Large group #10 - Prayer

This week we will be discussing the role of prayer in our lives.  How did Jesus teach us to pray? When should we pray? Who are role models in the bible for prayer? What experience do we have with prayer? Why do we pray? Where do we pray?  This is a big topic and we will only have time to scratch the surface

I challenge you all this week to be purposeful about praying and to pray more than usual.  I also challenge you all to come together to pray in a pair or a group at least once this week. Turtle Prayer (at the turtle pond by Millikan Pond at 4PM every day) is a good place to go for this!

I look forward to seeing you there!

Love in Christ,
Peter

P.S. Here is the guided discussion for this week, please feel free to reply-all and start a conversation about it!

Large Group #9 - Church and the larger community

This week we will be talking about church.  We will look at the origins of the early church and compare that to what the church looks like today.  We will think about the church in the context of being a family and think about responsibility within the church.  We will consider the role of the Holy Spirit as our helper and discuss the ultimate role of the church in God’s plan.

Large group #8 - Forgiveness and Reconciliation

This week we will be talking about forgiveness and reconciliation:  Why are we called to forgive and to reconcile?  Do we need to be careful when we reconcile and forgive with people who do not hold themselves a biblical standard? What gives us the power to reconcile and forgive? What is God’s nature regarding sin, forgiveness, and reconciliation?

Large Group #7 - Supporting each other

This week we will be talking about encouragement and have a quick recap about what we learned from studying Micah on Saturday.  I have been greatly encouraged over the past few weeks as I have gotten to know many new faces and seen strong commitment to Christ and to each other at Turtle Prayer, this weekend’s Dig-In, at church, and around campus.  I pray that we will continue to love and serve each other wholeheartedly. I exhort those of us who have found a firm community here at Caltech to reach out to those who have not yet found Christian community.  Consider the wonderful blessing it is to be with fellow believers and how encouraging it is to spend time with each other; share that gift and blessing with your friends because you care about them and love them.

Encouragement and hope come ultimately from God, through His Spirit (consider Ephesians 5:15-21 and Hebrews 13:9) and in the work Jesus accomplished on the cross. Hence we can encourage each other simply by living out scripture in our lives (1 Thessalonians 3:6-10). Encouragement is not a passive process, nor is it simply our words: we encourage through our actions (1 John 3:18) and our involvement in each other’s lives.

We will consider how we can encourage each other by reading Job 2:11-13, Romans 12:15, and Psalm 88.  We encourage by understanding each other well enough that we can encourage according to our brother’s a sister’s needs (Ephesians 4:29).  Therefore we will discuss how we encourage with the freedom that Christ gave us and not in compulsion (Galatians 5:1, Romans 14:13-23, Philemon 14) and see how rebuke relates to encouragement (Galatians 6:1, 1 Timothy 5:1-2, Proverbs 27:5).  We will also identify some pitfalls to avoid as we encourage each other by examining Proverbs 27:14 and Job 42:7-9. Finally, we will also look at some of the specific ways to encourage our leaders and teachers in Galatians 6:6 and Hebrews 13:17.

This week we will also begin to tie together all the topics we have been talking about this term—living life as a Body (1 Corinthians 12), building honesty and openness (James 5:13-16), dealing with conflict (Matthew 5:21-26,Matthew 18:15-20, Ephesians 4:25-28)—and relating these topics to how we encourage each other.

I exhort you all to put into practice what we have been covering in Large Group (so that we may love through actions and not simply through words), to spend time with each other so that we may encourage each other and grow in love together, to check up on your friends to support them (especially in the wake of midterms!), and to invite friends to have community with other believers.

Large Group #5 - Dealing with Conflict

This week we will be talking about dealing with conflict in the Body of Christ because we are all sinners with rough edges, and conflict of one sort or another will inevitably arise.  The bible has several passages that give specific instruction on conflict, the most explicit are Matthew 5:21-26, Matthew 18:15-20, and Ephesians 4:25-28. We will talk about why God gives us these instructions on conflict resolution and what happens when we don’t follow these instructions.  We will also talk about behaviors that lead to more conflict (such as gossip,Proverbs 16:28 or love of money, 1 Timothy 6:3-5), discuss some practices that help minimize conflict (e.g. 1 Timothy 5:1-2, Ephesians 4:29), and look at some cautions while trying to help others diffuse their conflict (e.g. Matthew 18:15-17, Proverbs 27:17). We will also touch briefly on reconciliation and forgiveness because it is so closely related to conflict in the Christian life, but we will talk about it in more detail at a later Large Group.

I pray that we will all continue to grow in wisdom and maturity with each other.  I exhort us to spend time with each other so that we may grow in friendship and love for one another.  I am encouraged by the love and commitment to each other that I have seen and heard about so far this year and I call us all to continue steadfastly along that path.

Please also remember your ‘homework’: a) to live out what we are talking about in Large Group, b) to spend time together growing in friendship and encouragement, and c) to invite a friend (or 2 or 3…) to Large Group!

Large Group #4 - Honesty and Openness

This week we will be talking about honesty and openness, especially with regards to making our community a safe and supportive one for everyone. In the context of being part of the body, which we talked about last week, living in the truth gives us freedom (John 8:32) to support each other and become closer, as one body (Ephesians 4:25) and stand together as followers of the truth (Mark 3:25, John 14:6).  This allows us to trust each other and be in community with each other in truth and love (Ephesians 4:15) so that we may grow in maturity and be faithful to one another (James 5:13-16, James 3:14). Being truthful and obedient to God also gives us encouragement (3 John 1:4) and builds us up (Proverbs 14:25).

By walking in the truth we invite the Holy Spirit (a.k.a. Spirit of Truth) to work in us and bear fruit (John 14:16-17, Galatians 5:22-23). The truth and love that we are speaking of is not just spoken with words, but carried out in action (1 John 3:18).  I pray that we will be an encouragement to each other and a light to campus as we live in honesty and openness with each other.  May we take steps to build trust and friendship with each other!

Love in Christ,

Peter

Large Group # 3 - Everyone is different!

This week we will be discussing what it means to be a Body of Christ.  The Christian walk is not a solitary one and many of the commands and exhortations we have received through the bible are corporate (for example, most of the “you”s translated into English in the New Testament are really “you all”s). We are called to live together as a body in preparation for becoming the bride of Christ, made perfect through the sacrifice of Jesus.

So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:4)

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. (Revelation 21:9-10)

As a Body of Christ we are called to live close with one another and, as sinners with lots of rough edges, we are likely to irritate each other (a lot). This leads to conflicts, misunderstandings, and general discord because we are different and we do not understand each other or each other’s perspectives, and our roles in the Body of Christ are all distinct.  Therefore I encourage us all to grow in understanding of ourselves (so that we may understand our own part in the Body of Christ) and of others (so we can better understand the complete picture of the Body of Christ and increase our appreciation of each other). Let us encourage each other to greater unity.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

My hope is that this week we can discuss and appreciate what makes each one of us unique in the Body of Christ, how we can better understand each other, and how we can take ownership of loving others for who they are as we are grown by the Holy Spirit.  One of the tools we have at our disposal is personality tests, like the Myers-Briggs test you can find at this link: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp. When you’re done you can read about your personality type here: http://www.typelogic.com (I recommend this site over others). Although personality tests are limited tools, they are good at helping to diagnose broad patterns that you might encounter in your life and for helping to understand the pitfalls that your fellow workers in Christ might face based on their personality types.  I have found the Myers-Briggs test and the descriptions to which I linked to be quite accurate and helpful. I hope that they are also helpful for you!

Loving each other for who we are is time consuming and takes much effort, but it is most highly commendable. Let us continue to grow in love, understanding, and maturity because we have received good news.

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Love in Christ,

Peter

P.S. I have attached the discussion questions for this week below.  If you would like to answer or discuss any of the questions, please feel free to reply all and start a conversation!