Preparing the Way of the Lord!
Saturday, January 1, 2005
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, A whole new year is stretched out before me today! I pray that You will fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that I may live 2005, to Your glory and praise. I pray that You will give me increasing wisdom and insight each day, and the passionate commitment to live out what I learn in worship of You and service of others. I pray that You will deepen my commitment to being a disciple who makes disciples who makes disciples in 2005, and that You will also bring new people across my path each day with whom I can share the Good News of Jesus Christ one person at a time. I pray that in all I say and do that I will live as the new person that Jesus died to make me. Thank You, for who You are and for all that You do to transform me into the likeness of Your Son. This I pray in His name. Amen.
A New Format for 2005
Starting tomorrow our daily readings will take on a whole new shape. Back in early December, I asked those of You who read the daily readings whether You wanted Pastor Tim and I to continue producing them, because we had noticed that the readership had trailed off a great deal. About a dozen of you responded and said that you do, indeed, want us to continue providing and opportunity for daily reading and study based on the Scriptures that we are emphasizing each Sunday morning in our worship. After prayer and reflection, and with a great deal of help from our wonderful pastor of administration, Pat Fecich, we came up with a format, which is significantly different than what we have done to this point. It follows the Discipleship Essentials concept of “inductive” Bible study, and puts a little more of the onus on you all to do more study and reflection than in the past.
The format will also be significantly different in that each week’s readings are contained on a one page “bifold,” rather than seven individual trifolds. As you will see when you pick up your studies tomorrow, Pastor Tim and I will continue to supply daily prayers for your studies. We will continue to supply a focus Scripture or Scriptures, which will be the Scripture or Scriptures upon which the Sunday message has been based. We will supply some basic background about the Scripture or Scriptures for the week. After that it will be up to you to pursue a different aspect of study each day of the week. On Monday, the focus will be “observation.” You will be asked the question, “What does the text say?” On Tuesday, the focus will be “interpretation.” The question of the day is, “What do these verses mean?” On Wednesday, the matter for consideration will be “application,” or “How can I respond to the texts insights and teachings?” This is where the rubber meets the road and you consider what you are going to do with the text! If you are participating in Discipleship Essentials, then this format will be familiar to you. Even if you aren’t it will still be somewhat familiar since in the past we have used similar headings, but with different labels.
For the remainder of the week there will be an expanded focus of study. On Thursday, you will consider “After reading and studying the text, reflect on the following discipleship growth points.” In this section you will consider three different growth points and how you study has helped you grow (or perhaps has NOT helped you grow!)
Then on Friday you will focus on some additional growth points and how they have helped you grow deeper in Jesus.
On Saturday there is only one task. The heading is simply “reflective thoughts,” and you will be given the opportunity to sit with God and the text, and the other responses you have written through the week to consider how the Scripture has impacted you, how God has used it to bring some transformation, and what remains to be transformed.
As you “collect” these weekly handouts and complete them, they will become a mini-spiritual journal or notebook, that you can look back on over time and see how God has been at work in you. As you use this resource in 2005, we would like to have your feedback about the changes. We know that it will mean more work for you, but the reason we provide the daily readings is to offer a catalyst for each of us to grow deeper in our walk with the Lord, and ultimately to be more effective disciples who make disciples who make disciples.
I am encouraged that some of you took the time to either speak with Pastor Tim or me, or e-mail us to let us know that the daily readings are important in your life and that they have helped you to grow in your walk with the Lord. As we move into 2005, I sense that God is going to move New Life to a whole new level. I am enthusiastic about results that people have been sharing with me about their participation in Discipleship Essentials. So far, it seems to be doing exactly what we have been hoping and praying for—moving us closer to Jesus, and giving us a greater boldness to share our faith in Him with others. In this month of January we will be launching the “Come Let Us Build” process, which is designed to provide the financial means for us to purchase lands and start building the “mission outpost,” which will allow us to reach western Pennsylvania, and the U.S. and the ends of the earth in the name of Jesus.
Please pray for Pastor Tim and me, and for all the leaders of New Life, daily that we discern and do the will of Jesus. As you continue the daily discipline of reading and reflecting on God’s word and then implementing in your daily life, I pray that one of the applications will be at least a brief prayer each day for the leaders of New Life, that we may run with perseverance the race that is set before us, and thus continue to guide all who will respond to Jesus, to deeper and abiding faithfulness in His name!
Thank You! Pastor Chris