Based on the success of our fall journey through the Bible, we've planned another journey this winter - to study and enjoy "Kingdom Life" together as a community. No, there will not be 12 more pages a day to read - just one or two key passages every week to meditate on, along with some questions for group discussion!
However, I am asking each person at MCC to study with us, and to join a small group that will meet for an hour and a half for 12 weeks.
We've discovered that a community journey for the whole church has great advantages for building unity and helping us grow in Christ as we learn from the Scriptures and each other. Since we've had a "big picture" overview of the Bible, now we will "zero in" on the specifics of living the Life Jesus came to give us - the Life of the Kingdom of God. This "Kingdom Life" is the Life that we begin when we trust Christ. Kingdom Life is what Jesus talked about often! It is your destiny ...What do you mean by Kingdom Life?
It is a Life of loving God and loving people. It is an abundant Life. It is a Life filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. It is a Life of generosity. It is a Life of wisdom. It is character transformation. It is your destiny, if you've decided to follow Jesus. It is Life powered by the Holy Spirit. It is a Life of life-giving relationships. It is the practical application of what Jesus modeled. It is a decision to imitate Jesus - to learn to live like He did. What are we going to study and talk about?
We are going to look at key passages in the bible that will help us go deeper and live out our faith in practical ways. "my yoke is easy and my burden is light" "lay hold of the deep truths of the faith" For example, Paul told the church in Corinth "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly - mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it." The author of Hebrews said "Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity." We will ask what Jesus meant when he said "my yoke is easy and my burden is light", and what Paul was talking about when he wrote Timothy "lay hold of the deep truths of the faith". We will learn how to appropriate the power Jesus promised with the Holy Spirit, and how to obey Paul's command to "be filled with the Spirit". We will look at each purpose of our church and give detailed application on how to live it out practically. The most important issues of life We will look at the most important issues of life: how to balance work and rest, how to be a good steward of our time, money, talent and our bodies. How to pray with the power Jesus talked about. How to hear God's voice. How to make disciples. How to participate in missions. How to develop theological depth and biblical study habits. We will also practice memorizing Scripture, and learn how to defeat unproductive and sinful patterns in our lives.  We will soon publish a roster of small groups to choose from. We will make every effort to have a group available on most days of the week. Please look at your schedules for these 12 weeks to identify one or two slots where you could make a weekly commitment to this study and begin praying that God would reveal the next steps in Kingdom Life to you!
—Pastor Denis |
