Week #5 - Discipline & Discipleship

Hey everyone! For those of you who were in class, thanks so much for your honesty and effort as you had the chance to teach yourselves last Sunday. I know you found it surprising that I left you on your own, but hopefully you also discovered why this might be helpful. Thanks for trying it, and we will certainly talk more about it next week (May 31) when we meet for our last session together. This week you should plan to attend Jr. MYF if you are going to be at church, I will be in Vermont on a service trip with the young adults.

Here are the questions (RESPOND TO BOTH) for you respond to this week:

1. In your own words, what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?
2. Given your own definition, are you one of his disciples?

Have a great Memorial Day weekend and I will see you on May 31!

~ jim

Week #4

Hi everyone!

I hope you are having a good week and continue to remember that the Spirit of the Lord lives inside each one of you and is helping to guide you into all truth. Here are the questions for this week. Pick one (or more) and respond by clicking on the comment link below.

1. How have you noticed the Holy Spirit calling you, leading you, correcting you?
2. What sings of the Holy Spirit do you see in your life? In our church?
3. Where do you see your own life story connecting with God's big story?

(Listen to a song from Steve Curtis Chapman that might help inspire you at: http://www.last.fm/music/Steven+Curtis+Chapman/_/Big+Story)

Thanks for your thoughtful comments last week and keep it up!

Peace to you through God's Holy Spirit, ~ jim

Week #3 - Messiah & Mission

Hi everyone. I hope you are having a good week. You should be working your way through chapters 4 & 5 this week, reading more about Jesus the Messiah and his mission on earth. Here are several questions for you to choose from and respond to by commenting below.

1. Of the three explanations of Jesus' death (pgs. 82-83), which one means the most to you? Why?
2. How does Jesus' death and resurrection affect your life today?
3. Jesus calls us to carry our own cross. What does that mean to you?

Thanks and have a great week. - jim

Week #2 - Conflict & Competition

Hey everyone!

Thanks for all your good comments last week. It was great to read everyone's thoughts. Respond one (or more) of the questions below for this week, and I will see you all on Sunday!

1. Why do you think the Israelites were still God's people even after they had broken the covenant time and time again?
2. Who are the propets in your life? Do you listen to them?
3. In what areas of life have you gone your own way? How has God shown faithfulness to you?

Thanks! - jo

Blog Entry #1

Hey everyone!

I hope your reading is going well. Now that you have made it to the blog you can add your comments by clicking below and writing your response to one of these questions:

1. What is your earliest faith memory?
2. How would you describe your current experience of God—as more close and personal or as more mysterious and far away? Why?
3. If God controls the world, is it more like the control of a well-oiled machine, or the control of a loving parent? Who’s to blame when things seem “out of control”?

See ya on Sunday! ~jo

EXPLORATION BEGINS!!!

Hey everyone! Now that you have started to explore what it means to deepen your faith in Jesus. This will provide us with a place to continue our class conversations. Each week you can log in to this blog to respond to questions and share your thoughts about the chapters you are reading. You can ask me questions, you can ask others in the class questions, you can share insights.

I hope this blog can be a help to your faith exploration as you deepen your journey with Jesus. So feel free to share your thoughts and questions as you explore.