This year, in 2018, Advent is from December 3rd-December 24th. Then Christmastide is from December 25th-January 5th. Then Epiphany falls on January 6th. Advent starts the 2018-2019 church year. After Thanksgiving, we tend to rush into Christmas so quickly that we neglect the last Sunday of the church year, Christ the King Sunday. On the last Sunday of the 2017-2018 church year, we look towards the Second Coming of Christ.
Why is this day significant? Why should we celebrate this day typically squeezed between Thanksgiving and Advent?
Because, our actions show that we tend to forget that Christ is coming back to judge the living and the dead. We get so concerned with this world that we forget about the one to come.
Christ is coming. Is my house in order?
Christ is coming. Am I sharing the gospel with the lost?
Christ is coming. Am I interceding for the lost?
Christ is coming. Am I obeying His commands? All of them?
Christ is coming. Do people know that I am a Christian?
Christ is coming. Am I praying for my persecuted brothers and sisters?
Christ is coming. Am I praying for my persecutors & those persecuting my brothers and sisters?
Christ is coming. Am I praying for my enemies?
Christ is coming. Am I studying the Bible?
Christ is coming. Am I letting the Holy Spirit transform me?
Christ is coming. Am I loving God with everything that I am?
Christ is coming. Am I loving my neighbor as myself?
Christ is coming. Am I concerned for those without the Truth?
Christ is coming. Is my life different (in a positive sense) than a non-believer's life?
This Christ the King Sunday, I encourage us to read passages referring to the end times.
Allow ourselves to tremble for the lost.
Ask the Spirit to move us to intercede for the lost.
Ask the Spirit for courage to interact and influence those without Hope.
And above all, remember: Jesus is Lord.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Thursday, November 15, 2018
The Spiritual Discipline of Study
November's Spiritual Discipline is the Inward Discipline of Study. In The Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, Richard Foster discusses the types of and ways to Study.
The goal of the Spiritual Disciplines is total transformation. We do this by replacing destructive habits with life-giving habits. Then we renew our minds by applying transforming things to it. Study guides the mind because the mind becomes what it focuses on. We use concentration, perception, and repetition to form ingrained thoughts. What we study determines our thoughts and habits.
Meditation is devotional, but study is analytical. There are two sides to Study. There is the verbal side such as books and lectures and non-verbal side such as nature and observing events & actions. Study allows us to perceive God's truth and reality of a specific situation or encounter or book.
There are four stages of Study.
1. Repetition-This is the stage of ingrained thought. We bring our minds to our subject of study repeatedly.
2. Concentration-This is the stage of centering the mind. We focus on attention on our subject of study.
3. Comprehension-We seek the knowledge of the truth. We try to define what we are studying.
4. Reflection-We try to find the significance of what we are studying. We ruminate on our topic to see things through God's eyes. We seek to understand the subject and ourselves.
Study is a Spiritual Discipline that requires humility. We need to learn from our subject.
Study is more than reading. There are three intrinsic and three extrinsic goals.
Intrinsic 1: Understanding: What does the author say?
Intrinsic 2: Interpreting: What does the author mean?
Intrinsic 3: Evaluating: Is this right or wrong? Do this after steps 1 & 2.
Extrinsic 1: Experience: Interpret and relate what we read through our experiences. Take time to understand and reflect on our experiences.
Extrinsic 2: Other Books: Dictionaries, commentaries, interpretative literature, other great books before & after the text you read, contemporaries of the book you read.
Extrinsic 3: Live Discussion: with other people, each other, and the author.
Our primary book we should Study is the Bible. We shouldn't just read for knowledge or facts, but for inner transformation and to be changed by the Holy Spirit.
When we study, we seek to interpret what we read. We ask, "What does it mean?" Study is the more in-depth and deeper method. We seek to be controlled by the intent of the author and the guiding of the Spirit.
In devotional readings, we seek to apply what we read. We ask, "What does it mean for me?"
Foster recommends that we set time aside each year for a private retreat to study for 2-3 days. The key to this is to study away from home.
We can read a major book of the Bible straight through. We can also combine it with reading a great devotional classic.
Focus on the structure, flow, areas of difficulty & things that confuse you (return to these again), record your thoughts and impressions.
We can read a smaller book through each day for a month. We can journal our progress. We can use secondary aids as well for this.
In addition to reading the Bible, we can also read great classics. These are markers by others who are on the same path we are. It is better to read fewer books books, but fully understand & experience them than read tons of books.
Now we're to the topic of nonverbal books.
Nature & Things: Pay attention. Observe prayerfully & carefully. Befriend animals.
Events & Actions: What does culture lift up as great events? What does a culture say they value? What do they really value?
Relationships: How often do we try to justify our actions? How often, after we act, do we try to justify our actions instead of letting our actions speak for themselves? What controls people? If we find ourselves judging, we observe that in ourselves and learn.
Ourselves: What controls me? Why am I experiencing a certain feeling or mood? Do I like or dislike a person? Why? What can I learn about myself?
Institutions & Cultures: What forces shape and form our institutions and cultures?
We can to ask questions. We can try to perceive the consequences of forces in cultures and make judgments according to biblical truths.
So now we are better prepared to do the Spiritual Discipline of Study.
The goal of the Spiritual Disciplines is total transformation. We do this by replacing destructive habits with life-giving habits. Then we renew our minds by applying transforming things to it. Study guides the mind because the mind becomes what it focuses on. We use concentration, perception, and repetition to form ingrained thoughts. What we study determines our thoughts and habits.
Meditation is devotional, but study is analytical. There are two sides to Study. There is the verbal side such as books and lectures and non-verbal side such as nature and observing events & actions. Study allows us to perceive God's truth and reality of a specific situation or encounter or book.
There are four stages of Study.
1. Repetition-This is the stage of ingrained thought. We bring our minds to our subject of study repeatedly.
2. Concentration-This is the stage of centering the mind. We focus on attention on our subject of study.
3. Comprehension-We seek the knowledge of the truth. We try to define what we are studying.
4. Reflection-We try to find the significance of what we are studying. We ruminate on our topic to see things through God's eyes. We seek to understand the subject and ourselves.
Study is a Spiritual Discipline that requires humility. We need to learn from our subject.
Study is more than reading. There are three intrinsic and three extrinsic goals.
Intrinsic 1: Understanding: What does the author say?
Intrinsic 2: Interpreting: What does the author mean?
Intrinsic 3: Evaluating: Is this right or wrong? Do this after steps 1 & 2.
Extrinsic 1: Experience: Interpret and relate what we read through our experiences. Take time to understand and reflect on our experiences.
Extrinsic 2: Other Books: Dictionaries, commentaries, interpretative literature, other great books before & after the text you read, contemporaries of the book you read.
Extrinsic 3: Live Discussion: with other people, each other, and the author.
Our primary book we should Study is the Bible. We shouldn't just read for knowledge or facts, but for inner transformation and to be changed by the Holy Spirit.
When we study, we seek to interpret what we read. We ask, "What does it mean?" Study is the more in-depth and deeper method. We seek to be controlled by the intent of the author and the guiding of the Spirit.
In devotional readings, we seek to apply what we read. We ask, "What does it mean for me?"
Foster recommends that we set time aside each year for a private retreat to study for 2-3 days. The key to this is to study away from home.
We can read a major book of the Bible straight through. We can also combine it with reading a great devotional classic.
Focus on the structure, flow, areas of difficulty & things that confuse you (return to these again), record your thoughts and impressions.
We can read a smaller book through each day for a month. We can journal our progress. We can use secondary aids as well for this.
In addition to reading the Bible, we can also read great classics. These are markers by others who are on the same path we are. It is better to read fewer books books, but fully understand & experience them than read tons of books.
Now we're to the topic of nonverbal books.
Nature & Things: Pay attention. Observe prayerfully & carefully. Befriend animals.
Events & Actions: What does culture lift up as great events? What does a culture say they value? What do they really value?
Relationships: How often do we try to justify our actions? How often, after we act, do we try to justify our actions instead of letting our actions speak for themselves? What controls people? If we find ourselves judging, we observe that in ourselves and learn.
Ourselves: What controls me? Why am I experiencing a certain feeling or mood? Do I like or dislike a person? Why? What can I learn about myself?
Institutions & Cultures: What forces shape and form our institutions and cultures?
We can to ask questions. We can try to perceive the consequences of forces in cultures and make judgments according to biblical truths.
So now we are better prepared to do the Spiritual Discipline of Study.
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