This vs That vs The Other (February 15 - Chapters 5 thru 7)

Below is a list of questions ... the first one is a "required" question to share your thinking with the group. Along with it, please select two additional questions, of your choice, for the group sharing time. Generally speaking, you'll have a few minutes for each question to share your thoughts and perspective and still allow others to share theirs.

• Required: How does the author's presentation of the "temporary nature" of the present Heaven differ from what you think Heaven is?
• How does the illustration of your "flight to Santa Barbara" change your understanding of the present Heaven and the eternal Heaven?
• Describe the difference between the "judgment of faith" and the "judgment of works". Upon which are you relying? Why?
• The author coins the term Christoplatonism and defines it as "an unbiblical belief that the spirit realm is good and the material world is bad". How might your thinking be influenced by the concept of Christoplatonism?
• What does giving an "account of your life" using an "improved mind" to receive "eternal rewards" mean to you and how does it change who you are today?
• The author offers thinking about those in Heaven knowing what is going on here on Earth. What are your thoughts about those in Heaven knowing what you're doing? Describe what it would be like to be in Heaven and knowing what is taking place here on Earth.

Blessings!!

Let The Learning Begin! (Chapters 1 thru 4)

Well, as we approach our first meeting, we should be at a point of either reading the first assignment or, perhaps, even finished with it. My intention is to get a series of questions posted early enough so that you can consider them during your book time. The purpose for sharing your thoughts to the questions is less about "having the right answer" and more about learning from others and sharing with others. If we can enter into this topic with an attitude that I know a little and the other person knows a little, we'll leave each session having learned something.

Below is a list of questions ... the first one is a "required" question to share your thinking with the group. Along with it, please select two additional questions, of your choice, for the group sharing time. Generally speaking, you'll have a few minutes for each question to share your thoughts and perspective and still allow others to share theirs.

• Required: In sixty seconds or less, describe what you imagined Heaven to be like BEFORE starting this book.
• How much time per day do you think about Heaven? Why? Share some Heaven thoughts you consider.
• Explain how you might be influenced by "naturalism" (dictionary.com: "the view of the world that takes account only of natural elements and forces, excluding the supernatural or spiritual").
• How important is "imagination" (based on truth) in forming our understanding of Heaven? Why? (dictionary.com: "the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses")
• How would you practice setting your heart and mind on Heaven? (Colossians 3:1-2 MSG or NLT)
• Explain how you understand Hell differently now that you've been reminded of what Jesus said about it. Add to your explanation any thoughts about the author's comment: "Hell is not Heaven's equal opposite".

I'm looking forward to our time and learning together!

Blessings!!

Book Study: Heaven by Randy Alcorn

Happy New Year to all! I'm so excited about starting our 2010 Season 1 small group meetings. Here is the meeting information:

Begins Monday, February 8th
6:00pm-7:00pm Dinner
7:00pm-8:30pm Meeting
(If needed, contact me for location)

Topic Study
As far as topics go, we had two books suggested and each book deals with a topic that can influence our present world view. Of the two books suggested, I've selected the book called "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn. My reasoning for this was due to its broader scope dealing with our future and how it impacts our present and the people with which we have influence. However, the book is quite a heavy read and will require some dedicated time each week to read and be prepared to have a small group discussion. Now, I don't want to cause any undue concern, but at the same time, I wish to encourage us to challenge ourselves and deepen our roots in keeping with our 2010 Word Of The Year: Discipleship. A definition for discipleship, as it's based upon the word disciple, would be "a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; a follower", for example a disciple of Jesus Christ.

This is the first time this small group has done a book study, so we'll see how it works out. My caution for ever doing a book study is that "the book" can sometimes override "The Book" (aka the Bible). However, I am confident that, based on what I've heard about "Heaven", we'll be exposed to a lot of Bible. Additionally, Randy Alcorn, the author, specifically states in his Preface that, based on biblical grounds he is "open to correction - in fact, I seek it …". Given this, and our own personal charge by the Apostle Paul to be like the Bereans who "examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true" (Acts 17:11), we will be well served through this book in our growth journey with Jesus.


Reading/Study schedule
(average of ~35 pages a week; 5 pages a day; 1 page every 4.8 hours):

• Monday, February 8 - Chapters 1 thru 4
• Monday, February 15 - Chapters 5 thru 7
• Monday, February 22 - Chapters 8 thru 10
• Monday, March 1 - Chapters 11 thru 13
• Monday, March 8 - Chapters 14 thru 16
• Monday, March 15 - Chapters 17 thru 19
• Monday, March 22 - Chapters 20 thru 22
• Monday, March 29 - Chapters 23 thru 27
• Monday, April 5 - Chapters 28 thru 30
• Monday, April 12 - Chapters 31 thru 33
• Monday, April 19 - Chapters 34 thru 37
• Monday, April 26 - Chapters 38 thru 40
• Monday, May 3 - Chapters 41 thru 43
• Monday, May 10 - Chapters 44 thru 46

Prior to each week's meeting, I will post a series of questions on the blog for you to consider during your reading/study time. This will help us in our overall group discussion.


Purchasing the book
I have no affiliation with, nor compensation by, Amazon.

If you have any questions, please comment back. I look forward to the journey with you!


Blessings!!

Gifts Of The Holy Spirit

As a quick review of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit we discussed the aspect that All of the Fruit is given to All Christians upon receiving the Holy Spirit in their new relationship with God. In contrast, we further discussed that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are given by the Spirit and He decides which gift each person should have (1 Corinthians 12:7-11 NLT). We read a number of scriptures that have been identified as describing some of the various gifts given by the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11

• Message of wisdom
• Message of special knowledge
• Wonder-working faith
• Gifts of healing
• Power to perform miracles
• Ability to prophesy
• Ability to discern spirits
• Ability to speak in unknown languages
• Ability to interpret unknown languages
  

Ephesians 4:11

• Apostles
• Prophets
• Evangelists
• Pastors
• Teachers

1 Timothy 3:10 & 3:1

• Deacons
• Elders

Romans 12:4-8

• Serving
• Encouraging
• Contributing to the needs of others
• Leadership
• Showing mercy

1 Corinthians 12:28

• Helpers
• Organizers

1 Corinthians 7:7

• Gift of singleness
• Gift of marriage

The discussion continued with the emphasis of 1 Corinthians 12:31 (AMP) "… earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts" with love being the primary motivator (1 Corinthians 14:1 NLT) when we seek to use the gifts that God has given us. In talking about how these gifts are manifested in us through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, we learned about the illustration of Nicander's pickle. This "pickling" or soaking in the Holy Spirit could also be understood in light of "communion" spoken of in Galatians 3:27 (AMP) For as many [of you] as were baptized into Christ [into a spiritual union and communion with Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah] have put on (clothed yourselves with) Christ.

This concludes our group study of the Holy Spirit … but, know that there is so much more and even deeper truths that one could spend time learning and gaining understanding of. With that in mind, be a pickle and soak in what God has given you to share with others!

Blessings!!

Fruit Of The Holy Spirit

The Bible says you can recognize a tree by its fruit (Matthew 12:33) … the same goes for Christians according to Galatians 5:22-23. I think it's interesting that the topic of "fruit" is often referred to when we talk about what took place in the Garden of Eden. The specific tree which Adam and Eve were told to not eat of was the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:9). They could eat of any other tree in the Garden - including the Tree of Life - but that's not what they did. The action they took in partaking of that particular tree demonstrated they chose to decide for themselves what was good and evil rather than trusting and believing God to make those decisions. They could choose Life or Knowledge (death). Fast forward to today and we can see same challenge facing us as Christians - will we choose to yield to God the Holy Spirit or choose our way which leads to death (Proverbs 14:12)?

One line of thinking is that "I need more of God to do what He wants me to do". We don't need "more" of God … the day we accept His work through Jesus and trust that what He says is good, we then receive the fullness of God in us. We cannot get more of God, but, what we can do is to give God more of us. The Amplified translation of the Fruit of Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22 says "the work which His [the Holy Spirit] presence within accomplishes" … what this means is that the more God has of us the more His character is manifest in us. The day we decide to trust what God did in Jesus we receive the residency of God and the Holy Spirit begins a process of renewal in us.

When we follow the Holy Spirit, we are actively "yielding" to Him and allowing Him to guide us in what we do. One facet of becoming a Christian (a Christ follower) and trusting what God says is good will result in certain "fruit" being produced in our lives. The evidence of that renewal is the Fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control). We don't get the choice to accept only certain aspects of the Fruit and treat it like it's a bowl of oranges, apples, and bananas and pick and choose one or another. But, rather, the Fruit is more like a cluster of grapes … it's one fruit or by-product of having the renewing influence of the Holy Spirit. The question is yielding more and more and more to that influence of the presence in us of the Creator of the universe. When we hear and follow the voice of God, we will experience more of His character in us.

The process God uses is to knock on the door, be invited in, to reside with us to commune with us (Revelation 3:23). The whole act of communion with God comes in the continuation of inviting Him into all parts of our "house" - our life. It's a process and we grow in the Fruit as we grow in yielding more to Him and His work - the choice is always ours - will we choose His way or our way? This process also continues as we grow more in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit - which we'll talk about next time!

Blasphemy Of The Holy Spirit

Previously, as we continue answering the question: Who Is The Holy Spirit?, we covered the topic of the Trinity. Now we've moved on to the "easy" topic of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. We can approach this from two angles … easy and hard.

If we take the easy angle, we can merely look at the scripture in Mark 3:20-30. We see the religious leaders of Jesus' time were saying that He (Jesus) was casting out demons by the power of the devil. Jesus responds in verse 29 that anybody who says such things "blasphemes the Holy Spirit" (NLT), "slanders against … Holy Spirit" (MSG), "speaks abusively against or maliciously misrepresents the Holy Spirit" (AMP). This is a serious charge as they were attributing the works of God via the Holy Spirit as being the work of the devil. There is thinking out there that committing this "unforgiveable sin" was only possible during the life of Jesus here on earth. However, I align with the alternate thinking that, as ambassadors of God (2 Corinthians 5:20) and the residence of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), Christians can do the works of God just as Jesus did during his earthly ministry. As we do the works of God via the power of the Holy Spirit, there is a potential for others to blaspheme Him and His works.

If we, however, take the more difficult angle, there are other scriptures that might support a larger concept of rejection of the Holy Spirit himself or His work. The religious leaders may have taken this path as their accusation stemmed from a hardened, deliberate and conscious rejection of the Spirit's work. Their values were so warped and twisted they attributed to the devil the work of God and to God the work of the devil. They refused to believe that God would demonstrate His power through the man Jesus … some would call this a "hard heart". My only basis for this comes out of a few other scriptures, and I trust I'm not wrestling them to fit. First, I realize these few scriptures would be more applicable to the Christian, but I believe there might be a principle of rejection here that would apply to both the Christian and non-Christian alike. Hebrews 10:26-31 talks about a continuation of sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth. It is the Holy Spirit who enlightens us to understand the Truth of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. If we reject that, in the form of continuing in sin, then we insult the work of the Holy Spirit, and we trample under foot the precious blood of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. Hebrews 6:4-6 refers to one having experienced the good things of heaven, having tasted them and sharing in the Holy Spirit, and then turning away resulting in no possibility of repentance (caused only by the conviction of the Holy Spirit). When we look at 1 John 5:16 it talks about "a sin that leads to death". I submit to your thinking that rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit could be this very sin. By a continuing path of pushing away (rejecting) the Truth about the Son of God as it's revealed by the Holy Spirit, eventually, we will push beyond a "point of no return". This point of no return for the Christian would take us back beyond the time where we accepted Jesus. For the non-Christian it would be at the end of life on earth. At what point a person rejects that work and crosses over that point of no return is probably something only God Himself can determine absolutely due to its inner core issue and His ability to know the mind and thoughts of man (Psalm 94:11). Unfortunately, with this track of thinking, we can't press the Staples button and have it echo, "That Was Easy!"

The whole grievous point of the unforgiveable sin is that one has essentially cut off the only lifeline connection that will continue to bring conviction causing us to consider God's goodness compared to our evil and move us to turn back to the Lord in repentance. In simple terms, as it's stated in the Message version, verse 29: "sawing off the branch on which you're sitting, severing … all connection with the One who forgives". Pretty clear picture of the important work of the Holy Spirit!!

Bottom line of all the discussion above, if you are concerned about "blaspheming the Holy Spirit" thereby having committed the unforgiveable sin … your concern alone is evidence enough that you still have an unseared conscience (1 Timothy 4:2) and that the Holy Spirit Himself is still able to work conviction within you which leads you to repentance and restored Life.

Who Is The Holy Spirit?

To get started in our journey of Who Is The Holy Spirit?, we explored some aspects of the Trinity. First, we talked about what God is not as defined by some other belief systems:

• God is not one person, the Father, with Jesus as a creation and the Holy Spirit is a force.
• Neither is He one person who took three consecutive forms, i.e., the Father, became the Son, who became the Holy Spirit.
• Nor is God the divine nature of the Son where Jesus had a human nature perceived as the Son and a divine nature perceived as the Father.
• Nor is the Trinity an "office" held by three separate Gods.

What's so important about the Trinity? It distinguishes this belief system (Christianity) from other belief systems in that it demonstrates the fullness of a God that cares about His creation. At its very core, trinity is a perfect love relationship and, relationships are God's business. One God, who exists in three eternal, simultaneous, and distinct persons known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

This Trinity equals perfect unity (think "tri-unity"), perfect love, perfect understanding, perfect relationship, perfect agreement. There is no disagreement or ambitious striving or disregard … the Trinity is perfect in all ways. God, by definition, is Love (1 John 4:6-8) … so, I propose, the same could be applied to the Trinity … it is, by definition, God, since He is perfect Love. This perfect love is shared amongst and with each person of the Trinity.

Richard of Saint Victor (12th century scottish monk) formed the argument for why God must be a Trinity of persons. He said there must be at least two persons in God himself for love to exist - love from one person to another person. Yet God is also perfectly good. A thoroughly good being would not jealously protect two-person love, but would generously share such love with a third. He concluded, "In order for love to be true, it demands a plurality of persons: in order for love to be perfected, it requires a trinity of persons." Wow, if that doesn't cause some brain cells to pop!!!

There are copious scriptures which can also support the Trinity concept and, this is no surprise, there are those who argue against it. One simple argument against the Trinity goes something like this … if there are three persons, then it would be the same as adding "1" three times (1 + 1 + 1 = 3). However, another way of thinking about this using a mathematical formula would be "1 x 1 x 1 = 1". So, that isn't going to prove anything either way. With each point there is often a counter-point. So, how do we resolve this?

The basic element of any belief system is one in which we are a willing party. In other words, you must believe in order to participate. So, for example, if we deny the truth, it doesn't make it any less the truth in the same way that if we believe a lie it doesn't make it any more the truth. Truth is absolute. Now, I know there is a whole segment of our world out there that will argue "truth is absolute", but we aren't going to go there at this time (feel free to Google it and see). If you are willing, let's see what the Bible has to say about this concept of Trinity.

When we look at a piece of creative art, we have an opportunity to learn more about its creator, the artist. Think for a moment of your favorite painting, picture, sculpture, or other work of art. What can you tell of its creator? What thoughts or feelings does that work evoke in you? What characteristics can you learn of the creator? Looking at Romans 1:18-23, specifically, verse 20, we can see that creation evidences God's attributes, power and nature. For example, we can look at creation from three aspects: Time, Space, Matter. Within each, there are distinctions, but all of the same nature. Time has past, present, and future. Space has height, width, and depth. Matter has solid, liquid, and gas. You can look here for more details of this idea. This is the evidence that Romans 1:20 is speaking of … Time, Space, Matter … three trinities, or creation as a trinity of trinities. God, as Trinity, is stamped all over creation. Yet, rather than being impersonal, He is very personal … He is super-personal.

C. S. Lewis, expresses the idea of God as super-personal in his book Beyond Personality:
A good many people nowadays say, 'I believe in a God, but not in a personal God'. They feel that the mysterious something which is behind all other things must be more than a person. Now the Christians quite agree. But the Christians are the only people who offer any idea of what a being that is beyond personality could be like. All other people, though they say that God is beyond personality, really think of Him as something impersonal: that is, as something less than personal. If you are looking for something super-personal, something more than a person, then it isn't a question of choosing between the Christian idea and the other ideas. The Christian idea is the only one on the market.

Ok, I've blown enough brain cells with this post … I look forward to our next discussion as we jump into the topic of blaphemy of the Holy Spirit. That ought to be an easy one, right?