Building upon the foundation of Christ with the right material
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
In the last blog we dealt with some of the beginning principles of growth in the Holy Spirit by using spiritual disciplines like that of prayer, solitude, relationships, experiences, suffering, service, and listening to the Holy Spirit as he speaks to you. While this discipline has been focused on putting men back together it can also be used in the development and transformation of all of our lives as disciples of Christ. I look at our lives most of the time as being like an iceberg in the sea. I want to help people to expose more of their real life to God by watching people lower the water line so that problems can be exposed and dealt with. Most of an iceberg is hidden underneath the water line, and it is the same way with our conscious ability to be real with people.
I saw a you to video called "the battle at Buffalo Park"where lions had attacked a young water buffalo just out side the herd. It seemed like a lost cause for the young Buffalo who continued to struggle to get free of the lion pride that surrounded him. They had even gotten the young Buffalo to the ground and were laying on top of him when a large mature male Buffalo charged the pride, scattering the lions for just a few seconds. It was enough time for the young Buffalo to rise to his feet and escape death at the hands of the enemy. Interestingly this act also encouraged the rest of the buffalo herd who immediately surrounded the young Buffalo, and as a unit began to one at a time showed their courage as well in scattering and chasing individual lions away from the scene. The person holding the camera was heard to say "they got him back".
My point here is to show that it only takes the curry each of one person to trust God in making what looks to be the impossible a very real victory. Jesus started with 12 men, and I believe he did that for a reason. Men in particular find it very difficult to trust, and even more so in large groups of people. That is the main reason why a small group ministries are so effective. In order for any man to be able to get involved he must first be able to trust. In my personal work with men I have found that to be the FIRST STAGE in developing worthwhile ministry. It takes time to build trust. It takes time to build up relationships and it takes time to find balance between relationships and this study. We must create a safe environment of confidentiality in small groups. The SECOND STAGE of development for us depends upon whether or not we are working with an open or closed group of people. There is a stage called "the porky Pine"which deals with the conflict we see in people after a stage of about three months. It is where we begin to see things in others that they don't like. This is one of the reasons that we have become so close off to one another. Just as Adam and Eve tried to hide their sin from God so it is between us and others. Part of that problem is due to the social structure we live in today. We do not like for others to see us in the way we see ourselves. No matter if it is a front that we put on by living a ball our means financially or putting a false pretense of happiness over an otherwise dismal existence, we don't want others to see what lies behind the reflection that we see in the mirror.
Eventually we can work past that by gaining trust in one another to not use our weaknesses against us thus developing a sense of trust in family and friendship in Christ that should be there. It may take quite a while before we get past that "porky Pine"stage, and yet it is important that we deal with ourselves internally as a church before we even try to inter-into STAGE THREE, which is beginning to see the needs of the world around us. The enemy knows all too well the power behind unity within the Holy Spirit of God. A part of coming from stage two to stage three once we have gotten over trying to hide our true cell from one another is the ability to come together because we realize that we need the prayer and support of one another in order to stand together in Christ.
We have been working over the last year or so in trying to develop these first three stages of spiritual growth within the concept of our men's Bible study group on Thursday nights. If for anything that we have talked about in this blog has been to try to help men find their place in the body of Christ. And that is what STAGE FOUR is all about. I pray that you are getting good information from our discussions here. If you have questions please do not hesitate to write a comment or a question for me in any of these blogs. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
In the last blog we dealt with some of the beginning principles of growth in the Holy Spirit by using spiritual disciplines like that of prayer, solitude, relationships, experiences, suffering, service, and listening to the Holy Spirit as he speaks to you. While this discipline has been focused on putting men back together it can also be used in the development and transformation of all of our lives as disciples of Christ. I look at our lives most of the time as being like an iceberg in the sea. I want to help people to expose more of their real life to God by watching people lower the water line so that problems can be exposed and dealt with. Most of an iceberg is hidden underneath the water line, and it is the same way with our conscious ability to be real with people.
I saw a you to video called "the battle at Buffalo Park"where lions had attacked a young water buffalo just out side the herd. It seemed like a lost cause for the young Buffalo who continued to struggle to get free of the lion pride that surrounded him. They had even gotten the young Buffalo to the ground and were laying on top of him when a large mature male Buffalo charged the pride, scattering the lions for just a few seconds. It was enough time for the young Buffalo to rise to his feet and escape death at the hands of the enemy. Interestingly this act also encouraged the rest of the buffalo herd who immediately surrounded the young Buffalo, and as a unit began to one at a time showed their courage as well in scattering and chasing individual lions away from the scene. The person holding the camera was heard to say "they got him back".
My point here is to show that it only takes the curry each of one person to trust God in making what looks to be the impossible a very real victory. Jesus started with 12 men, and I believe he did that for a reason. Men in particular find it very difficult to trust, and even more so in large groups of people. That is the main reason why a small group ministries are so effective. In order for any man to be able to get involved he must first be able to trust. In my personal work with men I have found that to be the FIRST STAGE in developing worthwhile ministry. It takes time to build trust. It takes time to build up relationships and it takes time to find balance between relationships and this study. We must create a safe environment of confidentiality in small groups. The SECOND STAGE of development for us depends upon whether or not we are working with an open or closed group of people. There is a stage called "the porky Pine"which deals with the conflict we see in people after a stage of about three months. It is where we begin to see things in others that they don't like. This is one of the reasons that we have become so close off to one another. Just as Adam and Eve tried to hide their sin from God so it is between us and others. Part of that problem is due to the social structure we live in today. We do not like for others to see us in the way we see ourselves. No matter if it is a front that we put on by living a ball our means financially or putting a false pretense of happiness over an otherwise dismal existence, we don't want others to see what lies behind the reflection that we see in the mirror.
Eventually we can work past that by gaining trust in one another to not use our weaknesses against us thus developing a sense of trust in family and friendship in Christ that should be there. It may take quite a while before we get past that "porky Pine"stage, and yet it is important that we deal with ourselves internally as a church before we even try to inter-into STAGE THREE, which is beginning to see the needs of the world around us. The enemy knows all too well the power behind unity within the Holy Spirit of God. A part of coming from stage two to stage three once we have gotten over trying to hide our true cell from one another is the ability to come together because we realize that we need the prayer and support of one another in order to stand together in Christ.
We have been working over the last year or so in trying to develop these first three stages of spiritual growth within the concept of our men's Bible study group on Thursday nights. If for anything that we have talked about in this blog has been to try to help men find their place in the body of Christ. And that is what STAGE FOUR is all about. I pray that you are getting good information from our discussions here. If you have questions please do not hesitate to write a comment or a question for me in any of these blogs. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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