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When we are at school we are encouraged to use our creative imagination. How many of us used that recently but are we missing out with God.
Imagination is the ability to form mental images, or the ability to spontaneously generate images within one’s own mind. It helps provide meaning to experience and understanding to knowledge; it is a fundamental facility through which people make sense of the world, and it also plays a key role in the learning process. A basic training for imagination is the listening to storytelling (narrative), in which the exactness of the chosen words is the fundamental factor to ‘evoke worlds’.
This is the definition on wikipedia… do we recognise it in a Christian context.
This study is an attempt to revive our “Imagine Gene”, using passages of Scripture to help us think… Right, are you sitting comfortably then I’ll begin…
1. Imagine the scene:Exo 24:12 GOD said to Moses, “Climb higher up the mountain and wait there for me; I’ll give you tablets of stone, the teachings and commandments that I’ve written to instruct them.
2. Imagine the scene: Mar 2:4 But because of the crowd, they could not get him to Jesus. So they made a hole in the roof above him and let the man down in front of everyone.
3. Imagine the scene: Rev 1:7 Look! He is coming with the clouds. Everyone will see him, even the ones who stuck a sword through him. All people on earth will weep because of him. Yes, it will happen! Amen.
Now the serious bit:
Think of your talent, passions, skills and gifts - Imagine how God might use them beyond what you do today with them … consider where that would take you.
Imagine for a moment what you might do differently to be used by God in our community, work place, amongst our non-churched friends?
Can you imagine people becoming Christians because of your tangible witness?
Secondary question is, is your life witness in a state that would bring someone to Christ?
Can you imagine someone being led by your to becoming a Christian, being baptised and then growing as a Christian
Imagine the possibilities…….DRM
This post is about encouraging you in Bible discussion. Leading a bible discussion can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience but it can also be scary- especially if you’ve never done it before. If this is your feeling, your in good company. For example when God asked Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he replied “O Lord, please send someone else to do it ! ” (Exodus 4:13) There are many others like this, Solomon, Jeremiah, Timothy to name but a few but what they all had in common was that God helped them, despite their weaknesses, and he can help you as well.
You don’t have to be an expert on the Bible or a trained teacher to lead a Bible discussion, just a willingness to listen to God, and an enthusiasm to learn more about God with others. There are many style of Bible study but one that we have found in this house group to be of most value is the open question approach with a directed bible study series, such as the Life guide bible study series from InterVarsity Press. These come in many series and have very helpful leader notes and stimulating questions on the topic being studied.
The idea behind our studies is the leader is there to help all discover for ourselves what the bible has to say as part of a natural response to the open questions asked – this leads to revelations to the group and to individuals on the passage under discussion.
Over time the group as a whole grows but the individuals grow also in their personal faith and understanding of God’s word. The best bit is that this comes in a form that all can engage with and is your very own interactive bible quiz but on real life subjects that bring the bible to life and relevant to today’s world.
So if you do not attend one, find one or indeed start your own – you are missing out !
John 11 1-56: A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha………
Think about the Lazarus Story [and the Theatre that we saw & heard in the morning and the evening] – Here was a situation that was normally so sad for family and friends…. And it was…. Then Jesus turned the situation into something completely different as he can. Something totally amazing…. When was the last time that you saw someone come back from the dead?
How would you have felt if you had been their to mourn Lazarus and that happened right in front of you?
Imaging the aftershock that would have rippled through the locals, the gossip & disbelief even.
What kind of reaction do you think you would see when people heard?
What would be the key pieces of the story that would make it round the local village gossip circle?
So Lazarus had a future with God in Charge. Do we ?
We have spend all week end looking at the future of the church.
Lost of statistics that say “the Church” in it’s widest sense is declining… time to do something about it, no one else is going to.
Time for a little imagination time.
We have just had our church anniversary weekend at Our church of the future
Has the weekend make us view things in a different light?
So what does it look like in your mind?
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What should it look like?
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What are the key pieces of the jigsaw?
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Just how do we describe to ourselves what it should look like?
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How do we explain to ourselves what we are aiming for?
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If we can not describe it to ourselves how on earth are we going to describe it to others?
This is not just about money but are we generous with our lives, time and mouths as well as our money? What else could/should we be generous with?
Review of the DVD
I World View
- Am I a servant of God or money? What determines our life choices?
II Stewardship
- Does materialism have a hold on us & how do we break it?
III Security
- Matthew 6:19-33 – store up treasures in heaven not on earth. Where do our securities lie? How do we transfer our security onto God?
IV How do I give and to whom?
- Luke 21:1-4 – the Widow’s mite. How do I choose to give? To all I can or targeted?
V Creative generosity
- How? What?
VI What is your calling?
- Matthew25: 14-30 – The great commission.
- “Your philosophy…loving people and using things, rather than using people and loving things” Loren Cunningham ‘Daring to live on the Edge’
Do I see myself as the owner or the steward of ALL I possess?
Is it wrong to save/save all that I am saving?
Is budgeting a spiritual issue?
Do I work to live or live to work?
Generosity with Time? How does this link with finance?
- What is our attitude to giving our time? What do I get out of it? Do we only make time for those we like? Are we trying to ‘buy ourselves out of commitment’. Where does our family balance out here? What drives us to give our time?
Generosity of Speech
- Why & how can we praise God?
- Why & how can we praise others?
Generosity of Heart
- Is giving love a matter of temperament, culture or gender?
- How can we be more generous in a love-starved society?
- What are the safeguards?
Bible study : 13th Feb 08
We looked last time at how the Spirit took Jesus into the Desert to prepare him for the hard time ahead, harding him for the task ahead.
lets re-read this passage again and then look at it from another angle… for us how are we getting prepared…..
Read Luke 4 v1-14
The Last TIDE DVD was titled The Power for Living
The Question for us is how are we living with & using this power.
Jesus left the Desert Filled with the Holy Spirit ready for action so to speak.
1.How are we getting filled with the Holy Spirit to enable us?
name 4 ways that you can think of
2. Is getting filled a one off event?
if not how often should it be?
how do you know that you are running low?
3. If people are filled with the Holy Spirit – is it just a personal thing? if not what are the benefits of it being more than just a personal experience?
4. Do you think our church, or perhaps a better way to phrase this is, the body of believers moving a different dimension?
How would you know?( hint – look at the following verses)
Your Task:
Take the pie chart and look at the headings –
now prioritize them in order of importance to you (1 being the highest and 11 being the lowest).
Now look at them and see if you can see God’s spirit in what you do in each of these
Re-look at the priorities you have set – would God have the same for you?
This is the outline of the study that went through after completing the 1st 6 TIDE course sessions
Bible study : 9th Jan 08
So we have now completed the 1st 6 sessions of the TIDE course, so now what? More sessions to come, what have we covered and have we learned something new or does this all feel like we’ve been here before…..etc etc…
We have spent time studying and consider how we get ourselves right with God and positioning how we “go about” our christian lives in a way that will draw us closer to God and what he wants us to do. Our prayer life, or inner freedom, setting our hearts and minds, preparing for the holy spirit to work through us. That’s an easy statement but what does it mean to us in practise.
To try to help us in this, we are going to look at how the Holy Spirit prepared Jesus and took him out again in power.
read Luke 4 v1-14
1. Why do you think Jesus went into the Wilderness / Desert?
What is it about the wilderness that God sees as fundamental to followers?
2. “Who are you trusting God to be?”
3. So, it is our Lord’s personal story being recited to us by Matthew, Mark and Luke. It was critical for the followers of Jesus to know that he too was deeply tempted by the malevolent force that seeks to wound God. How do we see it? Is it as important to us today?
4.If I said that the phrase ” led out or led up by the holy spirit” translates to‘leap up’ or ‘bring’ but it also means to ‘launch’ or ‘put out to sea’ and the root of the word means ‘to be arrested’- does that change your view of how Jesus went into the Wilderness?
5. We see the importance of the timing: After Jesus steps into the Jordan-after he makes a major commitment to leave behind his worldly commitments as a carpenter and Mary’s son-we see that he is affirmed by three witnesses: John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit, and the Father Himself. Then, immediately, our Lord is ‘arrested’ by the Holy Spirit and sent to be refined in the wilderness. His boat is launched… his journey is started. In the wilderness he will learn his course and see the rocks and sandbars where Satan will attempt to shipwreck our Lord.
Why would the Spirit arrest Jesus and take him there? Why would God decide to launch our Lord’s ministry in that place?
This was the place where spiritual giants were trained. If you want to train someone for a great mission you teach them to survive in the toughest environment you can find. Jesus was entering the toughest time of his life; indeed of any life in history. Where else would he go but to the opposition’s property; to the Satan’s back yard?
6. How then do you think you as an individual is being taken to the wilderness as we do the TIDE course? How is the church being challenged?
We can expect Satan to constantly question your worth before God; to question God’s ability to love you-no matter what you have done in your past, no matter how you have sinned or fallen and failed. Our joy is that we have an example in Jesus in this passage that shows us a blueprint on how to overcome this, be encouraged and strengthened by it!
There are many reasons that that I could put in this entry for starting all this off – My first thought was , well why not. There are many blogs on many subjects by many people on the internet. So why not a Baptist Church house group in sunny Margate, Kent. The main reason is that I wanted to provide others access to the subjects and topics that we tackle each time we meet – I hope over the comming months that as you read this Blog that you will find it both intersting and stimulating but encourage you to find your nearest Church based house group and Bible study – learn with others, share with others and be led by God in your daily life. If you can’t find one, why not start one in your home ! It’s good to talk, especially amoungst fellow Christians, supporting each other in their journey of faith in Jesus Christ.
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