Conclusion

And we made it!!

I've loved walking through this book with yall -- yes, I just came back from the south! Okay, no more yalls; but seriously, I've been so encouraged to hear even just bits & pieces of what you're learning! I love the simplicity of this book, but yet the depth. It's saturated in God's Word, which penetrates deep!! Don't be discouraged if you weren't able to follow along with the schedule/blog perfectly... take time to work through the concepts in here. As it stated in the conclusion... "you cannot be equipped for wise daily living apart from knowing the character and work of God"

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. (Hebrews 11:33-26)

For this reason, I bow my knee before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant YOU to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in YOUR inner being, so that Christ may dwell in YOUR hearts through faith -- that YOU, being rooted & grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that YOU may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)

If you have any questions - about whatever - please feel free to contact us. We're here for you, available to you & would love to get to know you even more (in a personal way, of course... Not just over the Internet!!)

Kendra Gustafson - kendragustafson@gmail.com

Sarah Vint - sarahannevint@gmail.com 

*Random >> I'll be posting some reflections on the Passion Conference on my blog. I was deeply blessed, learned a ton & pray that it's a blessing for others as well!

See you at Freshmen Group Sunday night at 7p in Carver 0001 :)

Welcome Back!!!

Chapter 15 :: How Do We Interact With the Word?

Gals, I hope this finds you doing great, but also trembling. Trembling a little like me because of sentences in this chapter like this one... "Many believers, especially Christian women, are not confident in their personal study of the Word." Think about that. How does that sit with you? It makes me sad, feel icky, and makes me want to kick myself in the pants! Seriously. For as many bibles as I have in my house and on my iPhone (and lets be honest, have had around me for my ENTIRE life), I should know the bible A LOT better than I currently do. What grace He has towards me... towards us!

I'm not here to beat anyone up, but lets sit ourselves down here. If we really want to know God and know His Son, why do we NOT know His Word-- breathed by Him-- better? Wendy mentions this (and I FULLY agree), "Many of us use the demands of our stage of life as an excuse against any bible study." I don't even have kids yet, but I can TOTALLY say that in every stage of life so far, I've thought I was "really busy". Sarah, really? You're too busy to read the book tat the God who breathed life into you wrote? The one who saved you from the pit of hell? The one who knows EVERYTHING not only about you, but about EVERY situation you'll every be in, not to mention EVERYTHING about the ENTIRE world? That's a bummer for you that you think you're too busy.

In this chapter Wendy also mentions...

"Although we want to understand all of Scripture, the Bible would not be the eternal, living Word of God if we could not get our minds around every concept in it. Do I want a God who is no deeper than I am? Do I want a God who doesn't transcend my ability to reason?' 

"The written Word of God is his logos-- his written expression of his character and purposes." 

Girls, it has been such a blessing to be on this journey with you over break. Reading this chapter not only challenges me, but encourages me because I KNOW the Spirit IS at work in me and throughout this chapter seemed to scream....Yes! I have also had some real rich times in the Word where I have found answers through other scripture, as Wendy mentions and have been proactive to be in the word. Perfect? No! And even if I totally blew it all break, can I start fresh now? Oh yes, dear girl! Do I want to know and follow hard after Him? Yes, I do and I can. I can because He is in me giving me the desire to want to. Not only that, but in the seasons of life where I have upheld, studied and valued His word, I have been so satisfied with Him and have felt so close to Him! Getting to know God is one of the options I have EVERY day and not only that, but He wants RELATIONSHIP with me... you and me! How exciting! What a privilege!

This also reminds me of C.S. Lewis's quote from Chapter 2...

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." (Pg. 39) -C.S. Lewis

Please, please, please, end your time by asking God to "Open your eyes that you may see wonderful things in His law" Ps 119:18 (emphasis added). Ask Him to give you a deep seeded passion for Him and for His Word, so that you'll fall more in love with Him and obey Him for the right reasons so that He gets great glory. Ask Him to give you one pure and holy passion to know and follow hard after Him-- not the things that seem pleasing in the moment. Pray that He will help you to not become weary in doing good (studying His Word), but that you will produce a harvest if you don't give up (Gal. 6:9).

Chapter 14:: What Is the Word?

Greetings from Atlanta!!

Hope you're cherishing these last couple days of break! Excited to spend some time with you today reflecting on the Word of God! Though I'm tempted to call it ironic... God's timing is perfect! Among many other things during my time here at Passion, God's been really drawing me into His Word... Giving me great appetite & appreciation for His very Word, given to us as a gift!

If I remember right, I've said before that ch 9 was among my favorites in this book... Well, as I read this chapter again, it's definitely rising to the top! Apart from knowing & having a relationship with Jesus, our Savior, example & bridegroom, what's more valuable than the living, active WORD of God? No, really... What's more true & pure? What's more steadfast & life-giving? It's God- the God who created the Heavens & the earth -speaking to you & I in a personal, life-altering way! I can't even get my mind wrapped around this!

So, do you read it? Do you study it? What about memorize it? This chapter is amazing... I would even challenge you to read it again! Ask the Lord to give you understanding & get your nose into that Book!!

Praying for you girls... Look forward to having you back in Ames!!

Part 3 :: Communicating with our God & Chapter 13:: Prayer is Our Means of Conversing with God

I hope you're doing great! Kendra is currently enjoying Passion 2012. You can click this link to join her live via stream if you'd like!

As we head into the last section of our book, Wendy makes this statement, "Head knowledge is of no value if it is not connected to a personal relationship with Him and relationship with God demands communication with him." Amen! In a similar way, my husband (or any sports-loving guy) knows a lot about different athletes and teams, but he doesn't know them personally. They wouldn't know him from John Doe on a crowded bus, though he might thinks he "knows" them.

That heads us into Chapter 13, where we start with prayer. Wendy gives the real cruz for the "why" of prayer,

"You and I are in Christ and commanded to abide with Christ. Christ is the head and we are the body... We have God Almighty living in us as the Spirit and we are called to reflect this reality and take advantage of it in the form of prayer... Sometimes it will be a gushing river... Sometimes it will be a quiet stream... We all know what it is like to have something on our mind all day. Well, God is to be on our mind continually. We are called to constantly acknowledge and take advantage of the supernatural union we have with God Almighty. 

Question 1: Describe a time when you had something on your mind all day. What would it be like to have God on your mind continually?
Question 2: Do you constantly acknowledge and take advantage of the supernatural union we have with God Almighty? If not, how can you start doing so? 

The model that Jesus gave us the model for prayer in Matthew 6. Wendy walks us through this passage. It's easy for me to read through something like this and  think, that was nice. I've read that before. In one ear and out the other. So...

Question 3: Please spend some time summarize each section of this prayer with 1 sentence (find one in Wendy's writing or create your own). 

i.e. Hallowed: Christ teaches us to open our prayers to the Father with a cry for the holiness of God's name so that everything for which his name stands will be set apart and esteemed as special and worthy. 

At the end of the chapter, Wendy points us to Luke 18:1-8 and mentions that this passage invites us to nag God in prayer. In general, I NEVER want my name to be associated with the word "nag", except in this case. Here are her remarks after the parable and WHY God invites us to nag Him...

In summary, Wendy shares this...

How blessed are we to have a model for corresponding with God?! 

Question 4: In what ways has this chapter challenged your thoughts about prayer? 

Question 5: In what ways do you look forward to changing how you converse with God in prayer? How do you think this will affect your relationship with Him?

Joel and I are about to start reading through a new marriage book called, "Real Marriage", put out by Mark Driscoll. I anticipate that we'll both learn a lot about biblical marriage. We all know reading a book is one thing, but the relationship that actually results is what really matters. I pray that real relationship change will result with each one of us in our relationship God as we finish off "Practical Theology" together!

Chapter 12:: The Spirit Sanctifies Us

To better understand this honkin' word -sanctification- I think it's helpful to jump back to chapter 9. In ch. 9, we learned that in Christ we are justified... where we get the theological term "justification". If you know Jesus... if you've trusted in HIM to pay the penalty you could never pay for the punishment of your sin & rebellion towards Him, then you've been justified. 

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ" Ephesians 2:5. In Christ, we're pronounced righteous... On the cross, Jesus took our unrighteousness upon Himself as the wrath of God fell upon him, in exchange for HIS righteousness. On Page 90, Wendy says, "Though our best works were like dirty menstrual rags in God's eyes (Isaiah 64:6), he declared us righteous by switching our sins to Christ's shoulders & Christ's righteousness to our account."  Now that's what you call Good News!

Glorification

So if you think of your spiritual lifetime as timeline... justification would be the beginning & glorification the end. "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." Romans 8:29-30. So as we know, follow, seek & obey the Lord, He's transforming us to become more like His Son. Look at Philippians 3:20-21.

So if justification occurs when we're re-born, glorification when we die on this earth, what's in-between? Here we find ourselves today, in chapter 12... Sanctification: becoming in reality what you are already declared to be by God.  "We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." 1 Corinth. 3:18

Pretty cool timing to be thinking about this, fresh into the new year. Look back at 2011... maybe when you came to ISU in August or when you graduated from HS, maybe even last January heading into your last semester of high school. Zoom out & look at yourself subjectively... are you more like Jesus today? Do you notice things changing in your character or your habits? Maybe what comes off your tongue sounds a little different! Maybe your desire to read the Bible & pray is much stronger. What about your relationships with new friends at ISU... maybe you're learning to become a better friend, sister in Christ, encourager. Do you see change? The fancy word for that change is sanctification. Love how Wendy words it on page 113... "Sanctification, which follows justification, is the day-to-day process whereby we slowly become in reality what God has already declared us to be in heaven (i.e. completely righteous)." What a privilege to know God, have access to Him, & know that He cares about me enough to walk with me through life... helping me along the way to become more like Him!

I'll end this with a shameless plug for TOG ;). Theology of the Gospel is a class available for you this Spring! It's taught by guys on staff with Salt & meets just once a week on campus. It's a really fun & unique environment to learn & interact with your peers. You'll discuss theological things like we've been exposed to briefly in this book... you'll be challenged to think rightly about the gospel & share it with others! I took it my freshmen year and would highly recommend it :). Let me know if you have any other questions! There's also more info here. (Sign ups will also be available the first couple weeks of Freshmen Group)

Chapter 11 :: God is Our Help

Good morning ladies! 

I don't know about you, but I've been really encouraged by this chapter on the role and work of the Holy Spirit. And good thing too. I kicked off the New Year yesterday with quite the mixture of being filled with the Spirit and functioning in the flesh. I got the chance to share my God Story and encourage another gal down the road to eating disorder recovery. But, that evening Joel and I got into a skirmish about something really silly. How encouraging it is to know that the Spirit IS in me, counseling me, pointing me to Jesus, and convicting me of sin-- and hope you will be too. 

Wendy summarizes this chapter very well in these words from page 111... 

I have four questions on my mind for you to contemplate today...

• After reading this chapter, what is the Spirit's role?
• Like Wendy, I find myself often wishing that Jesus was with me in the flesh. However, He says in John 16:7, "It is to your advantage that I go away." How should this Truth practically play out in our lives?
• Wendy mentioned a variety of scriptures about the Spirit's role (check our Romans 8, which describes the workings of the Spirit some more). Which scripture passages were you most encouraged by? Write them down and spend some time thinking about them even more!
• Check out Eph. 4:29-31 and Wendy's discussion of this passage on page 111. Are there any ways in which you are grieving, quenching, or resisting the Spirit? Spend some time praying and ask that the Spirit would convict you of your sin and encourage you towards Christ. 

Father, Thank you that your mercies are new today and that your faithfulness is great. We are so thankful that you've given us your Spirit and thank you that if we are in Christ there is no condemnation, that you've set us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8), and that we no longer have to live in the flesh but can live in the Spirit. Thank you for adopting us and that now we can cry out "Abba, Father!" to you. Help us to trust that you are working in us with the same power that raised Christ from the dead. We love you and need you desperately today. Amen. 

Chapter 10:: We are Connected to Jesus and Find Our Identity in Him

Happy New Year!!!

Remember this... John 15... The vine & the branches...

Love that we find ourselves here again! 

"For the word of God is living & active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

The word of God is alive... it's active! It's not dead after the first time you read it. So important to have this attitude when coming to passages in Bible you might be more familiar with. My prayer for us today is that God would make us teachable. Humble. Eager to learn, grow & become more like Jesus! If you read onto verse 13,  we're reminded that we can't hide... we're all naked & exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account (to God - Romans 14:12). So there's no need to pretend we have it all figured out! 

Lord, make us teachable & humble... more like You. 

Vine & Branches

Vinedresser - God the Father - a person who prunes, tends to , or cultivates grapevines

Vine - Jesus - any plant having a long, slender stem that trails or creeps on the ground or climbs by winding itself about  a support or holding fast with tendrils; the stem of any such plant

Branches - Us - a limb, offshoot, or ramification of any main stem

I love this picture. Notice how small the branches are? Ha! Not that all branches are small in comparison to the vine/fruit, but cool to reflect on when looking at this picture. It's ONLY because the vine is alive & healthy that those branches even have a chance. What's the overall purpose of planting a vineyard? The grapes it produces! What's the purpose of the vineyard, spiritually? That God be made famous, honored; that He'd be made appealing & attractive to the world! The good fruit of our lives are to point directly to Him. Well, it's supposed to anyways -- maybe that would be an indicator if the 'fruit' we think looks so good, in fact proves to be self-seeking, self-righteousness, or pride and quickly withers. 

"We are supernaturally connected to Christ, and all of our strength and grace for over coming with joy in this life flow from him. He is the root from which we get all of our sustenance for life." Pg. 97

He's always the root! I hate that what Wendy said on pg. 96 is so true... we so often view our relationship with the Lord as just times that we intersect with Him. We feel better about ourselves when we intersect with Him more often. I hate that! Instead, we need to think of ourselves walking with Jesus continually, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Love reading this, knowing that every time I read John 15, I'll still be in process. But He will still be patient, eager to walk me through this thing we call life! 

Head & Body

These two illustrations complement one another so well. The body has no power apart from the head. Your limbs still exist, but are worthless (John 15:5 - apart from me you can do nothing). So thankful for this illustration though, highlighting our need for each other.

We need Christ's body as much as we need his head.

• Does you life reflect this teaching of Scripture?
• Do you identify Christ as the head of your body and live like he is the brains of your operation?
• Does your life reflect the supernatural connection you have to the rest of his body?
• Are you living in community with your brothers & sisters in his body or in isolation from other believers?
• Does your relationship with the church show that you believe that you are members of one another, or do you disobey Paul's instructions by living as if you don't need the other members?

Semi-random, I was looking through my blog trying to find something and came across this post from last spring. The first time I read this book, ch. 9 totally rocked my world. Thankful that He continues to teach me how to empty myself (thankful for His patience). Link

Totally random, but I'm headed to Atlanta tomorrow morning to attend the Passion 2012 Conference!! It starts the evening of January 2nd and on their website, you can live-stream it. If you're free, you should join me!! Passion 2012 -- click "join us live stream". Some of the speakers include John Piper, Francis Chan, Louie Giglio, & Beth Moore.

Happy New Years Eve

Hi Gals,

Can you believe it's going to be 2012 in less than 24 hours? Wild! I remember when 2000 hit and we thought Y2K was going to blow up the world. I also remember that was the year my family got our first computer. It was huge. Likely comparable to a tank and here I am on my little MacBook Pro. Dah! Babies born today will grow up knowing Facebook, Twitter, Smartphones, and Kindles as the norm. Gosh, that makes me feel freakishly OLD! Y'all are younger than my youngest brother. WEIRD!

Enough with my sap and on to you and Jesus. I'd love for you to focus your time with the Lord today on Psalm 100. As you read through this text, dig deep and contemplate over these three things:

1. What does this Psalm say about who God is?
2. What does this Psalm say about people in general?
3. What does this Psalm say about me (how does it apply to me)?

With 100 in mind, I'd love for you to write down 100 things that you're thankful for from 2011. You'll be surprised at how easy this is and will give you an optimistic and focusing on his faithfulness (v. 5).

On the Planning Note...

Yesterday Kendra gave some very good insight into planning for the new year. I'm a HUGE planner by nature. FREAKISH actually. You could call me "Type A". I mean, I'm the TSC coordinator. My job is one constant plan. I plan almost everything, but have learned (on most days) to hold them with an open hand and to be flexible. One message that influenced my thinking about planning is Proverbs: Planning by Mark Driscoll. I'd recommend it because it gives a very clear picture of what it means to plan biblically and even gives some practical tips (which I always appreciate)!

We all know plans change. So, if something isn't working for you and it's in your power to change it (and you're feeling the Lord give you the "go ahead") then just do it! For instance, Joel and I have done a year-long bible reading plan the past two years. It's been awesome to read through the Word, have some accountability and to read together on some days of the week. However, after getting through 1/2 our plan this past year, my husband felt overloaded (He was working full-time ministry with growing responsibilities and was getting his Masters of Theology) and felt like he was reading his year long plan to get it done instead of reading to know God more, fall in love with him, and obey Him for His glory. So we stopped and changed our plans. I jumped into an in-depth study and he headed through some New Testament books at a little slower pace. That said, hold your plans with an open hand and be diligent to seek the Lord when creating them. Lets be honest, the only constant in life is change! One of the clearest relational examples of us with God in the bible (like we just read in Ch. 9) is marriage. If Joel and I don't plan to spend time together or plan to go on vacation, etc... it won't happen! If you don't put some effort into planning out your relationship with the Lord for the coming year, you'll end 2012 disappointed. Spend some time praying about where the Lord would lead you this year (if you haven't already) and ask him for direction.

Over the past month I've sensed a deeper desire to really dig into the life of Jesus. To know Him more (as silly as that may sound).

I have a variety of "plans" (personal, marriage, friendship, home, family, etc), but here are my "relationship plans" with Jesus for 2012:

1. Do the Beth Moore study "Jesus the One & Only" with a TSC gal (Spring)
2. Read & discuss "Jesus + Nothing = Everything" with my Leaders Group (Spring). 
3. Most often, listen to the bible in the car (iPhone App). I'll be focusing on listening and re-listenging to Psalms, Proverbs & the gospels. 
4. Memorize 1 verse/every 2 weeks (see link below).
5. Create prayer cards for particular people I'm committed to praying for (and choose a verse to pray over them for the year, also written on the card). 
6. Be a constant reader and learner. Make more reading/studying plans as the year goes on and adjust as needed!

Yesterday, Kendra mentioned that I've been doing a scripture memory "plan" for the past year. It's been really encouraging! I found this "plan" on Beth Moore's blog. I'm a HUGE Beth Moore fan. If you've never heard of her, click here.  I've done a ton of her bible studies (and am doing another one starting in Jan), read her books, follow her on twitter, and when I have time to read blogs-- I read hers! Not ONLY does she love Jesus and hold tightly to His Word, she is HILARIOUS and so REAL! You can find the in's and out's of the scripture memory plan here. Even if you've tried a million different things and none of them have really worked or you've never stuck with it, I HIGHLY recommend this and use a similar structure for some Salt gals I lead regularly.

Make a Plan!

Going to take another quick break from the book...

So.... December 30th today... REALLY????

In looking forward to a new year, I feel expectant! I feel some anticipation in what 2012 will hold. I also know myself too well to know that it's only to my benefit to have a plan (to some degree or another). Having a plan, in itself, isn't going to make or break your year... but in Proverbs it says, "The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." (16:9) Take some time today & think about this next year... how do you want to grow spiritually? What are some goals you have... in terms of your prayer life, your friendships, your time in the Word? Some may be measurable, others more subjective... but I'd encourage you to put some thought into this next year!

I almost hate to say this, because of fear of failure, but I have to! I'm taking another shot at doing a one-year bible read through! I tried this a couple years ago, but started to dwindle off in the summer. I hate that I gave up & didn't persevere!! I'm SO intimidated to even start, but I'm determined! Have a little extra Christmas money and am going to BAM (yes, Ames got a new bookstore, next to Best Buy :)) tomorrow to pick up this one-year Bible. So that's my plan to get myself into the Word in 2012... going to spend some time today praying and thinking about my prayer life, memorizing Scripture, the mentors in my life, my friendships, & much more! Spend some time in prayer, write out some thoughts, goals, visions for the new year!!

I'll attach a couple articles & links to a couple one-year Bibles I'd recommend!

Make a Plan! ...Desiring God
"Conclusion: Very specifically my plea to you this new year is that you take time to plan the most important things in your life." Notice that he wrote this article in 1984?! Ha! Time-less truths.

Reading Plans

This one may be information overload, but some great ideas here!

One Year Bibles -- 15 minutes a day

One-Year (Chronological)

One-Year ESV, NLT (OT, NT, Psalms & Proverbs every day)

Engage Scripture 2012
This is from The Journey -- a great church in St. Louis. They have some fun & tech-savvy ways to follow their Bible reading plan!

**Sarah, you should share your Scripture Memory plan with us tomorrow!! :)

What's your plan?!

Chapter 9:: God is our Savior, Example, & Bridegroom

Hey Girls! You're doing such a fabulous job of sticking with us! Can you believe we are OVER halfway through this book? Crazy! I hope that you've been as challenged by this book as I have been!

Wendy does an awesome job of dissecting these three characteristics of God. I'm not going to reiterate her explanations, but am going to trust that you've read the chapter. As you saw from Kendra's previous post, we'd like to continue to encourage you to highlight, star, underline, etc-- whatever helps you learn best!

More than anything Wendy, Kendra, or I say, we want the Bible to guide your study of God. Sometimes when I read a book, I have a tendency to think more about what the person has to say than what they are trying to direct me towards in the Bible. Today, I'd love for you to focus your time on the verses Wendy mentions about Jesus. When I get "a list of verses to look up" I tend to either skip over it, or do it quickly just to check it off my list. I'd like to encourage you to see this as a very rich, worshipful time that causes you to know and fall more in love with Jesus! How blessed are we to get to have the word of God in so many forms (hard copies, internet, phone apps, etc)?

Intro

• Matthew 11:27
• Hebrews 1:3
• John 1:1, 14
• John 10:30

Identity of Jesus

• Matthew 14:33
• 1 Peter 2:22
• Matthew 4:1
• John 21:17
• Luke 2:52
• Romans 5:8
• John 1:10-11
• Matthew 13:54-58

Kenosis

• Philippians 2:3-8
• Ephesians 4:32

Our Example

• Luke 22

Justification

• 2 Corinthians 5:21
• Romans 5:12
• Ephesians 2:1-5
• Isaiah 61:10
• 1 Peter 3:18
• Isaiah 64:6
• Hebrews 10:19-20, 22

Glorification

• Romans 8:29-30
• Romans 3:23
• Ephesians 5:25-27
• Hosea 2:16, 19-20
• Revelation 19:7-8

Now, I'd again love for you to pick one of these verses to continue to think about this week and memorize. Please post it as a comment to today's post too (your name and the verse). Let's encourage one another towards Christ!