Sharing Our Faith

This was the second of two personal reflections I wrote for a retreat this past weekend.

Open your journal and write down your response to these questions. Spend as much or little time as you need to answer these questions. When you are done please sit quietly until your small group leader tells you it is time to come back.

Have you ever tried to share your faith with someone?

Have you ever had someone share their faith, Christian or otherwise, with you? How did you respond?

Jesus tells us that we are to share the faith in a passage called the Great commission. Read Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus tells us to go and make disciples of all nations.

What’s your first response to this? Is it fear, nervousness, excitement, or something else entirely?

Jesus spoke these words to his disciples. Why do you think they apply to us as well?

Often when we are not prepared for a question, it is difficult or impossible to answer it. Take a few minutes and write down what you would say if someone asked you what you believe in. There is no right or wrong answer here. If someone asked you what you believe, what would you tell them?


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How do I share my faith?

After Jesus died and was resurrected, His last words recorded in the book of Matthew are called the Great Commission.

Read Matthew 28:16-20 in your Bible.

Talking about our faith is a scary thing. Are there certain people it is easier to share our faith with?

If someone asked you what you believed, what would you tell them?

What if you came across someone who didn’t believe Jesus was the son of God who died for our sins. What could you say or do to share your faith with them?

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Who is my strength when I am weak?

What do we do when our faith is weak?

Read Ecclesiastes 4:10 in your Bible.

What does this passage say about friends?

How do you rely on your friends?

Read Romans 15:30 in your Bible.
Paul asks the Roman church to pray for him when he is weak. Did you know that people in our church pray for you? What do you think about that?

Who could you pray for right now? Write a short prayer for them.

Have you ever had your friends let you down? What do you do when that happens? Read Proverbs 3:5-6 in your bible.

How easy is it to put your trust in God?

How do you go about putting your trust in God?

Previous Reflection: http://kairosverse.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-do-i-live-my-faith.html

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How do I live my faith?

Living our faith in a sinful world can be a difficult thing to do. Read Mark 12:29-31 in your Bible.

Jesus tells us the two greatest commandments. The second is often called the golden rule. How is following the golden rule living out your faith?

Can you think of other ways to live out your faith?

Read Ephesians 5:1-2.
How can you be an imitator of God?

Previous Reflection: http://kairosverse.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-is-faith.html

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Who am I?

Last September I promised a series that I used for my youth group overnight. I never followed through, and so I decided to start the new year by completing that series. I have left the wording the same in case anyone else wants to use them for a retreat. The one I posted in September is actually the second reflection. This is the first. I will post links to all of them bel

These are interactive. Take the time to pull out a journal, a notebook, a scrap of paper, or pull up your blog, or a Facebook note and spend 20 minutes writing your own thoughts down. You can share them if you want, but this reflection time is for you. If you find you have things you want to discuss, you know where to find me. :)

Throughout this weekend we will be taking time in the Word of God. You will have four opportunities to do so. Find a quiet, comfortable place – outside or inside. Take your journal, a pen and your Bible. Do not come back early. Spend the entire 20 minutes reading and reflecting quietly. We will come get you when the time is up. Please be respectful of others and do not talk during this time. What you write in your journal is personal. We will not read it and will not ask you to share it unless you want to. When the weekend is over, you get to take your journal home with you.

Open your Bible and read Genesis 1:26-27.

The Bible tells that God created us in His image. What does that mean to you?

How do you see God reflected in you?

How do you wish you could be more like God?

Are there ways you wish you could be less like God?

Open your Bible and read John 3:1-21.

Jesus tells us that we must be born again. You’ve probably heard that saying before. What does it mean to you?

Reflect on your baptism and your confirmation process (whether you are finished or working towards confirmation). How has being a baptized child of God affected your life?

Next Reflection: http://kairosverse.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-is-faith.html

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What is Faith?

Today's post is a bit different. Today and for the next several days I'm going to be posting the personal reflection exercises I am writing for an overnight our church youth will be doing in a couple weeks. There are still verses to read, but if you like this may be a chance to get a little more involved. Take the time to pull out a journal, a notebook, a scrap of paper, or pull up your blog, or a facebook note and spend 20 minutes writing your own thoughts down. You can share them if you want, but this reflection time is for you. If you find you have things you want to discuss, you know where to find me. :)

What is Faith?

The dictionary has many definitions of the word, "faith".

Faith
–noun

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.
6. the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.: Failure to appear would be breaking faith.
7. the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance, etc.: He was the only one who proved his faith during our recent troubles.
8. Christian Theology. the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

The root of the word "faith" is the latin fidere, which means "to trust". What does the word "faith" mean to you? What is your faith? What do you believe in?

Read the following verse from Hebrews 1:11 and then take 20 minutes to reflect upon your own faith. Write your thoughts in your journal.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

Previous Reflection: http://kairosverse.blogspot.com/2010/01/who-am-i.html
Next Reflection: http://kairosverse.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-do-i-live-my-faith.html

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If I Stand

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (New International Version)

In looking for another song or verse that spoke to me, I ended up going back to one of the songs that speaks to me on many levels. The song is "If I Stand" by Rich Mullins. Rich Mullins was an artist that died in a car accident, and his death affected me because as tragic as it was, he live his life for God. It was so clear to me that God called him home. I bought one of his CDs in a music store. It was stuck in the discount rack. It had "Here I Stand" and "Awesome God" on it. When I looked inside at the lyrics, I noticed that there were little scripture references throughout every song. There were 8 passages alone just for this song. So over the next week, we are going to be looking at these passages.

Today's passage was listed at the beginning of the song, and I believe it was meant as an overarching theme for the song. The song is a song of praise and a song of supplication. As you listen to the song and/or read the lyrics, what do you think about? How does it relate to the verse above? This verse is the core of the Lutheran Faith - we are saved by grace. What does that mean to you?

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Faithful Friends

There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.

Mark 7:32 (NIV)

Today's verse is from yesterday's gospel lesson. It stuck out to me because of a few things. First, because my pastor pointed out in his sermon today that the man didn't asked to be healed. It was the faith of the man's friends that brought him to Jesus. They brought him to be healed. Second, because of the discussions I've been having with many people over the past two weeks.

I have been having a crisis of faith. Not about whether I believe in God, but in what I feel God is calling me to do. Partly it was brought on by the recent division that has sprung up in the church. But I think that issue was masking the other issue - which was my own self-imposed deadlines on doing paperwork to get ready for seminary. What I realized is that I have been trying to make things happen in my time, instead of God's. The same issue I was having with our church is one that I realized was tearing me up on a personal level.

What I learned tonight in a discussion with Juliet Hutchins, is what I need to be asking God for in my prayers. It isn't, "What do you want me to do?" That's pretty clear to me in both my internal and external call. (By which I mean that I feel like God wants me to be a pastor and it's what I want to do, and that people think I would be a good pastor and tell me so.) What I need to be asking, is, "How do you want me to do it?"

I believe that got me through the last two weeks was not my own faith or my own prayers, because I had nothing to say and no will to pray. Instead it was the prayers of others for me. They knew what to pray, even though I did not. Those prayers saw me through. The faith of others helped me, and I just had to share that. After two weeks of not having a Bible verse to share, I suddenly had one I just had to share.

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Tablet of Your Heart

³ Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 3:3

I asked my friend Mike tonight what verse I should use, and he gave me this verse. He said it was his life verse, the verse he would use to sum up the way he lives his life. I let him pick the picture too, and he started looking for stone crosses. I showed him the pictures I'd taken of the stone cross at Eagle Eyrie and you see the result. :)

This verse is so simple and so profound. It is a simple thing to say, and yet sometimes so hard to do. I think this verse speaks for itself though. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

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Adding to Your Faith

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)

The web page I got this from said this: "You have a choice about whether or not you're effective and productive." This honestly goes with the previous verse rather well. I kind of think that the whole thing isn't a perfect string. Like one doesn't depend on the other - to a degree - because I find certain of those things easier than others. self-control and perseverance are kinda my weaknesses. I am a huge slacker - as evidenced by my dirty kitchen. I get myself into trouble putting things off and procrastinating - but I still do it.

What makes one godly? Goodness, knowledge, brotherly kindness, love - these are a bit easier for me. Knowledge is an ongoing thing, and I can always work on the loving my enemies thing more. For you, these things may be quite different.

So then this verse is kind of some steps for the previous. Not like do A then B, but here's a way to get from one to the other and you don't have to perfect A to move on to B, and you can always go back. Like the 2 Cor verse from last week (2 Cor 12:9-10) said though, His grace is enough. Just gotta trust in it. "Let go and let God." Seems a lot harder to do than say doesn't it?

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