How is the Holy Spirit at Work in Your Life?

Ugh! That seems like such an intimidating question. Most certainly the Holy Spirit is at work in your life. But usually His work is subtle, like the way fruit grows. He is the Influencer par excel-lance. He is at work influencing us toward Christlikeness. But how does He do this? Eph. 5:18 tells us one big way He influences us- "Do not get drunk with wine...but be filled with the Spirit." In other words, don't be under the influence of alcohol (distilled spirits), but be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Don't let alcohol influence your thinking, speaking and acting. Allow the Holy Spirit to be doing that. If we are going to be good influencers of others toward Christlikeness, we need to first allow the Spirit of Christ to influence us. He does this especially through the Spirit inspired Word. To neglect that is to neglect the clear voice of the Spirit. It is to go out into battle without "the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God." Eph.6:17. But rather than tell you what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit, I would like you to share with me. 

1. Please click on the following link to a helpful article that lists a lot of great ministries and accompanying verses regarding the Holy Spirit.  http://carm.org/holy-spirit
After studying it, please pick and type out one verse that you especially like and share why. 

2. The Spirit of Christ wants to work in our lives to also do good works. Please watch the following video and tell me who you influenced by passing it on to- perhaps your wealth partner or others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG7Vy6wIA1s

Announcements & Reminders

See you this coming Sunday at 11:30 for our monthly NGL Leadership Training Mtg. Please remember to bring your Bible and wealth catcher.

How ya doin' with our M&M of Eph.2:6-10? Please call me (c.773-742-2694) as soon as you can quote it or quote it to me at our Sunday meeting when it is due.

Hope you enjoyed our focus on the Holy Spirit. I thought that was especially important in light of our theme this month on God's holiness. Though we are far from holy in our daily lives, isn't it so good of God to declare us holy through the death of His Son for us?! And then He even has given us His Holy Spirit to live within us. TYF! Thank You Father!

And TYF for your holy word. We began reading through 1 Timothy on Sunday, April 27th. On Saturday May 3rd, we will begin reading through 2 Timothy, the letter Paul wrote just before he was beheaded. You'll see what was so important and much on Paul's heart.

Christ has risen! So how should we now live?

Enjoy this great, short video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czDiI9W89vw

In Light of Christ's resurrection, isn't it interesting what our M&M (Memorization & Meditation) passage of Ephesians 2:6-10 says?!  Let's use our SOS (Study, Obey, Share) approach to this passage. After reading it over a few times, please post re. the following-

1. Share one golden gem you gleaned from your digging in Eph.2:6-10. 

2. Please enrich me with a verse that captured your attention from our daily readings from either Philippians, Colossians or 1 Thessalonians.

The following are simple Yes or No questions.

3. Have you intentionally sought to influence your wealth partner recently? (You could even send him/her the above youtube video before answering :)

4. Have you ever completed the Blue Book? (This fill-in-the-blanks booklet covers repentance, faith and baptism.)

5. Have you ever taken anyone through the Blue Book?

6. Have you ever completed the Green Book? (It covers 6 healthy habits of growing believers) 

Announcements & Reminders

We started reading 1 Thessalonians on the 19th. What a great, short book!

We will begin reading 2 Thessalonians on the 24th. Both 1st & 2nd Thessalonians mention the end times in nearly every chapter. Hmm, I wonder why?

Keep reviewing Eph.2:6-10 and you'll have it down by our next NGL leadership training meeting- Sunday, May, 4th at 11:30 in the break room. Please call me as soon as you can quote it. (It's far more valuable than the 200 points that goes with quoting it.)

I'm so enjoying your blog posts. Keep up the good work! (100 points if posted by Thursday nights.)

Speaking of our blogs, next week's blog will be on our monthly theme- God's holiness as we focus on the Holy Spirit- our power for living our resurrection life.

Remember what the goal is- spiritual maturity or Christlikeness. We pictured this as a never-ending circle of dependence and devotion to God and a triangle of Christlike character, caring relationships and kingdom contributions. 

From my wealth catcher to yours- "The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others are your legacy."

Easter, What's the Big Deal?

Imagine that's what an unsaved friend says to you- "What's the big deal about Easter?" 
1. Read 1 Corinthians 15:14-19 and post one reason why the resurrection of Christ is vital.

"You Christians are so gullible to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. People rising from the dead only happens in fairy tales and fiction." 

2. But what evidence did Paul give to anyone in his day who may have wanted to investigate whether the resurrection of Christ ever happened? Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 and post a one sentence answer.

3. Watch the following video clip of Lee Strobel regarding the resurrection of Christ. He was a former investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune and an atheist. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9hPXY5H3oU

Here are more convincing proofs for Christ's resurrection. Read John 19:38-20:9. Just think about this. The 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes that they wrapped among the strips of linen around Jesus would have hardened like lead. So if people wanted to steal the body of Jesus, how did they get the body out of that? The religious leaders paid the Roman guards to say that the disciples stole the body of Jesus while they slept. O really? The penalty for falling asleep while on guard duty was to clubbed to death. Ouch!  By the way, if all the guards were sleeping, how would the soldiers know it was the disciples who stole the body? Hmm. And my oh my, what sound sleepers those soldiers would have had to be! Would they have really slept right through the body snatchers rolling away the huge grave stone? And then we're supposed to believe that for some crazy reason, the thieves decided to hang out inside the tomb to unwrap the body while the Roman soldiers supposedly continued to snooze! But that still doesn't explain how the thieves got the super-glued linen strips off the body. Even if they could get the cloths off without shredding them, why on earth would they neatly place the linen where the body had been lying? Speaking of lying, I just can't buy the lie that the disciples stole the body while the Roman soldiers were sleeping, can you? So how did the tomb end up empty? What changed those "disciples in hiding" into fearless proclaimers of the risen Christ? The risen Christ! He transformed them, and even doubting Thomas, by appearing to them various times for over 40 days and even eating with them. The death and resurrection of Christ is not some fairy tale. It is the best attested historical event of antiquity and the greatest event in human history. He's alive and He's still giving new life to people all over the world.

Christ Has Risen From the Dead! 

Because He lives, we live also!

Do you have a favorite song that speaks of Christ's resurrection? If so, please share the link with me. Thanks! Here's a favorite one of mine- 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IExdrZGQVeI

Announcements & Reminders

What a treasure to be found in our daily readings through Paul's letters to new congregations.
On April 15th we will begin reading through Colossians. It's been called the sister of Ephesians.
On April 19th we will begin reading through 1 Thessalonians. What a great mentoring letter.

Congrats to all of you who memorized and quoted Eph.2:1-5. What a marvelous passage is now yours. Have you started memorizing Eph.2:6-10? One brother has already quoted it to me. Call me when you can too. 

Congrats also to many of you who blog by Thursday nights. You don't put it off and you don't lose any points for being tardy. Let's all strive for such. Thanks for enriching me with your reflections and heartfelt words. (I guess I'm your wealth partner too and glad to be such!) 

Good Friday

What difference does it make? For many people without Christ, Good Friday is only good because it's the beginning of another weekend. But for us it's hugely different. Because of Christ's death on the cross, we've entered into life eternal with God and we want others to experience new life in Christ as well. Helping someone else come to Christ is a process of huge influence by God and people. (This is the co-mission we are involved with Him in.) May God use us to sow good seeds in others to that end. As we have read our way through Galatians this past week, I seized upon what Paul said, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ..." Gal.6:14. What was so significant about the cross- the death of Christ? Most of us can only name a few things, but pastor and theologian, John Piper wrote a book portraying 50 reasons why Christ came to die. I'd like to give you a copy of his book, The Passion of Jesus Christ. (I'm feeling so generous.) Thanks to the internet, I can do so for free!  

1. So please click on the link and influence me-
http://cdn.desiringgod.org/pdf/books_pojc/bpojc_all.pdf
Pick one of the 50 reasons he gives and tell me why you chose that one. It might be something brand new to your thinking or an old favorite reason for rejoicing. How great is our God! His holiness, justice and love all meet supremely at the cross.
The Passion of Jesus Christ is a good book that you can freely pass on to enrich your wealth partner and others. (By doing so, your leadership/influence is showing.)

2. By the time you read this, we will be well into reading our way through Ephesians. It's one of the most popular and powerful of all Paul's letters. So take time to feast on at least the first few minutes of Pastor Ray Stedman's audio overview of Ephesians and then share a gem you gleaned from it with me. http://discipleshiplibrary.com/bible_id.php
(Yes, brownie points for those who listen to all of it.)


3. So would you like to sharpen yourself further? Do you have a desire to learn and grow more? Would like to read and discuss a different, outstanding Christian book each month? Would you also like to meet on a monthly basis with other sharp saints like yourself? Then I'd like you to be in my discussion group. Let me know if 11:30 Sunday mornings, once a month would work for you. The cost? Free! The commitment? To read and then discuss with me and others a great book each month until Christmas. It's going to be an enjoyable and soul shaping time. (Did someone say brownies?) Sure hope you can join me. Whadayasay? 

Announcements & Reminders

We will be enjoying more M&Ms this month- Memorizing & Meditating through Eph.2:6-10. What a great passage, especially in light of Easter! Call me as soon as you can quote it. 
The holiness and justice of God is our supreme theme- how fitting for this Easter month.

Here's a reminder of our reading schedule for this month of-
April
5th-  We began reading Ephesians
11th- We will begin reading Philippians
15th- We will begin reading Colossians
19th- We will begin reading 1 Thessalonians
24th- We will begin reading 2 Thessalonians
27th- We will begin reading 1 Timothy

In honor of Good Friday and Easter, here's a music video by Carman called, The Champion. He wrote it back in the era of the Rocky boxing movies. Yea, I know, that was before you were even born. Now I don't believe such went on in his song, but I still love the ending. Hope you enjoy it too.