Where to now?

The Bible Study portion of Fire & Reign is complete. If you have interest in following along in my journey of pursuing Christ Reign, I will be blogging at "Junk from Bill"

Where to now?

The Bible Study portion of Fire & Reign is complete. If you have interest in following along in my journey of pursuing Christ Reign, I will be blogging at "Junk from Bill"

Lesson9-Day 5 My Commitment

Here is my response to Christ call: I find myself back at the first chapter of Acts. Where the disciples are standing gazing into the sky (the Olson look). An angel asks them why they are looking into the sky (see Acts 1:9-11). It is time for me to be more intentional about my commitment to Christ. It is not a time for standing and watching rather a time to step out and embrace Christ's mission.

God, I chose to follow you whole-heartedly and to encourage others to do the same. I desire to marshal my energy, talents, God given gifts and all resources given to me to pursue Christ's reign in all of life to advance God's kingdom where ever God places me for His Glory.

Lesson9-Day 4 Committed to Hope-filled Endurance

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. (Acts 7:55)

This is probably one of the greatest things that I have learned through this study. The eternal hope in Jesus Christ enables us to persevere. My view of God is being greatly expanded.

I am reading "God Is The Gospel" by John Piper. Early in the book Piper poses a question that caused me to do some deep thinking. Here is the question he asks about our interest in going to heaven:

The critical question for our generation--and for every generation--is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever say, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?

I have to admit there have been times when feel I could be content in a Christless heaven. How sad and depraved I am. As Piper puts it "The best and final gift of the gospel is that we gain Christ."

God, continue to extend your grace to me and allow me to have a greater view of you yourself.

Lesson9-Day 3 Committed to Wisdom-filled Words

I have a great desire to speak with wisdom. I am a 100% introvert; therefore, I tend to think along time before trying to communicate. Does this mean I have wisdom? The answer is NO! Wisdom is not of myself. Jerry Sheveland gave 4 lessons about speaking wisdom-filled words:

1. Wisdom comes from knowing God's Word. Our words must be based on the truths of God's Word.
2. Wisdom has its source in the Holy Spirit. We must rely on the Spirit to give us words that would honor God. Not simply be clever or oursmart the other person.
3. Wisdom is not afraid of Opposition. We don't need to be intimidated by opposition. There is no need to be fearful or defensive.
4. Wisdom boldly exalts Jesus Christ. We must boldly proclaim Christ.

Lesson9-Day 2 Committed to God-filled Ministry

God desires to fill our ministries with his grace and power. Our responsibibility is to pray and rely on God. Ask for God to touch lives with his loving grace and life changing power.

Spiritual Gift is an ability given by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to perform the specific function within the body that God has assigned to each of us. Our emphasis should be placed on discovering what our function is in the body. Gifts are given by God to enable us to fulfill our function.

Lesson9-Day 1 Committed to a Faith-filled Life

How would people who know me describe me? This is such a good question. A companion question would be how would I want people to describe me.

Stephen was characterized as being full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit.

For me characteristic that I long to reflect are justice, mercy and faithfullness.

Lesson 9 Committed to His Cause

Stephen was a man fully committed to Christ. Stephen had a vision of a reigning Christ. Everywhere Stephen went the reign of King Jesus advanced.

Jerry Sheveland shared briefly about Jim Elliot and the Auca tribe (End of the Spear). The exhortation to become a "crisis man" is compelling by Jerry. But, is it an exhortation and therefore something that I can chose or chose not to do. My answer is it is not a choice if I (or you) am a follower of Christ. We are commanded:

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

The question to me rather is how much of myself am I going to control versus giving God control. That is allowing the Holy Spirit to indwell in order to take captive the evil desires and intentionally pursue the will of God.

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do-living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. (1 Peter 4:1-3)

Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:22)

I am feeling more deeply the call of Christ to be more committed to His cause and fully submitted to the Holy Spirit. I am immensely challenged and have begun to pray for the four Spirit-filled commitments to Christ and His cause.

1. The commitment to live a faith-filled life.
2. The commitment to God-filled ministry.
3. The commitment to wisdom-filled words.
4. The commitment to hope-filled endurance.

Lesson8-Day 5 Commissioned: Called and Empowered

It is not enough for the church to develop and select spiritual leaders. Leaders need to be commissioned and empowered to lead. This is key to encouraging and enabling the lead. They have a sense that the church is supporting them.