Note: The verse I am talking about isn't actually in the ones we listed for you. To be serious, this was initially by accident. I thought I had read 1 John 4:10, when I really read 1 John 3:10. But, given that God showed me some insight on love in these verses... I'm going to post it anyway. =)*
"This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother." 1 John 3:10
Two things stick out to me in this verse.
1) This verse refers to "children of God." We learned last week in Romans 8:16 that "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children."
Add in Ephesians 1:13-14
"You were also included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance"
We cannot be called "Children of God" without receiving the Holy Spirit, and conversely, it is the Holy Spirit who serves as a testimony that we are Children of God who are eligible to receive an inheritance in heaven. Because of this status, 1 John 4 commands us to "do right" and "love our brother" so that our status as Children will be known to the world. It is not as if we earn our status as children from what we do, but God wants us to make our status known by what we do.
2) I also think it's interesting that John writes that we should "do right" and "love our brother." Why is this significant? Because I believe to love our brother means more than to "do" things. Yes, we should treat others well, and respect them, and be kind and considerate, but to truly love our brother requires more than those things.
Love is more than doing. We can do things for others without really caring about them. John states that the Spirit within us should inspire us to love. And not like the world loves. The Greek word for this love is a form of the word "agape" which is the word always used in how God loves us, His creation.
We show we are children of God & a temple of the Holy Spirit by acting honorably, and loving others just as God loves us.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Week 2: Love
Hey Ladies -
Tonight was great, and really fruitful. Here's our homework for this week =)
John 3:16/1 John 4:9-11
1 John 4:19-20/Matthew 22:37-39
Proverbs 17:17
1 Corinthians 13:4-13
John 15:12-13
Hebrews 12/Proverbs 3:11-12
Some questions for thought:
1. What is love? What is a one sentence definition of love?
2. Why is love important?
3. How did Christ exhibit this?
4. How does (or does not) the world exhibit love?
5. How do you exhibit love?
6. How do you struggle with this?
7. How can we encourage each other to grow in this?
Again, these are just food for thought... feel free to just add whatever insight you find in these scriptures or others on love!
~Annie & Katie
Tonight was great, and really fruitful. Here's our homework for this week =)
John 3:16/1 John 4:9-11
1 John 4:19-20/Matthew 22:37-39
Proverbs 17:17
1 Corinthians 13:4-13
John 15:12-13
Hebrews 12/Proverbs 3:11-12
Some questions for thought:
1. What is love? What is a one sentence definition of love?
2. Why is love important?
3. How did Christ exhibit this?
4. How does (or does not) the world exhibit love?
5. How do you exhibit love?
6. How do you struggle with this?
7. How can we encourage each other to grow in this?
Again, these are just food for thought... feel free to just add whatever insight you find in these scriptures or others on love!
~Annie & Katie
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Spirit - Romans 8:15-19
Romans as a book is incredibly meaty, and chapter 8 could be an entire Bible study, so I just am focusing on these 4 verses right now.
I find that the artificial breaks that have been placed in our Bibles, though helpful for organization, sometimes artificially filters how we view scripture. My Bible ends a section called "Life through the Spirit" with verse 17, and then begins a section called "Future Glory" with verse 18.
But the connection between these two seems so important. Verses 15-17 talk about the privilege that when we receive the Spirit, we also receive adoption into the family of God. What greater privilege could we have than to be called sons & daughters of God? To think that I have done nothing to earn an inheritance and yet Christ would die to rescue me and allow me to share in the coming Kingdom.
Now crossing over to verse 18, we run into two specific things that come from knowing we are now adopted into the family.
1. Paul (author of Romans) states that whatever we face here is nothing compared to what is to come. Whenever the world seems overwhelming, we are confident that our home is not here; it is already set with Christ.
2. Vs 19 describes that "creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed." The sons of God (those of us who have received the Spirit) won't be fully revealed until the end, but that doesn't mean we can't be used here on earth to reveal the coming Kingdom. God has set a longing in His creation that there must be something more, and my job as a Daughter of God is to reveal the truth to those who are waiting in "eager expectation."
I find that the artificial breaks that have been placed in our Bibles, though helpful for organization, sometimes artificially filters how we view scripture. My Bible ends a section called "Life through the Spirit" with verse 17, and then begins a section called "Future Glory" with verse 18.
But the connection between these two seems so important. Verses 15-17 talk about the privilege that when we receive the Spirit, we also receive adoption into the family of God. What greater privilege could we have than to be called sons & daughters of God? To think that I have done nothing to earn an inheritance and yet Christ would die to rescue me and allow me to share in the coming Kingdom.
Now crossing over to verse 18, we run into two specific things that come from knowing we are now adopted into the family.
1. Paul (author of Romans) states that whatever we face here is nothing compared to what is to come. Whenever the world seems overwhelming, we are confident that our home is not here; it is already set with Christ.
2. Vs 19 describes that "creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed." The sons of God (those of us who have received the Spirit) won't be fully revealed until the end, but that doesn't mean we can't be used here on earth to reveal the coming Kingdom. God has set a longing in His creation that there must be something more, and my job as a Daughter of God is to reveal the truth to those who are waiting in "eager expectation."
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Welcome!
Hello Fuse Ladies!
Welcome to the first installment of our blog. Over the next 10 weeks, we are going to explore scripture in different and interesting ways.
We're going to focus our study around Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law"
To begin, we want to understand the Spirit. If you were unable to join us last night (Monday the 17th) we opened our discussion watching a message by Mark Batterson from National Community Church in DC.
You can watch it here:
http://theaterchurch.com/media/message/show-me-the-fruit/
For our study this week, we are going to look into some scriptures about the Spirit. If you'd like to join us in the study... here you go!
If, however, you don't have time to do any of this study this week don't let that keep you from coming next Monday. See you then!
These scriptures are in no particular order. These questions are just for the purpose of getting you thinking; these scriptures may give you totally different insight than anything related to these questions. Share those insights! We’d love for you to study all of these scriptures, but if you get wrapped up in one, feel free to say and absorb as much as you can. Feel free to add more scriptures too!
Romans 8:1-28
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Ephesians 2:19-22
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Galatians 4:3; 5:16-26
1) Who is the Spirit?
2) What does His presence in our lives mean?
3) What is our response to His presence in lives?
4) What are “gifts” from the Spirit? How are they distributed?
5) What is “fruit” of the Spirit?
6) How do we differ between “gifts” and “fruit”?
Throughout the week Katie & I will be sharing our thoughts on these scriptures on this blog, so check back in and add some comments!
Welcome to the first installment of our blog. Over the next 10 weeks, we are going to explore scripture in different and interesting ways.
We're going to focus our study around Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law"
To begin, we want to understand the Spirit. If you were unable to join us last night (Monday the 17th) we opened our discussion watching a message by Mark Batterson from National Community Church in DC.
You can watch it here:
http://theaterchurch.com/media/message/show-me-the-fruit/
For our study this week, we are going to look into some scriptures about the Spirit. If you'd like to join us in the study... here you go!
If, however, you don't have time to do any of this study this week don't let that keep you from coming next Monday. See you then!
These scriptures are in no particular order. These questions are just for the purpose of getting you thinking; these scriptures may give you totally different insight than anything related to these questions. Share those insights! We’d love for you to study all of these scriptures, but if you get wrapped up in one, feel free to say and absorb as much as you can. Feel free to add more scriptures too!
Romans 8:1-28
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Ephesians 2:19-22
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Galatians 4:3; 5:16-26
1) Who is the Spirit?
2) What does His presence in our lives mean?
3) What is our response to His presence in lives?
4) What are “gifts” from the Spirit? How are they distributed?
5) What is “fruit” of the Spirit?
6) How do we differ between “gifts” and “fruit”?
Throughout the week Katie & I will be sharing our thoughts on these scriptures on this blog, so check back in and add some comments!
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