Rhythms of Grace

Rhythms of Grace: Witness
Deuteronomy 6:5-9
5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

The Practice - Rule of Life:
What is a rule of life?  "A rule of life is a set of practices that help organize and align our lives with our telos". And if Jesus is the telos, the ultimate aim, of our lives, then a Rule of Life for us consist of a set of practices that help organize and align our lives toward being with Jesus, Becoming like Jesus and Doing the things of Jesus.
Why is a Rule of Life so important?  A Rule of Life is important because if you want to live a vision continuously, it requires a vow. This is true biblically and historically.
How do I make a Rule of Life?  Lay down your life, your time, your routines and your schedule before the Lord. Then, with God's guidance, put the big pieces in first and add the other pieces later.
Add the practice of solitude, community, scripture, prayer, fasting, generosity, services and witness, first. Build your life around the trellis that will elevate and encourage your formation and fruitfulness in Christ.

Rhythms of Grace: Witness
Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The Practice: Witness
1) Live Like Jesus (Be with Jesus, Become like Jesus, Do what Jesus did).
2) Tell your testimony
3) Know your Scripture
4) Expect Persecution
5) Stick Together
6) Walk in His Power
The fear of ONE is the fear of none!

Rhythms of Grace: Service
Luke 10:25-37
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

The Practice: Services
Three keys to a heart of Service: 1) Humility 2) Obedience 3) Sacrifice

Heart posture of the way we serve:
Willingly, Thankfully, Availably, Wholeheartedly, Joyfully, Faithfully and Expectantly.

Rhythms of Grace: Generosity
2 Corinthians 9:6-11
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” 10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

The Practice - Generosity:
1) Generosity is Resistance
2) Generosity is a Journey
3) Learn from the Holy Spirit
4) God has sent the Example
5) Be Transformed by God into a people of Generosity

Rhythms of Grace: Fasting
Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

The Practice - Fasting:
To fast is to starve the flesh, but not only that it is to feed, nourish and strengthen our spirit. Its a different kind of feasting that goes beyond food. Fasting is the act of temporarily forsaking earthly bread, in order to focus and feast on Christ, who is the bread from heaven. John 6:51 says “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Jesus spent his whole life fasting. He fasted from his divine privileges when he emptied himself and became human. In doing so Jesus received eternal Joy. Just like Jesus, while this may be challenging, we too should practice fasting. Sacrificing temporary comforts, and allowing the peace of King Jesus to rule and reign in your mind and heart.
Fasting may look different from person to person. So seek the Lord and listen to what he is challenging you to fast from and replace it with spending time with him. Whatever it is you fast from, it will not outweigh the joy that King Jesus has to offer.

Rhythms of Grace: Prayer
Hebrews 5:7
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

The Practice - Prayer:
The practice of prayer, believing that in a culture of superficiality, God can transform us to be a people of power in the Spirit. Truly understanding the victory of Christ, from creation, the fall, the promise, Jesus and the church (God's plan for the church), will help us to know the power and practice the power of prayer through the Holy Spirit. We are called to pray prayers of intercession and petition. By doing so we are working with the Holy Spirit to see God move. Sometimes we don't have the words, but even in our groans, the Holy Spirit can work. Sometimes he's slow to answer and will even answer no, but don't stop praying. Don't stop partnering with the grace God gives with and through prayer. Ask and keep asking. Seek and keep seeking. Knock, and keep knocking, groan and keep groaning, cry out and keep crying out. Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning!

Rhythms of Grace: Scripture
Psalms 1:1-3
1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers.

The Practice - Scripture:
1) Reading scripture with Jesus. Don't read you bible to check a box, but instead to meet with the One who already embodies the very words we read. 2) Read Scripture to become like Jesus. As you read the words of scripture in the Spirit, God is the one working and writing those very words into your heart and mind. Which means you can experience the transformation of your heart and the renewal of your mind. By reading scripture you can be shaped to be more & more like Christ. 3) Read scripture to do the things of Jesus. Spending time in scripture is how you get spiritually trained so that when a 'good work' of God is happening, you'll have the eyes to see, a heart available. and hands that are equipped to join God in his work.

Rhythms of Grace: Sabbath
Genesis 2:1-3
“1Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done"

The Practice - Sabbath:
Rest, Resist, Delight, and Worship: Live from rest, not for rest. Even from the very start of humanity God rested. We are to be image bearers, designed to imitate our creator. This is also finding the balance between laziness and slavery. It is a time to be grateful for all that our father God has done. This is the practice to rest our soul for the Lord has been so good!
Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to be the culmination of the law, to fulfill the law’s purpose in his person. So when it comes to the practice of Sabbath, may we remember that Jesus isn’t the Lord who ends the Sabbath, rather, he is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is our Sabbath rest

Rhythms of Grace: Solitude
Psalm 131:1-3
“My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed & quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now & forevermore.”

The Practice - Solitude:
1) Carve out a time and a space to be quietly alone with and waiting on God.
2) Practice the presence of God during your day to day.

In a culture or anxiety, hurry, and noise, may we desire to increasingly become a community of peace and quiet confidence, thru the practice of solitude.

Rhythms of Grace: Community
John 13:34-35
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

The Practice - Community:
The practice of being in community can be a rhythm of grace, especially with the mindset of seeing community as an invitation from the Holy Spirit. To commune with God and others, leads to a life known as the Way of Jesus. This practice can be broken in to four movements:
Creations - Even at the beginning of creation God was Communal. Through the Trinity and through the creation of humanity.
Division - Satan's goal is to divide and conquer. As soon as humanity choses to live for themselves, community begins to break and relationships begin to rupture. Division is created.
Redemption - Through Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus both forgave and freed us from the grip of Satan and the power of sin and are redeemed. Through this redemption we can love God and Love People freely.
Participation - By being obedient to the Lords command for us to focus on one another, giving one another grace upon grace, loving one another and living in the redemption power while in community, we are living out the way of Jesus.