I am preparing for a new series on relationships and I have two questions for my research. Please help!
1. What are the top friendship killers? What sabotages a friendship?
2. When times were tough for you personally, what did friends do that really made a difference in your life?
On the weekend after the Integrity Workshop we began a new series at Cityview called Integrity Test: 6 realities we have in common with Jesus. As followers of Jesus we live with a much for severe reality than others do. We live with the reality of God’s perspective and right to our life. We live with the costliness of His grace. Anyone who is a new believer or even consider following Christ is probably already aware of the challenge that accompanies alignment with the Jesus and seeking to walk as walked in this world. (See 1 John 1:6)
The first reality that the series deals with is that your alignment with Jesus may create anxiety in others. For the follower of Jesus this is integrity 101 after the matter of honesty. Our text Luke 2:41-52 opens a window on Jesus going to Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph and then staying behind without their knowledge. After three days they find him in the temple conversing with the elders there. His parents are astonished. And Jesus himself seems genuinely surprised that they did not know where he was or what he was about. Jesus’ alignment with His Heavenly Father created great anxiety for Mary and Joseph. In a simple reduction of the problem we can say that when faced with the anxiety of others we are pressed into an integrity test. Will we be a people-pleaser or a God-pleaser? You can listen to the message at cityviewchurch.ca later this week. The listening guide is below.
1. Alignment with Jesus means you will be doing new things and establishing new patterns.
“Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Luke 2:49
2. Alignment with Jesus creates change in relationships.
“When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Luke 2:49
3. Alignment with Jesus does not mean you abandon all your commitments. But it does require you to sort out your obligations.
“But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.” Luke 2:50-51
4. Alignement with Jesus propels you into essential areas of growth.
“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Luke 2:52
Jesus fully met the demands of reality. We do not and that problem reveals again why I need a Saviour and why Jesus was fully able to meet the reality of my sin:
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
Here is the video we showed Sunday morning before the service set to Toby Mac’s song Lose My Soul. The song is based off Jesus teaching on following Him found in Luke 9:23-27. Specifically verse 25: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very sefl?” What a big difference from the message my kids sang at the table last week, “Baby you can have whatever you want!”
Integrity matters. Just imagine what life would be like if the people, buses, cars, airplanes, homes, computers you depended on had no integrity. What if they could not handle reality? What about you? Can you meet the demands of reality. I have been ruminating on Henry Cloud’s work on Integrity for over a year now and find the material relevant for my own character and leadership development. My family and the organizations I lead in expect integrity. They need me to create and maintain trust, face the truth, work to create results, deal with the negative, make things grow, and live with a transcendent orientation.
I am looking foward to spending part of Saturday with leaders from around the City in an exploration of Henry Cloud’s work Integrity: the courage to meet the demands of reality; How Six Essential Qualities Determine Your Success in Business. We will use a DVD presentation created by Cloud to highlight the 6 qualities. It will be an interactive time between leaders. And, we will have three local speakers: a bank manager, a school principle, and the CEO and founder of a local company.
See you Saturday at 9:30 AM at Cityview.
I’m always on the lookout for ways to promote study and application of God’s Word. I believe we need to move our western romance with information or knowledge on toward speedy obedience when it comes to us and the Bible. Please don’t hear me saying that I am against education. I just think we get inoculated against the power of God’s Word to change our lives when we become dependent on a “studied person” as opposed to seeing every person empowered to open the Scripture and experience the shaping work of the Holy Spirit. Here is a way to do that.
If you are using a narrative passage of Scripture have someone prepared ahead of time to tell the story. Then have someone read the text. Then make your way, one question at a time through the following questions: SPECKA
S is there any SIN to confess or avoid in this passage?
P is there any PROMISE to claim?
E is there any good EXAMPLE to follow or bad EXAMPLE to avoid?
C is there a direct COMMAND to obey?
K is there any KNOWLEDGE about who God is or how He works?
A what is the APPLICATION?
1st. What are the general APPLICATIONS from this passage?
2nd. What are your personal APPLICATIONS from this passage?
Enjoy. And if any of you do this by yourself or with a group of friends please give me feed-back on how it went.
urbanfoot 