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Sunday, March 21, 2010

A Serious Commitment.

You will have homework and be expected to actively participate during discussions. We are looking for a group to make a commitment to each other to work together to become more dedicated and active Christians than they have been in the past. We are not looking for perfect people, we want broken people, because God wants them to know He wants them as well.

This class needs participation. Not a passive class. Even if you are not in a great place right now, walk with us. Show up. Open up. Buy-in and help us become stronger as a whole. “Strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf.”
Ecclesiastes 10 & 12:

10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
At the end of our second class, a hand-written document was presented called the "Declaration of Dependence." Those comfortable and committed were asked to sign it, those not, were asked to wait. It can be found behind the "WARNING" sign at Family Factory. The document reads as follows:
“We, the “living the L.I.F.E.” class at SV, having been made Sons and Daughters of God the Father, through Jesus the Son, do hereby make public Declaration our complete and utter Dependence on His grace, His mercy and His love and wish, from this day forward, to become better stewards of the time, money and resources we've been given. We want to be more intentional about the way we show our faith by the life we live and by the way we love Him and love our neighbors. We will look for Him to speak to us through this group as we together strive to pray more, study more and connect more with those to which He has surrounded us. As we have signed our names and placed beside a date, we want to pledge and re-dedicate our lives to His service as humble and obedient servants. Amen.”

Personal Spiritual Assessment

From the link below or from the right side of this blog, you can download the Personal Spiritual Assessment we conducted in class today. Please complete this assessment and return it to Ty or Judy Jones. Please put your name (or a memorable distinguishing mark) on it so we can return these to you after we extract the data. Again we are only interested in the general information attained by looking at the group as a whole, the assessment is for your life and your walk.

PERSONAL SPIRITUAL ASSESSMENT

Intro to Personal Spiritual Assessments

Your spiritual journey as a follower of Christ began the moment you admitted personal sin and placed your trust in Christ as Savior and Lord. From that point, until death or the return of Christ, you are called to be more Christlike, to be a disciple.

Jesus summarizes the disciple’s call in Mark 8:34-38 –
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.”

We know this is not easy.

Accomplishing such a challenging assignment requires growing in your understanding of what it means to be a Christian, expanding your personal knowledge of Biblical truth, and applying daily what you learn. Through the presence of His indwelling Spirit, God enables you to know, obey, and serve Him.

God expects His children to grow spiritually and His Word encourages personal examination as an element of growth. It's good and healthy for Christians to regularly take an inventory of how we're doing spiritually.
“Let us search out and examine our ways…” Lamentations 3:40

“Now, the Lord of Hosts says this: ‘Think carefully about your ways.’” Haggai 1:5

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.” Psalm 139:23-24

“But each person should examine his own work, and then he will have a reason for boasting in himself alone, and not in respect to someone else.” Galatians 6:4

“Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people, but as wise.” Ephesians 5:15

But how can we know in which areas, we need to focus? Well just like when you entered a new grade (at least when I was in school), there was an assessment test. Only this is not a pass/fail test, this is a tool for personal evaluation of where you are spiritually.

This assessment will allow the individuals to rank themselves in various aspects of their Christian walk, finding both strengths and weaknesses. This benchmark will allow each person to mark certain areas in which they should focus on growth and other areas where “only” maintenance is necessary.

It is our hope that this assessment will help you regain focus and priority in your spiritual walk. And if we can work to strengthen our personal relationships to God, the entire Body will be strengthened. “Seeing” Jesus is not KNOWING Jesus. We want members to be on a life long quest for wisdom, truth, understanding and most of all active discipleship. Ask, Seek and Knock are not passive commands. Luke Warm members are unhealthy members. We want the good to be better and the better to become their best.

The assessment helps you think carefully about your spiritual development related to specific spiritual disciplines; abiding in Christ, living in the Word, praying in faith, fellowship with believers, witnessing to the world, ministering to others, defending the faith, personal walk, etc. Before completing your responses, ask the Lord to guide your evaluation. Since most of these statements require a subjective response, His guidance is the key to an accurate appraisal. Also, resist the urge to compare scores with others. Self-condemnation or pride could result from such comparisons. Trust God to help you grow spiritually by revealing key issues and empowering you to take action.

This PSA is for you and your growth and will be kept private. I will be the only one looking at them and gathering collective data, then they will be returned to you. We, as a class, are only interested in group data, not personal responses, those are for you and your walk.

You can believe the Devil and his minions have already completed an assessment on you. He knows exactly where and when to attack. Shouldn't you at least be aware of those areas? So, please be honest and real with this assessment. Not where you should be, but where you are right now.

NOTE: I realize not everyone is in a “good” place right now and your outlook and assessment may not be crystal clear, but complete it anyway. Even if you can't commit to this class, even if you are not in a place of clarity, walk with us. Allow us to help. Be carried along by people who care about you.

So where are we now???

Our boy's have a growth stick. It's how we measure them as they grow and mature. We need a starting point, a baseline for our spiritual growth and maturity. We need to understand the issues and problems we face as a class. What are the things keeping you from living the Christian life you want to live. You may not fully grasp the life God is calling you to, or may be in denial that life can be better than it is, but as they say, a journey is made one step at a time and our first step will be self-evaluation and assessment. This info is for me, for you and for us. I want to coach, cheer, lead, guide, assist, help you reach whatever “next step” God has planned for you. Group growth, personal application.

We will proceed through the following as we get started:
  • Issues Survey
  • SV Survey
  • Personal Spiritual Assessment
  • Outside Observations
  • Spiritual Gifts (find online)
  • Spiritual Growth Plan
  • Resources
Your honesty and openness will benefit group. Direct collation with results and therefore growth.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

QUICK SURVEY

This is another short survey we completed to help us understand where the class members were on a few key issues and how they spend their time and resources. Again, this is completely anonymous. Please complete this form and return it to the leaders and the data will be added into the group totals.

QUICK SURVEY

L.I.F.E. and Possible Format...

Our study will directly tie-in to how we live our L.I.F.E.
L = Living the Commission
I = Impacting through Compassion
F = Finding Community
E = Encountering Christ

FORMAT:
Our class may break down as follows:
3 minutes review previous
40 minutes LIFE
20 minutes MOLD or ISSUES
5 minutes PRAYER & PRAISE

Let me answer some questions...

Is this a parenting class? Yes and no. It will, no doubt, have some devoted time to being a better parent, but it's more about us becoming better more intentional Christians (and thus better parents). Learning more about God and the life He wants for us by living more like His Son. How can we live like we say we believe?

Is this a Family Factory class? No, but we will make attempts to inform you what your children are learning week to week in their class so you can make instructive conversation about the monthly virtue.

Is this a Ty Jones class? No, I just felt called to get it started and try to share with you the vision and direction I felt that would gain the most benefit for the most people. I, along with Eric, will organize the class, facilitate and keep things on track, but I will not be up here every Sunday.

Is this an “Issues” class? No, but we will deal with issues as a part of our class time. We feel that learning to live closer to Christ and by rededicating our lives to the Lord, many of these “issues” will vanish.