SF 103 INTEGRITY OVERVIEW

Transcription

1 SF 103 INTEGRITY OVERVIEW A. HOW SIN WORKS IN OUR LIVES B. HOW WE GROW IN HOLINESS / Intro to Integrity Growing in Grace Flesh Seven Deadly Sins A Letter From Your Tempter Fear of the Lord Spirit Spiritual Disciplines Fruit of the Spirit Growing in Integrity Introduce Integrity and reconnect with group members Examine and utilize five characterist ics of growing in grace for spiritual health diagnosis Define flesh Honestly assess where sin has taken root in our own lives Examine how your specific sin operates, what payoff you hope for from the sin, and what habits and ways of thinking the sin stems from Understand and grow in fear of the Lord Explore what it means to walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16) Understand and practice spiritual disciplines Explore the fruits of the Spirit Review key semester concepts

2 Spiritual Disciplines Session 9 SF103 Curriculum Training Fall 2010

3 SF 103 INTEGRITY OVERVIEW HOW SIN WORKS IN OUR LIVES HOW WE GROW IN HOLINESS / Intro to Integrity Growing in Grace Flesh Seven Deadly Sins A Letter From Your Tempter Fear of the Lord Spirit Spiritual Disciplines Fruit of the Spirit Growing in Integrity Introduce Integrity and reconnect with group members Examine and utilize five characterist ics of growing in grace for spiritual health diagnosis Define flesh Honestly assess where sin has taken root in our own lives Examine how your specific sin operates, what payoff you hope for from the sin, and what habits and ways of thinking the sin stems from Understan d and grow in fear of the Lord Explore what it means to walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16) Understan d and practice spiritual disciplines Explore the fruits of the Spirit Review key semester concepts

4 Spiritual Formation: The process by which God forms Christ s s character in believers by the ministry of the Spirit, in the context of community, and in accordance with biblical standards. This process involves the transformation of the whole person in thoughts, behaviors and styles of relating to God and others. It results in a life of service to others and witness to Christ.

5 Spiritual Formation: The process by which God forms Christ s s character in believers by the ministry of the Spirit,, in the context of community, and in accordance with biblical standards. This process involves the transformation of the whole person in thoughts, behaviors and styles of relating to God and others. It results in a life of service to others and witness to Christ.

6 When we despair of gaining inner transformation through human powers of will and determination, we are open to a wonderful new realization: inner righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The needed change within us is God s work, not ours The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done. Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

7 When we despair of gaining inner transformation through human powers of will and determination, we are open to a wonderful new realization: inner righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The needed change within us is God s work, not ours The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done. Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

8 A farmer This is the way it is with the Spiritual Disciplines they are a way of sowing to the Spirit. The Disciplines are God s s way of getting us into the ground; they put us where he can work within us and transform us. Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

9 Spiritual practices don t t give us spiritual brownie points or help us work the system for a passing grade with God. They simply put us in a place where we can begin to notice God and respond to his word to us. Adele Calhoun, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us

10 Spiritual practices don t t give us spiritual brownie points or help us work the system for a passing grade with God. They simply put us in a place where we can begin to notice God and respond to his word to us. Adele Calhoun, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us

11 Spiritual Disciplines are nothing but an activity undertaken to bring us into more effective cooperation with Christ and his Kingdom. Dallas Willard, Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

12 We can become like Christ by doing one thing by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself...we can, through faith and grace, become like Christ by practicing the types of activities he engaged in, by arranging our whole lives around the activities he himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of his Father. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

13 We can become like Christ by doing one thing by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself...we can, through faith and grace, become like Christ by practicing the types of activities he engaged in, by arranging our whole lives around the activities he himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of his Father. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

14 What activities did Jesus practice? Such things as solitude and silence, prayer, simple and sacrificial living, intense study and meditation upon God s Word and God s s ways, and service to others. Some of these will certainly be even more necessary to us than they were to him, because of our greater or different need. But in a balanced life of such activities, we will be constantly enlivened by The Kingdom Not of This World the Kingdom of Truth as seen in John 18: Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

15 What activities did Jesus practice? Such things as solitude and silence, prayer, simple and sacrificial living, intense study and meditation upon God s Word and God s s ways, and service to others. Some of these will certainly be even more necessary to us than they were to him, because of our greater or different need. But in a balanced life of such activities, we will be constantly enlivened by The Kingdom Not of This World the Kingdom of Truth as seen in John 18: Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

16 An athlete in training no one ever says, If you want to be a great athlete, go vault eighteen feet, run the mile under four minutes, or If you want to be a great musician, play the Beethoven violin concerto. Instead, we advise the young artist or athlete to enter a certain kind of overall life, one involving deep associations with qualified people as well as rigorously scheduled time, diet, and activity for the mind and body. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

17 Our mistake is to think that following Jesus consists in loving our enemies, going the second mile, turning the other cheek, suffering patiently and hopefully while living the rest of our lives just as everyone around us does If we wish to follow Christ and to walk in the easy yoke with him we will have to accept his overall way of life as our way of life totally. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

18 Our mistake is to think that following Jesus consists in loving our enemies, going the second mile, turning the other cheek, suffering patiently and hopefully while living the rest of our lives just as everyone around us does If we wish to follow Christ and to walk in the easy yoke with him we will have to accept his overall way of life as our way of life totally. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes

19 But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. Luke 5:

20 Rule of Life A A rule of life is a way of ordering our life around the values, practices and relationships that keep us open and available to God for the work of spiritual transformation that only God can bring about. Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives For Spiritual Transformation

21 Two Categories of Spiritual Disciplines

22 1. Practices of Abstinence: Practices in which we abstain to some degree and for some time from the satisfaction of what we generally regard as normal and legitimate desires. This would include solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy, and sacrifice.

23 Disciplines of abstinence counteract tendencies toward sins of commission and the disciplines of engagement counteract tendencies toward sins of omission. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

24 A A proper abstinence actually breaks the hold of improper engagements so that the soul can be properly engaged in and by God. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

25 2. Practices of Engagement Disciplines which we intentionally incorporate into our normal rhythms and routines. These would include study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship, confession and submission.

26 Cultivating Inner Stillness When I am still, compulsion (the busyness that Hilary of Tours called a blasphemous anxiety to do God s s work for him ) ) gives way to compunction (being pricked or punctured). That is, God can break through the many layers with which I protect myself, so that I can hear his Word and be poised to listen. Leighton Ford, The Attentive Life: Discerning God s s Presence in All Things

27 Discuss at your table 1. According to the gospel accounts, what disciplines did Jesus practice? As a way of sowing to the Spirit or cooperating with Christ and His Kingdom, what are some ways that you can you incorporate these disciplines this semester? 2. What are some ways that you could bring some spiritual disciplines into your SF group?

28 Resources Barton, Ruth Haley, Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives For Spiritual Transformation Calhoun, Adele, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us Ford, Leighton, The Attentive Life: Discerning God s s Presence in All Things Foster, Richard, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth Willard, Dallas, Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

29 Resources Dallas Willard s s website: Gary Thomas website: Ruth Haley Barton s s Transforming Center: