Everything listed under: MondayMatters

  • Monday Matters, 12/29/08

    Yesterday Mark taught us about Gospel-Centered Praying from Ephesians 3:14-21.  Consider this:

    What if the your auto mechanic had only one tool and it was a hammer?  What if your tax accountant didn't have a calculator?  What if your doctor knew how to use a scalpel but not a blood-pressure cuff?  What if a Christian only knew one prayer: "Lord, just bless 'em."  

    I added that last one myself because I've prayed weak prayers so many times.  Mark really served us by helping us learn from Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3.   He explained to us:

    1. Why pray? (vv. 14-15)
    2. How to pray? (vv. 16-19)  Paul's prayer includes several "wild card" prayer requests that are applicable to any Christian any time.  Mark showed us two of them:

      REQUEST 1: POWER.  In verse 16 Paul prays that they may be "strengthened with power in their inner being."

      REQUEST 2: INSIGHT.  In verses 18-19, Paul teaches us to pray for others that they might "know the love of Christ."
    3. What happens when we pray? (vv. 20-21)

    Mark finished by explaining that a message like this, coming as it does at the end of the year, is like a spiritual check-up.  It is a great opportunity to focus on your plan of spiritual disciplines for the year to come and make sure that three priorities are primary and present:

    1. The gospel!  How are you going to remind yourself of this good news every day?
    2. Scripture!  Do you have a plan, a place, and a time for the intake of God's Word?
    3. Prayer!  Are you praying for others? 

    Mark also gave us five practical suggestions for praying:

    1. Use the church directory - pray for one page a day.
    2. Pray for members of your caregroup.  (For members of five15, pray for others in five15).
    3. Come at 7am and join the Saturday Morning Prayer Group.
    4. Print out and keep emails related to prayer so that you can remember to pray.  Or start a prayer journal in a small notebook to keep track of prayer requests and answered prayer.
    5. Keep an eye open during ministry times after church: if one of your friends is requesting prayer, come pray with them.

    FOR PARENTS AND TEENS: here are some discussion questions for you to use to evaluate your current practice of prayer:

    • Is prayer a guilt-center for you?  Do you feel  guilty about the frequency, quantity, or quality of your prayers?
    • How often do you pray?   When do you pray?  What (and who) do you pray for?
    • How do you know what to pray?  Where do you get the words that you actually utter to God in prayer?  How Biblical is the language of your prayer?
    • What is the your biggest obstacle related to prayer?  

    GIVE SOME ATTENTION TO YOUR PLAN FOR SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES IN THE COMING YEAR:

    • How would you describe your practice of the spiritual disciplines in 2008? 
    • How do you want to grow to become more consistent?
    • Do you have a plan for reading your Bible in 2009?  What are you going to read?  Do you have a regular time and place set aside?  (laying down on your bed is not recommended!)
    • Is there anything you need to tell me?
    Monday, December 29, 2008 (No comments)

  • Monday Matters, 12/08/08

    This weekend was a CJ double-header.  Yesterday's message on adoption was one of the most amazing messages I've ever heard: that we might be freshly convinced of God's personal, particular, and passionate love for you.  From Galatians 4:1-7, CJ explained:

    1. The Preparation for Adoption (vv. 1-3)
    2. The Basis for Adoption (vv. 4-5)
    3. The Experience of Adoption (v. 6-7)

    CJ gave us some great quotes:

    "The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him, is to not believe that he loves you." John Owen

    "The question can be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father... Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption...  The truth of our adoption gives us the deepest insights the New Testament affords into the greatness of God's love.  Were I asked to focus the New Testament message in three words, my proposal would be — adoption through propitiation."  J. I. Packer

    "That justification—by which we mean God's forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance for the future—is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not in question.  Justification is the primary blessing, because it meets our primary spiritual need.  We all stand by nature under God's judgment; his law condemns us; guilt gnaws at us, making us restless, miserable and in our lucid moments afraid; we have no peace in ourselves because we have no peace with our Maker.  So we need the forgiveness of our sins, and assurance of a restored relationship with God, more than we need anything else in the world; and this the gospel offers before it offers us anything else... But contrast this, now, with adoption.  Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father.  In adoption, God takes is into his family and fellowship—he establishes us as his children and heirs.  Closeness, affection, and generosity are at the heart of the relationship.  To be right with God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater."  J. I. Packer

    "I once knew a good woman who was the subject of many doubts, and when I got to the bottom of her doubt, it was this: she knew she loved Christ, but she was afraid he did not love her. 'Oh!' I said, 'that is a doubt that will never trouble me; never, by any possibility, because I am sure of this, that the heart is so corrupt, naturally, that love to God never did get there without God putting it there.' You may rest quite certain, that if you love God, it is a fruit, and not a root.  It is the fruit of God's love to you, and did not get there by the force of any goodness in you.  You may conclude, with absolute certainty, that God loves you if you love God."  Charles Spurgeon

    Here are some discussion questions for parents and teens:

    1. Explain the phrase "adoption through propitiation."  What is the connection between justification and adoption?
    2. Do you think of salvation more in terms of justification or adoption?  In other words, is God to you more like a judge or more like a Father? 
    3. Describe your experience of prayer.  Do you find it hard to pray?  Why?  How does knowing that God is a Father to his children help you to pray?
    4. Are you confident that God loves you?  Why or why not?  What causes you to doubt God's love to you? 
    Monday, December 8, 2008 (No comments)

  • Monday Matters, 12/01/08

    Eric's message yesterday on Ephesians 3:1-13 was wonderful.  "The church's very existence proved that God's plan of salvation worked."  Through these verses, we see that the church is:

    1. God's Plan
    2. God's Proof

    If the church is evidence that God's plan of salvation has worked then there are two important implications of this:

    1. The gospel continually renews our sight.  Like a pair of glasses, the gospel clarifies what was blurry.  It reminds us that the people in our church, however different they may be from us, are "fellow heirs".  They are our brothers and sisters.
    2. We need to pray.  Especially, we need to pray for unity.  And we need to work to preserve unity among our church at all costs.  This is not always easy, but it is worth it, and it honors God.

    Here are some discussion questions for parents and teens to discuss together:

    1. Read Ephesians 3:1-13 together.
    2. How do these verses show us that the church is God's plan?
    3. How do these verses show us that the church is God's proof?
    4. What is the "mystery" Paul writes about?
    5. How is unity in the church expressed?  Give specific examples?
    6. Are there any ways you have been experiencing disunity in the church?  Do you need to go and be reconciled to anyone?  Read Matthew 5:23-24 and 7:1-4.
    7. What does Wayne Grudem mean when he says that "prayerlessness is functional atheism"?
    8. What do you pray for regularly?  Why?
    Monday, December 1, 2008 (No comments)