Large group #11 - Faith

This week is Large Group Number 11, the last Large Group before we go on break. We will be talking about faith this week and discussing some of the following questions: What is faith? What is its purpose? Why should we have faith? What does the faithfulness of God have to do with our faith? We will also be looking at the faithfulness of some characters in the bible including the Syrphoenician woman, the centurion, and, in the Christmas spirit, the faith of Mary, Joseph, Simeon, and Anna (also read Hebrews 11 for a long list of those faithful to God).

I have a challenge question based on part of Psalm 4 (When you are on your bed, search your heart and be silent):

Examine your heart for five minutes and ask yourself, ‘What have I put my faith in?’ If you aren’t sure or find any surprises, seek out another believer whom you trust and talk with them.

I look forward to seeing you all at this last Large Group of the term!

Love in Christ,

Peter

P.S. I have included this week’s discussion questions—if anyone wants to start a conversation about them, please reply all to the email thread!

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