashion. Different types of procrastinators could be found in each of these parables including the dreamer (laid back), crisis maker (over-emotional) and the defier (rebellious). Don’t worry some of our discussion will be attached as well as a summary of the different types of procrastinators.

One useful way of overcoming procrastination is with the help of a scheduling timesheet! This is sort of the opposite of what you would think scheduling to be. You write out everything you have already done in a day including eating, walking to class, msn chatting, studying etc. you get the idea. The point of this is so that you can take a step back and really see how you spend your time and what wastes your time which can be a real eye-opener. If you have time you could be nerdy and make pie charts or bar graphs. An example of this will be uploaded as well, I’m not as nerdy so I just highlighted the things I did that waste my time in green and the things that should be my priority (God) in yellow and I realized that I had so much green time and not nearly enough yellow time. This is a really helpful way for us to look back and reflect on things like: if the way we spend our time reflects our priorities, if we are happy with the way we spend our time in hindsight and what we think God would want us to spend more time on. After identifying these areas we can then revamp your week and set time limits on how many hours you will spend doing certain things.

The point of this workshop was not only to learn practical ways in spending our time but also the motivation behind our  procrastination (being flawless, passive, cautious, rebellious, dramatic and do-it-all). The main questions are do you think that God’s purposes are important enough for your time?  What is God’s purpose for you? Why are you in school? Why has he called you there? When these questions are answered you can then prioritize according to what God values for your life (not your own) and then you can use these practical tools to help manage your time accordingly.

Anyways that’s the jist of what happened last Friday, hope you all find it helpful and I really encourage you to try out the time sheet, it really works!

Have  a blessed week!

Cheers!

Take home handouts: http://journeywithgenesis.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/timesheet.jpg, http://journeywithgenesis.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/procrastination_ws.doc, http://journeywithgenesis.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/feb-29-self-control_workshop_answersupdated.doc

Bible Study – Self Control

Galatians 5:19-23 (New International Version)

19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

This week’s fellowship was a bible focusing on the issue of self-control. Whether it be drunkenness, road rage, sexual immorality, or even doing our devos as opposed to staying up to watch another episode of some cheesy Korean drama, I think that as a university student, we’re faced with so many everyday temptations that chances are, they get the better of us on a regular basis.

For me, this bible study was a reminder to not succumb to all these worldly temptations because God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). Also, we have the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. (Ephesians 6:17-18). An interesting point brought up was that relying on the Spirit through prayer means more than just listing out issues in life believing that God will take care of it. Sometimes it means making your prayers two-way, and to listen to what God has planned for you and what actions you should take regarding the very things you are praying for.

Also, arming ourselves with knowledge of the word is definitely important as we were reminded of how Jesus himself responded to the temptations of Satan through quoting scripture. In the same way, we should be well-versed in His Word so that when we are confronted with something that doesn’t feel quite right, we can always turn to the Bible on what to do.

Finally, Colossians 3:12 tells us to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

How do we clothe ourselves every day? We purposely go to the closet, pick something out and put it on. We have yet to go to the closet and have an outfit jump off the hanger and on to our body! In the same way, God is telling us to purposely go to His Word for direction and by the power of the Holy Spirit purposely be full of the His fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control!

Cheers