Blog: Mature Unity

Maturity is more about others than it is about me. This very naturally and automatically begins to promote relational health and unity. 

The problem is that we live in a society that wars against this. Social media has empowered us to glorify ourselves effectively. Jesus never uses his glory to get attention. He uses his glory to awaken others to help them look to the Father and to reach their God-given potential.

Philippians 2:1-7 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant. NIV

Philippians 2:13 For God is working in you, (Gal 4:6 forming Christ within you) giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. NLT

The elevation of highly gifted people who can effectively take us where we want to go on behalf of God fosters a self-serving, man-promoting idolatry in the church. In doing this we are paralyzing rather than mobilizing God’s people as we use the spirit of comparison to make people feel less gifted so they fall in line to help build the influencer's dreams.

In the Western world church, we tend to oversell and underdeliver creating an overstimulated and underdeveloped church that slowly grows disillusioned as a result of being disconnected with the depth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

God presented Jesus to the world having hidden the grandeur of God in the humanity of Jesus. His power is enough without our clever.

This is why we have moved to a format in groups to simply read the Bible together. No clever questions. Just a confidence that if God’s people read God’s Word with God’s Spirit in the room transformation takes place.

Colossians 1:9-14 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ESV

Colossians 1:28-29 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. ESV

The fear of the Lord awakens humility, produces maturity and releases unity. 

Everywhere we go, we bring...

GP2RL: Watch for opportunities this week to put others before yourself as an expression of worship to the Lord.

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Mature Unity

DISCUSSION GUIDE

Click here for a downloadable PDF file of this guide.

UNDERSTANDING THE SEASON: A shared meal could be the activity most closely tied to the reality of God’s kingdom, just as it is the most basic expression of hospitality. It comes as no surprise that many significant stories of Jesus are centered around a dinner table.

When Jesus wanted to explain to His disciples what his death was all about, he didn’t give them an informative lecture. He gave them a relational meal.

In a society that has grown so relationally disconnected, an invitation to Biblical hospitality might be one of the most compelling and irresistible aspects of Christianity. The heart of hospitality is about creating space for someone to feel seen and heard and loved. It’s about declaring your table a safe zone, a place of warmth and nourishment.

Great encouragement comes from rehearsing God’s Word. It is God’s plan for us to spend time drawing close to His heart and hearing His voice together as a family. This is why we start each meeting with this question first:

DISCUSSION QUESTION: 

1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?

Ask each person in your group to answer the discussion questions below after reading the verses. Realize there is great power in just reading the Bible together and allowing the Holy Spirit to awaken his conversational nature in the group.

Colossians 1:9-14 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. NIV

Colossians 1:28-29 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. NIV

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

2. Have each person give a 60 second summary of what these verses are saying, in their own words. 

3. What do these verses teach us about God? 

4. What do these verses teach us about people? 

5. What should you do this week in response to what we are reading and what God is revealing? 

6. Who comes to mind when considering a person you might share this with this week?

Everywhere we go, we bring...

GP2RL: Watch for opportunities this week to put others before yourself as an expression of worship to the Lord.

Blog: Effectively Discipling

Becoming fruitful is a uniquely intimate process of learning to know and love God, yourself and others. We are to love God and to love others as we love ourselves. We live in a society that has learned how to benefit from telling us who we are. Learning to see yourself the way God sees you defines your uniquely purposed fruitfulness from God.

John 15:4-5 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ESV

John 15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ESV

The kingdom of this world has a different set of values and pursuits than the Kingdom of God.

In the late 1800’s Frederick Taylor introduced his concept of Scientific Management. This theory of management analyzed workflows in the ultimate pursuit of improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. 

America’s business and economic sectors were about to shift dramatically from Agriculture, which had been our nation’s primary employer, to industrial business ventures.

Taylor had a huge influence on Henry Ford, working closely with the automaker to perfect the first assembly line. The goal was to divide the workplace into minute components that could be quantified, evaluated, standardized and controlled improving factory efficiency. Taylor stated, “in the past the man has been first; in the future, the system must be first.“

Industrialization and systemization has produced dehumanization resulting from nonhuman technologies that increasingly order our homes, jobs, entertainment, and churches. The fastfood industry is only the most obvious example. People are compelled to check their individuality at the door for the sake of automation, efficiency and duplication. 

Scientific management and the assembly line are the foundations for a way of thinking that is defined in Christopher Smith and John Pattison’s book Slow Church as the McDonaldization of society leading to the McDonaldization of church.

Fred Turner was asked to be in charge of the product improvement process for McDonalds. He developed a 75 page operating manual, known internally as "The Bible," including specific instructions like cutting French-fries no thicker than 0.28 inches. 

This McDonald’s Bible tells employees how to act and move in every situation, and every place in the restaurant. Similarly, Burger King’s operating manual states in “Rule 17”, “Employees must smile at all times.” These kinds of behavioral requirements are emotionally fabricated and physically impossible, but they collaborate with the world we live in today. High levels of ambition lead to sophisticated methods of control.

"Church Growth people assume that you can make disciples the way you make cars and sausages."

South American Theologian Rene Padilla

When you think of someone who has influenced your life deeply you will likely think of a personal relationship not a distant speaker or author. This is why it is so important for us to be true to who God’s called us to be instead of giving in to who others want us to be. 

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. ESV

Jesus commissions us to go & make disciples saying I am with you. The Great Commission involves learning to walk in a deep awareness of God’s presence producing confidence in who He says you are! Please do not check your individuality at the door here! God placed important deposits within you that are part of who we are called to be. You be you! Ps 16:11 says in his presence is fullness of joy!

As soon as you figure out who God created you to be you will stop wasting time trying to be somebody else. 

Everywhere we go, we bring

GP2RL: Practice God’s presence in places of prayer very intentionally this week. Watch for God’s grace and favor in daily interactions.

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Effectively Discipling

DISCUSSION GUIDE

Click here for a downloadable PDF file of this guide.

Every year we devote the first 40 days to focusing on foundational truths that speak to our identity, as a church family. We are OUTRAGEOUSLY LOVING people who PASSIONATELY PURSUE the Lord with IRRATIONALLY GIVING lifestyles as we CONSISTENTLY SUBMIT to God’s desires and EFFECTIVELY DISCIPLE others to do the same. 

Rehearsing foundational truths leaves them firmly planted in the heart of the next generation.

2 Peter 1:12-15 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in (them), I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live…and I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. NIV

It is God’s plan for us to grow in a deeper awareness of the nearness of God as we experience God’s presence as our way of life. This is why we start each meeting with this question first: 

DISCUSSION QUESTION: 

1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?

Ask each person in your group to answer the discussion questions below after reading the verses. Realize there is great power in just reading the Bible together and allowing the Holy Spirit to awaken his conversational nature in the group.

John 15:1-5 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ESV

Matt 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. ESV

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

2. Have each person give a 60 second summary of what these verses are saying, in their own words. 

3. What do these verses teach us about God? 

4. What do these verses teach us about people? 

5. What should you do this week in response to what we are reading and what God is revealing? 

6. Who comes to mind when considering a person you might share this with this week?

Everywhere we go, we bring...

GP2RL: Practice God’s presence in places of prayer very intentionally this week. Watch for God’s grace and favor in daily interactions.