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Romans 12 is about “community life.”  It is about members of the body of Christ serving together and living out the gospel.

The people of God from the beginning have lived in families, tribes and fellowships.  They have always known they are better together.

Our relationships can be described as a “cross-beam.”  Vertical relationship is with God, the horizontal is with people.  It is about loving God and your neighbor.  Mt. 22:37

> With God

Prayer more than any other single activity, is what places us in the flow of the Spirit.

It is our relational connection to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Prayerlessness is not just sin, it is disconnecting us from our source of power.  Following Christ means being a praying person.

Each of us in a sense has an “outer court” an “inner court” and a “holy of holies.”

Relationally we connect in these three levels.  There is public prayer, prayer with friends and then just you and God!

> With Others

“The single most common finding from a half-century’s research on life satisfaction, not only from the U.S. but around the world, is that happiness is best predicted by the breadth and depth of one’s social connections.”  Robert Putnam

Connectedness is not the same thing as knowing many people.  People may have many contacts in many networks, but hey may not have any friends.

Connectedness brings:

The gift of love.“If you can’t do great things, do little things with great love.   If you can’t do them with great love, do them with a  little love.  If you can’t do them with a little love, do them anyway.”  Mother Teresa

The gift of commitment.  The early church new connectedness didn’t just happen; it took commitment.

The gift of joy.  Prov. 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

The gift of belonging.  This is why in community we call each other “brother and sister”—it is about family—-not institution

The gift of confession.  I cannot be fully loved unless I am fully known.  James 5:16

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm tender hand.”  Henri Nouwen

The Spirit flows best in authentic human relationships—transparency means come as you are.

This whole piece of spiritual formation is about “relationships” and not “programs.”  It is connecting with God through our human relationships.  Community is huge in a church and MCC is no exception.  We are a “community” following Christ and serving in His cause.  Community is our middle name for a good reason!

The Teaching Outline:  SF My Relationships

God is always present in our lives and every moment helps to shape our spiritual life.  BUT if we are going to grow to be more like Christ or grow in character it will take some intentional disciplines.

I am convinced after nearly 38 yrs in ministry that this time issues has become overwhelming to most people.  Time has become one of our most valuable resources; sometimes even more than money!  The really huge piece of its value is that we all have the same amount no one is richer in this resource.

My experience in the DE was that I couldn’t add more to my schedule; I needed to reduce some things in order to get more time for God.  The same is more than likely true for you too.

Some things to help with your spiritual alarm:

> Time with God is a must (Mt. 26:41)

“The goal of prayer is to live all my life and speak all my words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God.” P. 134 The Me I Want To Be

“I must pray what is in me not what I wish were in me.”

Humility and Honesty are key ingredients for regular daily prayer.

Prayerlessness is a sin and a spiritual pandemic

> Time for regular reflection is essential (Ps. 139:23)

The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring conviction (Jn. 16:8)

The purpose of our nemesis is to steal, kill and destroy.  We have a built in alarm to warn us of his work in our lives.

> Time for repentance keeps us healthy

“The battle against temptation is a noble fight, but if we simply try to repress a desire, it will wear us out.  We need to have a very clear picture of what kind of person we want to become, and why.”   P. 140

We become vulnerable to temptation when we are dissatisfied with our lives.  The deeper the dissatisfaction, the deeper our vulnerability, because we were made for soul satisfaction.   P. 141

The Teaching Outline:  SF My Time

I had the pleasure of attending a lectureship at Lincoln Chrisitian University this past week entitled; “Discipleship To Jesus for the 21^st Century”. Dr. Michael Wilkins from Talbot Theological Seminary was the lecturer.

He stated that the “to” was important because in English we don’t have a case system and it was emphatically important to understand that our primary learning relationship is with Jesus Christ. People are important and learning from them is important but primarily we are under the teaching relationship of Jesus first and foremost.

In a very simple post I wanted to let you know my biggest take away.

Three measures of Discipleship for a local Congregation:

John 8:31 ¶ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

John 13:35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

He said that if he were pastoring a congregation again these three things would guide his efforts at a discipleship model. That got my attention because that is what I am currently engaged in. Sometimes academics have to get really practical

So, Word-Love-Fruit.

1) How do we intentionally get people in the Word and obeying it in their daily lives.

2) How do we create environments that encourage and give opportunity for people to be loved and to love each and every day.

3) How do we evaluate fruit from our lives, ministry and congregation?

The first two of these are a whole lot easier to work on than the third. Our Life Journaling and emphasis on bible study are ways of helping with staying in the Word. We are trying hard to make some of the more historical methods of scripture reading and application take on new life in our generation. Hard, reading in general is a challenge and reading for application is even harder!

Creating environments seven days a week to have people be loved on and to love others is hard. We are so “come to church” minded it is hard to get people caring for people in their daily environments. Whether that is work, neighborhoods, or school it just needs to be targeted for Christ like engagement.

I, we at MCC, have struggled with measuring fruit without becoming legalistic or elitist. Fruit in all the biblical contexts I am aware of is some thing that is visible and tangible. The practical nickels and noses of evangelism are quite easily used as fruit measures by most churches. Measuring things like character and giftedness are a little harder.

John Ortberg’s new book The Me I Want To Be is a great new source of information and challenge for those seeking to grow spiritually.  As always, he is great in helping me to understand the process of growing and not just making me feel guilty about not being a better person.

The process that is explained centers around “my mind, my time, my relationships and my experiences.”  “The only way to become the person God made you to be is to live with the Spirit of God flowing through you like a river of living water.”   See Romans 8:1-11

Henri Nouwen wrote, “Spiritual greatness has nothing to do with being greater than others.  It has everything to do with being as great as each of us can be.”

Spiritual formation is the process by which your inner self and character are shaped.

The first place of shaping our inner self and character begins with our mind.  As a general rule, our emotions flow from our thoughts.

1. Our thoughts are impacted by four major desires that are within each of us.  Material wants, achievement, relational satisfaction and physical needs.
2. Our thoughts must be constantly monitored.  See II Cor. 10:5, Phil. 4:8
3. Our thoughts must be turned into obedience.  See Jam. 1:22, Mt. 16:23, and 22:37

So much of what I see in the lives of people who want to grow spiritually is a victimization to their feelings.  I am not saying that feelings and emotions don’t matter, they do.  BUT we must remember that those feeling originate from somewhere.  Many of us could grow more effectively by bringing our emotions under the control of a better thought life.  Living in the flow of the Spirit allows us to transform our minds and thus not be dominated by our feelings.  See Romans 12:1-3.

I don’t think our Lord is all that impressed by our common excuse of “I don’t feel like it.”  Feeding our minds can really be improved if we will focus on reading the Word, thinking about the Word, praying the Word and then obeying that Word.  For most of us it is easier to be smart than it is to good.  Spiritual formation is about changing that!

The teaching Outline:  SF My Mind