The next meeting for the Finding The Holy Spirit men’s group is Wednesday, Oct 1 at 7pm in the KC room. This message is going to those who either have already been to a meeting, have been coming regularly, or that we hope will want to eventually come to one of these meetings. Assuming I have an email address for them, which I don’t always have. There is no pressure to attend these. It’s just not always possible for some of us and that’s ok. This is just an invitation to come and talk with other men about how God uses the Holy Spirit in our lives and how to recognize it. Invite anyone who you think might benefit from that. It’s like a drop in coffee talk all about the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. Maybe I should make coffee for these meetings?
I’m sending out this as a reminder to put it in your calendar, but also a review of what we talked about last time so that we can all look at it and try to apply either what we learned, or that we learn more about it, in our daily lives. And if you have a question about faith, Holy Spirit, a specific favorite or problematic Bible verse, or whatever, just bring it with you to the next meeting.
Readings we looked at:
- Hebrews 3:12-15
- Proverbs 2:12 – as it relates to “deliver us from evil”
- Romans 12:2-3 – do not conform to the world
- Romans 9:21
- Proverbs 3:13
- Genesis 9:6
How did we do with working on our flaws and weaknesses this week? Do we still struggle with prejudice of any kind that blinds us to the natural beauty and love we owe people?
Try to find a copy of the 30 Days to Eucharist book and explore what it tells us.
We talked about the Lords Prayer. Are we able to think of that as more of a statement of belief than a series of unachieved requests. Belief in the accomplishments of what is in the Lord’s Prayer rather than hoping for what it proposes as left to accomplish, will influence and inform our behaviour.
We talked a little about punishment, justice and the death penalty, however it became a little too deep for us to dive into as a group, so that is on the shelf for now. But on your own its worth asking the question of what do you believe about that? What does the church teach on that topic? How does it line up or conflict with what you read and hear in the Word? It may be something you don’t want to address and that is fine. You don’t have to. Just know that someone has to at some point.
We talked about not taking the bait in our social culture. Not letting aggravations from others push us over a cliff of emotional reaction. And how the teaching of the Old Testament (eye for an eye) is not incompatible with the teaching of the New Testament (turn the other cheek). God didn’t make mistakes to correct by sending Jesus. He confirmed His will throughout the Bible as consistent.
What makes you happy? Do we have a happiness ‘setpoint’? Does our happiness depend on satisfying ourselves or are we happier when we serve others? If love is willing the good of another, would it not then logically track that happiness is assisting the good of another? Is it fair to say that if we were to focus on ourselves and our own happiness, that would be in conflict with love? That’s not to say we can’t take care of ourselves. Its simply pointing out that the greatest fulfillment of happiness would have to be compatible with the greatest fulfillment of love? Think about that one for a while. It really cuts into my TV watching time.
Here is a list of remaining verses on our list that we didn’t reach last week but may get to next week
- 1 John 1:9
- Psalms 119: 2, 9-16
- Psalms 103: 1-5
- Psalms 147:3
- Deuteronomy 4:29-31
- 1 Peter 2:24
- Hebrews 3:12-15
- Revelation 3:12-15
And here is a link to those little tabs you can put on your bible to quickly find the books. It made a world of difference for me. And I love these specific ones because they also group the types of books by colour code. The Prophets, the Gospels, The Letters, The Law etc. Tremendously helpful.
