How to Maintain Your Spiritual Edge, Part 13

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Recap of 4/27/08
1. Gordon MacDonald defines meditation as “ruminating over spiritual food” or as Selwyn Hughes says, “when a Christian takes a text or phrase from Scripture and turns it over and over in his mind, the truth that is contained in that Scripture is fed into his spiritual digestive system and soon becomes part of his personality.”
2. The Navigators 2:7 series suggests the following six methods of meditation over Scripture:
-Paraphrase, put the passage into your own words
- Questions, ask questions about the verse, who, what, when, where, why, how, or random questions
-Prayer, pray about each phrase or thought in the passage, about it’s implications
-Emphasis, emphasize different words or phrases each time you say the verse
-Cross-reference, find other verses which express the same concept as your passage
-Application, apply the truth of the passage to your life in specific, positive steps

How to Maintain Your Spiritual Edge, Part 12

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Recap of 4/20/08
1. We need fellowship with other Christians (source: A Compact Guide to the Christian Life)
-to help us grow more like Christ (Christlike character traits are formed in relationships)
-to help us testify to the truth of the gospel (John 13:34,35)
-to help us do the work of the Kingdom (our gifts complement other’s gifts in the Body)
-to worship with us (“… [God] can be adequately worshipped only by a gathered community of His people”)
-to be Christ for us (though God loves us, there are times we need “love with skin on”)
-to help keep us on track (about what the Word says)
-to help us surrender to God
2. Rather than focus on our limitations, we must creatively approach life.
3. Creativity is not a question of whether I am or am not a creative person, it’s a question of how much of my creativity am I using? We must read, grow, take on new challenges. Creativity is a matter of resources/information, attitude, experimentation, variety, wisdom, and time.

How to Maintain Your Spiritual Edge, Part 11

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Notes from April 13, 2008:
1. For access to “The Bridge” illustration and for many other downloadable tools to help you in your spiritual growth go to http://www.navigators.org/, under “Grow Deep With God” click “Tools,” under “Discipleship” click “bridge.pdf”.
2. A hallmark of the early church was fellowship. Isolation leads to stagnation.
3. Fellowship is what we share with each other because of what we share in Christ. In fellowship we open our lives to another believer; we connect with another Christian though we may have just met them; we share a common bond.
4. In the scripture 'fellowship' is used of: sharing a relationship (such as in the Body of Christ, marriage, partners in a business or venture, and with God); of sharing material goods with teachers and saints in need; and of sharing in others' deeds (negatively, sharing in the sins of others; positively, sharing in the sufferings of Christ).

How to Maintain Your Spiritual Edge, Part 10

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Notes from April 6, 2008

1. To be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks the reason for the hope we have in Christ we need a ready plan to share the gospel.
2. Robert Foster in Essentials of Discipleship cites the following advantages of having a ready plan:
- “It enables you to be prepared at all times to witness.”
-“It enables you to go through a biblical presentation point by point without leaving anything out.”
-“It serves as a set of tracks that provide direction.” It helps to “avoid rabbit trails or tangents.”
3. Three plans are: The Roman Road (all verses from Romans which establish the gospel: Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9,10 – covers sin, death, Christ’s death for sin, and our response in believing); the Bridge Illustration (see Navigators 2:7; Robert Foster, Essentials of Discipleship; or go to www.navigators.org, click “Search” and type in “bridge.pdf’); or use a gospel tract.