Discovering and Helping Guide Christian Spiritual Progress
-
Upload
andrew-field -
Category
Spiritual
-
view
744 -
download
1
description
Transcript of Discovering and Helping Guide Christian Spiritual Progress
Leadership SummitSeptember 2010Grace Presbyterian Church
Welcome
Praise
Music not available tonight…
Prayers of praise
Tales of God’s Goodness
Testimony of God’s work•In your life
•In people around you
What has God done during the past few months that causes you
to be thankful?
Spiritual Care
Discipleship: following Jesus. Moving forward in our worship, understanding and imitation of Jesus.
LEADERS: help make growing disciples. How?
Knowing people and knowing God
Discovering where people are at
Offering what might help them move forward
Discovering Where People are At in their Christian Life
Categories of Unbelief
Categories of Maturing
Categories of Spiritual Difficulties
Assisting
Non-Believers: Love, Questions/Answers, Point toward the Gospel
Growing Believers: Essential Christian Disciplines, Core Truth (Gospel/ Bible/ Theology), Growing Fruitfulness, Community, Service, Resource
Difficulties: Counsel, Support, Prayer, Gentle Rebuke, Peacemaking
Gospel Imbalance
At the core, we experience spiritual pathologies when the Gospel (in all its fullness) is misunderstood or forgotten. We tend to fall off on one side of the gospel or the other and lead imbalanced lives, we weaken our assurance of salvation, resulting in spiritual pathologies. If the Gospel is “You are far more sinful than you ever dared imagine, yet in Christ you are far more loved than you ever dared hope,” we see that there are two basic kinds of spiritual pathologies: temptation and accusation.
In temptation, the holiness of God (the first half of the Gospel) is forgotten. This leads to a weak view of sin. In accusation, the grace of God (the second half of the Gospel) is forgotten. This leads to a weak view of mercy. The libertine on the one hand and the legalist on the other both experience spiritual difficulties. -Tim Keller
Gospel Imbalance
TEMPTATION
Heart and Satan tempts us
Too light a view of sin and holiness
Presumption, lack of conviction, lack of means of grace
Idols of comfort / power
Loss of assurance by violation of conscience
Remedy: Convince of the goodness of God and his holiness
ACCUSATION (GUILT)
Heart and Satan accuse
Too light a view of grace and love
Guiltiness, drivenness, discouragement, pride, judgment
Idols of approval / control
Loss of assurance by denial of forgiveness and grace
Remedy: convince of Christ’s substituting work, freedom from sin
A Church Culture of
Discipleship1. Membership2. Worship /Preaching /
Teaching3. Community Groups4. Prayer5. Ministry Teams6. Classes7. Deliberate Relationships
KEY: RELATIONSHIPS OVER PROGRAMS
Group Discussion
How can Grace Church to become more able to recognize people’s spiritual needs and assist them in growth?
Main Themes at Grace
Discipleship
Vision 2020 | 10th Anniversary
Communication
Prayer Time