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Growing Deep in the Disciplines of Living - Nairobi Chapel PDF

218 Pages·2014·1.09 MB·English
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Disciplines of living GrowinG Deep in the Disciplines of livinG Introduction: When we become Christians, we have to develop our faith over time; otherwise we will remain what the apostle Paul calls mere infants, babies and spiritually dull. In his address to the church as recorded in the book of Hebrews 5:12 (NLT), he states to his audience “You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead you need someone to teach you again the basics things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.” Paul’s concern was that these Jewish believers were still immature because they had not applied the basics to their faith. To help us achieve this desired growth in the faith are spiritual disciplines that help us become stronger as Christians. We could therefore view spiritual disciplines as good habits that allow us to remain open to God and develop spiritually. Growth in godliness in order to express Christ’s character in day to day life is largely dependent on a deliberate cultivation of the spiritual disciplines found in the Bible. Tese disciplines are therefore the means to spiritual growth. Spiritual disciplines are important because they exercise our spirit, mind and emotions so that we become closer to God. Tey help us see His will for our lives more clearly so that we can live the life he desires for us. Trough this study you will take a closer look at what God is like and also learn about how he wants you to respond to aspects of his character that are part of the disciplines you 3 should develop. You will also discover that Jesus himself practiced the spiritual disciplines, his disciples followed in his example and even the early church devoted themselves in the spiritual disciplines. It is therefore expected that every believer in this generation and the generations to come, will practice these disciplines faithfully if he/she desires to grow spiritually. Tis study will take you through a ten weeks experience as an individual and as an egroup and our prayer is that by the end of this period, you will have made it part of your lifestyle to practice the spiritual disciplines. 4 How to use the study guide Each study has six parts: Introduction, beginning point, defnition, book, ask yourself and scripture memory . It also has a fve day plan of how you should do the study for fve days in a week. Introduction: Tis is a brief explanation of what will be handled in the weekly study and it also sets the pace for the rest of the study. Beginning point: Each study begins with a few refection questions about the weekly study. Te questions include: What you have heard about the topic of discussion, your personal understanding of the same and what you think the Bible says about the specifc discipline of study; also whether you think it is important in the life of a Christian and a trivia question on the topic of discussion. You are expected to give honest refection of these questions before launching into the study. Defnition: A brief defnition is given for every discipline handled, to help give the right perspective before launching into the study. Book: Tis is the main Bible study section characterized with brief 5 explanations, printed out Bible verses using the New Living Translation version for ease of reference and discussion questions to help you discover facts about the study. Tis section also helps you to attach meaning to your discoveries and also develop application convictions. Ask yourself: Te purpose of this section of the study is to help you see basic ways you can apply the truths learnt in the study in your life as a Christian. Scripture Memory: Each study has a memory verse that helps you remember the details of the study in a few memorable sentences. 6 Contents • INTRODUCTION ������������������������������������������������������������������������������3 • HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE ���������������������������������������������������������������5 Week One • HOLINESS ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������9 Week Two • FAITH ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������25 Week Three • PRAYER �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������47 Week Four • WISDOM ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������73 Week Five • SERVING ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������91 Week Six • FASTING ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������111 Week Seven • STUDY ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������127 Week Eight • GUIDANCE ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������153 Week Nine • FELLOWSHIP �������������������������������������������������������������������������������171 Week Ten • WITNESSING �������������������������������������������������������������������������������193 • Bibliography ������������������������������������������������������������������������������217 8 WEEK 1: holiness DAY ONE Every culture diferentiates the sacred from the secular and has terminology to make that distinction; this simply means that what may be acceptable in one culture as holy may be an abomination to another. For instance when God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt and led them to the Promised Land Canaan; Canaan already had such terms, but the problem was that what was holy to the Canaanites was abominable to Jehovah. And God clearly warned the people of Israel by saying “…do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life” (Leviticus 18:3 NLT). To God all the practices that were acceptable to the Canaanites were an abomination (Deuteronomy 23:17-18). Tis diference in understanding should make us think deeply especially when thinking about the theme of holiness that may mean diferent things to diferent cultures, denominations and even individuals. Te apostle Paul when addressing the church at Corinth stated, “Because we have these promises dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defle our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness 9 GROWING DEEP IN THE DISCIPLINES OF LIVING because we fear God” (2Corinthians 7:1 NLT). With the clear exhortation about holiness in the scripture, the sad realization according to the words of one unknown scholar is “holiness is not a popular word, even in many Christian circles; one reason may be the misconceptions people have about the meaning of the word.” But our deepest concern this week as we take the study on this subject should be what does the word of God say about Holiness? BEGINNING POINT: What have you heard: Take a moment and refect on this term “Holiness”, what have you heard about it? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ What is your personal understanding of holiness? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ 10

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