I know my writing and posting has been haphazard (at best) in 2015. I'm not promising any changes. I'll post here and there and you can let me know your thoughts. Here's a little study I used with my college group recently that I thought you might like. We're going through a Randy Frazee book that I would highly recommend.
In the book Randy Frazee takes subjects Christians should be thinking about, discusses the corresponding right action that should go with those right thoughts, then talks about the virtue we should all be living based on those thoughts and actions.
Name one movie you think everyone should see and everyone should love.
Name one song you think everyone should hate.
If you're with any group larger than 1, I'm guessing you will have difficulty agreeing on the list.
Christians argue about a lot of things. What are the absolute basic things you think we should all agree on?
Think – Salvation
One might think that salvation should be on the list of things every Christians agrees on. Let’s look at some scriptures and see where the disagreement comes from.
Mark 10:17-22 – Do Good Works
John 3:1-7, 9, 16 - Believe
Acts 2:14, 21, 37-38 – Repent and Be Baptized
Romans 10:1-4, 9-10 – Believe and Profess
Ephesians 2:8-9 – Come to Faith by Grace
So, do Paul contradict Jesus? What do you think was at the heart of Jesus’ conversation with the rich man?
Randy Frazee writes that Jesus was attempting to get the rich man to admit his powerlessness to fulfill the Law. I tend to agree that many of us need to be slapped awake to the idea that salvation is something we cannot (ever, not a chance, not in a million years) earn by our good works.
Act – Bible Study
This action follows the thinking of salvation simply because we have a need to study scripture in order to know and be able to communicate the Gospel to the world.
When Jesus was tempted by satan, Jesus only used scripture as a defense. How often have you, or someone you know, used the words feelings or I think when trying to prove a point?
Frazee asks what difference would be made in our lives if, for one week, we took the Bible everywhere we normally took our phones. What if we read the Bible for one week at every moment we would normally spend calling, texting, browsing or playing Candy Crush on our phones? What would be different about that week?
Be – Peace
Is peace the absence of trouble or the presence of something? If it’s a presence, of what?
Peace comes with salvation. God has died in our place! Assurance of peace comes with Bible study. Quite frankly, we should be able to read the stories of people who are way more screwed up than we are and have peace that, if we have accepted God’s terms, then we are okay. And if we are as screwed up as some of the people from the Bible, then we should also have peace, knowing that they were able to be reconciled with God. If they can, so can we.
Name one movie you think everyone should see and everyone should love.
Name one song you think everyone should hate.
If you're with any group larger than 1, I'm guessing you will have difficulty agreeing on the list.
Christians argue about a lot of things. What are the absolute basic things you think we should all agree on?
Think – Salvation
One might think that salvation should be on the list of things every Christians agrees on. Let’s look at some scriptures and see where the disagreement comes from.
Mark 10:17-22 – Do Good Works
John 3:1-7, 9, 16 - Believe
Acts 2:14, 21, 37-38 – Repent and Be Baptized
Romans 10:1-4, 9-10 – Believe and Profess
Ephesians 2:8-9 – Come to Faith by Grace
So, do Paul contradict Jesus? What do you think was at the heart of Jesus’ conversation with the rich man?
Randy Frazee writes that Jesus was attempting to get the rich man to admit his powerlessness to fulfill the Law. I tend to agree that many of us need to be slapped awake to the idea that salvation is something we cannot (ever, not a chance, not in a million years) earn by our good works.
Act – Bible Study
This action follows the thinking of salvation simply because we have a need to study scripture in order to know and be able to communicate the Gospel to the world.
When Jesus was tempted by satan, Jesus only used scripture as a defense. How often have you, or someone you know, used the words feelings or I think when trying to prove a point?
Frazee asks what difference would be made in our lives if, for one week, we took the Bible everywhere we normally took our phones. What if we read the Bible for one week at every moment we would normally spend calling, texting, browsing or playing Candy Crush on our phones? What would be different about that week?
Be – Peace
Is peace the absence of trouble or the presence of something? If it’s a presence, of what?
Peace comes with salvation. God has died in our place! Assurance of peace comes with Bible study. Quite frankly, we should be able to read the stories of people who are way more screwed up than we are and have peace that, if we have accepted God’s terms, then we are okay. And if we are as screwed up as some of the people from the Bible, then we should also have peace, knowing that they were able to be reconciled with God. If they can, so can we.
Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble. ~Psalm 119:165
Comments