NSV Spiritual Formation Exercise 2.7.10-2.13.10

This exercise is to help you connect with God through prayer, specifically the Lord’s Prayer. Do this exercise at both the beginning and ending of your day. You may want to keep a journal of what you feel like God is speaking to you through this.

Matthew 6:5-13 (The Message)
When you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
6"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
7-13"The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply.

Jesus teaches us in these verses that our prayer needs not be showy or boisterous but can be very simple and natural.
• Have you ever seen people making a big production out of their prayers?
• Have you ever felt intimidated that you couldn’t pray that way?
• Have you ever made a production of your own prayers before God, pretending to be something that you are not?

Find a quiet place where you won’t be distracted for a few minutes and pray the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 10:9-13) slowly thinking through what each verse means…
• What does it mean that God is your father in heaven?
• What would it look like for his kingdom to come in certain areas of your life on earth as it is in heaven?
• What are the needs in your life this day that you need God to provide for?
• For what do you need forgiveness? Who do you need to forgive?

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen

Spiritual Formation Exercises for 1.30.10-2.6.10

Use the following devotional exercise at the beginning and end of your day. Find a quiet place and take 10-15 minutes to go through either the morning or evening section. You may wish to bring a journal with you to write down what you feel like God is saying to you or any other thoughts or struggles you may encounter.


Scripture - Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Morning
At the beginning of your day read the above passage through one time.
Read it a second time but slower and taking note or write down any words or phrases that stand out to you.
• What do you feel like God may be speaking to you about in these verses?
• What might it look like to live these verses in your life today?

Scripture as Prayer

God, I take my life, my ordinary life and everything it entails today – sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around and I place it before you as an offering. I embrace what you have done for me and what you continue to do in me. Help me this day to not simply go with the flow of the culture around me but instead to pay attention to you in all things. Change me Lord, from the inside out. Help me to recognize what you want from me and to quickly respond to Your will. Bring out the best in me today as You make me more like You. Amen.

Evening
Get quiet and invite the Holy Spirit to come and guide you as you reflect on the day. Read the above scripture from Romans slowly. Reflect on your day – the good, the bad, and the mundane...
• Where did you find yourself encountering God?
• Where did you find that you were turning your attention to God?
• When looking back on your day when did you see yourself just simply going through the motions?

Close by praying the above prayer based on Romans 12:1-2. Simply thank God for when and where you have noticed him in your day and ask God to help you to stay aware of His presence as you close the day.

Naturally Supernatural

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A clip from the program Sports Science is referenced in this talk. If you wish to see the clip in its entirety check it out here.

Life: Connected
Naturally Supernatural
Speaker – Crispin Schroeder
1.30.10

I. Intro – I Corinthians 9:24-27
II. 2 common misconceptions about spiritual discipline…
1. Discipline is the Christian life (John 5:39-40)
2. Discipline gets in the way of the Christian life
3. A third way – relational discipline
III. Renewing Your Mind – Romans 12:1-2
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IV. Conclusion

Responding to God

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Life: Connected
Responding to God
Speaker – Crispin Schroeder
I. Intro
II. Common Views of Ancient World Religions:
1. Gods/Goddesses are many
2. Gods/Goddesses aren’t Good
3. The World is Bad and Humans are Insignificant
4. Humans Must Appease the Gods
5. No Relationship Between Humans and Gods

III. View of God in the Bible
1. God is One (Deut. 6:4)
2. God is Good – The Biblical narrative starts with a good God creating a good world.
3. Evil, Sickness, Suffering Are Ultimately the Result of Sin not God – (Romans 8:19-20)
4. Humans Can Have Relationship With God

IV. Ramifications on Worship – Worship is Our Response to Who God Is and What He’s Done (1 John 4:19, Phil 2:5-11)

V. Barriers to Responding to God in Worship
1. Shame—We don’t deserve a relationship with a good God
2. Appeasing Rather than Receiving
3. Trying to Pay God Back for His Goodness
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Created to Worship

To listen to this podcast click on the title above or download through Itunes.

Life: Connected

Created to Worship
Speaker – Crispin Schroeder
I. Intro
Worship is whatever we are ultimately looking to for _______________________, ________________________, and _________________________.
II. The Downward Spiral of Idolatry – Romans 1:21-25, Psalm 115:1-8
• “You will become like that which you worship.”—N.T. Wright
III. Worship Starts With God
• In the beginning God… (Genesis 1:1)
• Our Father in Heaven… (Matt 6:9)
• Seek first the Kingdom of God… (Matt 6:33)
IV. Conclusion - Magnifying God or Magnifying Problems

It Starts Like a Garden...

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Text John 15:1-8

Living in a Larger Story Pt. 6 - Ambition

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